[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 40 (Tuesday, April 8, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E579-E580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DONALD E. MUIR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 8, 1997

  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to inform the House of 
the passing of one of the most effective and respected political 
leaders in modern California political history, and a very dear friend 
throughout my adult life, Donald E. Muir of San Francisco. A heavily-
attended memorial service this past weekend in San Francisco brought 
together an enormous assortment of public officials, former 
officeholders, colleagues, friends--all testimony to the active role 
Don played in the life of California politics and the Democratic Party 
over the past 30 years.
  Don had been a colleague on the staff of State Senator George Moscone 
in the 1970's in Sacramento, and since that time was a trusted adviser 
to many of the leading Democratic officeholders in California at the 
State and Federal levels.
  Don Muir was a political realist, and for him, politics was in part a 
business. No one performed the business side of politics more expertly 
or tirelessly. Don was a pro who could read politicians better than 
anyone, sometimes better than themselves.
  But politics was more than business for Don Muir, too. It was very 
personal.
  He was cynical without being a cynic; his easy going style--open-
necked shirts and cowboy boots--belied an intensity and a 
competitiveness that were renowned.
  For all his partisanship and fascination with insider intrigue, Don's 
real love was for our

[[Page E580]]

democratic institutions. He understood as well as anyone the practical 
pressures confronted by elected officials confronting difficult 
choices, but he always figured Franklin D. Roosevelt--one of his 
heroes--had it about right: political leaders should challenge their 
constituents and their Nation, and shouldn't sacrifice principle and 
the public good to fleeting whims or political expediency.
  At a time when many ran and hid from the stigmatized notion of being 
a ``liberal,'' Don remained an unabashed and unapologetic believer that 
government should help the poor and the disenfranchised. He wasn't in 
the least starry-eyed, utopian, or naive. But he was unwilling to 
abandon his deep faith in people and our constitutional system because 
of what was popular or saleable at any particular time.
  Don was an adviser, a fundraiser, a strategist, and kibbitzer. He 
loved the campaign fights and he loved the corridors of the 
legislatures--state and national--but he also loved sitting for hours 
in some San Francisco restaurant, a glass of good California wine in 
his hand, speculating about political developments and digesting 
political gossip.
  Don was born in Roseville, CA, the son of railroad workers, and held 
degrees from Sierra College, California State University at Sacramento, 
and San Francisco State. He taught government and English in Roseville 
until he was sucked into the world of elections and politics during the 
1960 Presidential campaign of Senator John F. Kennedy. He subsequently 
worked in the 1962 reelection campaign in which Pat Brown defeated 
Richard Nixon, and then in the 1964 Presidential campaign for President 
Lyndon B. Johnson.
  After working in Brown's 1966 campaign, he became the Governor's 
travel secretary, and began a career in fundraising that continued 
through every succeeding Presidential campaign, and countless campaigns 
for State and Federal candidates.
  But for all the fun he had and the substantive contributions he made 
to our political process, I often think that Don's first choice would 
have been to return to academia, finish up that elusive doctorate, and 
teach what he had learned about our political system to another 
generation of Americans.
  He did return to teach at San Francisco State, and he would have made 
a great career professor, just as I am sure he was an inspiring teacher 
earlier in his career and in his last several years as well. He was 
knowledgeable, he was passionate, and he was deeply committed. In the 
end, leukemia would overtake his powerful spirit.
  Don leaves a wonderful family, his wife Linda, with whom he built a 
successful business and raised three accomplished children, Stacey, 
Maggie and Mike. To them and to the rest of his family, all of us who 
profited by this man's faith and friendship offer our deep condolences 
and prayers.
  Don's legacy lives on not only in his children and grandchild, but in 
the scores of people influenced and inspired by him to dedicate 
themselves to lives of public service for the improvement of our 
society.

                          ____________________