[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 23, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E719-E720]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        JEROME WARNER, NEBRASKA'S PREEMINENT CITIZEN LEGISLATOR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 23, 1997

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this week Nebraskans bade farewell to an 
extraordinary man. State Senator Jerome Warner, a family

[[Page E720]]

man, a farmer, a fine and honorable gentleman, and a preeminent citizen 
legislator, died at the age of 69, after 35 years of service to our 
State in its unicameral legislature.
  The extraordinary qualities and abilities of the gentleman from 
Waverly, NE, have long been recognized across our State. In recent 
weeks and months Nebraskans have praised him with such words as 
``integrity, courage, dignity, honest, genuine, outstanding legislator, 
a force of nature, friendly, All-American, trustworthy, unpretentious, 
fair, builder, modest, consummately ethical, revered, bred for public 
service, the Dean, captain of the ship, and progressive.''
  Jerry was only 9 years old when his father was elected speaker of the 
first session of the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature, and the senior 
Warner served nearly 40 years as a Nebraska legislator, including 23 
years as speaker. In his 35 years as a State senator, Jerry Warner 
served as speaker, too, three times, as chairman of practically all of 
the important committees, including the appropriations, revenue and 
education committees, and in many other formal and informal leadership 
roles.
  In his early years in the legislature, Jerry worked successfully to 
provide State aid so that schools could be less dependent on property 
taxes. Thirty years later, he continued that effort to provide even 
more State aid for education. Jerry was chairman of the appropriations 
committee for 13 years. During the farm crisis in the 1980's, when the 
revenues from sales and income taxes fell, Jerry found ways to cut 
State spending. Throughout his service on the appropriations committee, 
when a shortfall loomed, Jerry produced a plan to pull the State 
through its fiscal difficulties.
  In addition, throughout his life, Jerry farmed on the same family 
farm where he was born in 1927, and he bred registered Hereford cattle. 
He finally leased out the farm land 3 years ago and sold the last of 
his cattle last month.
  Some Nebraskans have wondered why Jerry never ran for higher office. 
I think I know. For him there was no higher office than serving one's 
fellow citizens in our unicameral legislature--as a ``citizen 
legislator.''
  I served with Jerry Warner for only 4 years, but that was a wonderful 
and significant time for me. When he first moved to the appropriations 
committee and became its chairman in 1977, I was new to the vice 
chairman role. Together, as we worked alone, night after night, we 
poured over the budget until midnight hours. We made some big changes 
in direction. But more importantly, during these nights I learned about 
the depth of this man's commitment to Nebraska's welfare and about the 
unrivalled depth of his knowledge of the State. Thereafter, I always 
knew my first and best source of information--practical and 
historical--about Nebraska State government was Jerry Warner. Up close 
I learned about the intellect and rationality behind that very special 
twinkle in Jerry's eye.
  I am so very appreciative that I had the privilege of knowing him and 
working with him, of his good counsel, and of all that he did to make 
Nebraska a much better place to live. Jerry Warner made a big, big 
difference for the better here on earth. What better legacy can one 
leave?
  Jerome Warner of Waverly, NE, a giant in his accomplishments, has 
walked modestly among us, but none before him or probably none after 
him will ever match his legislative achievements in Nebraska.

          [From the Lincoln (NE) Journal Star, Apr. 22, 1997]

     From Life to Legacy: Warner's Long Season of Selfless Service

       Toward the end, people who knew him well were at special 
     pains to pay tribute to Jerome Warner. The energy to speak in 
     admiration and in gratitude bubbled up at about the same rate 
     that Warner's own energies wore down.
       It is a measure of this man's quiet, simple greatness that 
     even those who did not know him well could know how fine, how 
     decent a man he was.
       Like a cold wind, the thought rushes in upon us now that we 
     were somehow vastly unprepared for his death Sunday.
       Our search for warmth and for solace leads us to simple 
     truths that passed from the seat of state government to the 
     farthest corners of this state over a 35-year career. Jerome 
     Warner is a man of his word. Jerome Warner defines what it 
     means to be a public servant. Jerome Warner is the kind of 
     leader who cares more about what he gets done than how he 
     describes it.
       The Revenue Committee puts its sense of urgency about 
     failing health into action as calendars turned to April 1997. 
     Sens. David Landis of Lincoln and George Coordsen of Hebron 
     were among those to take some time to praise Warner for his 
     leadership, for his selflessness, for his ability to see out 
     ahead to new problems and new solutions. Never one for 
     spectacle or smooth speeches, the chairman took it all in 
     from behind those glasses that gave his eyes such owl-like 
     hugeness and suggested the committee adjourn.
       As applause rolled across the room, he declared, ``I guess 
     we're done.''
       Now at least in the most immediate sense, we citizens of 
     Nebraska are done with the life of Jerome Warner. Thankfully, 
     his legacy is just beginning.
       As was so typical of him, he gave almost all of his 
     remaining energy to the legislative task. He did not check 
     into Tabitha's hospice program in Lincoln until a few days 
     before his death.
       The tributes that began back when cancer had so clearly 
     gained the upper hand continue in a torrent. But the words 
     now are words we pass among ourselves. We comfort each other, 
     we try to reassure each other, and we look anxiously for 
     others half so willing, half so able to help us find our way.
       The Warner legislative legacy includes establishing state 
     aid to education. It includes an end to pork-barrel politics 
     in use of highway funds and stout defense of using highway 
     money for highway purposes. It includes hard and unfinished 
     work in the 1997 session in trying to salvage quality 
     education from property tax relief.
       In earlier sessions of his life, Warner spent his days in 
     the Legislature and his nights on the tractor. It is a 
     fitting way, in this last session, to remember a citizen-
     senator who did so much to bring together the interests of 
     rural Nebraska and the interests of all of Nebraska. It is a 
     fitting, sunset vision of ambitions that were so 
     characteristically focused first on his state, rather than on 
     himself.
                                                                    ____


             [From the Omaha World-Herald, April 22, 1997]

                    Senator Warner Dignified Office

       Jerome Warner died too young. At age 69, his mind was still 
     sharp. His judgment was still good. He still displayed a 
     desire to serve his fellow Nebraskans.
       Until he checked himself into a nursing home two weeks ago, 
     in pain and frail from his battle with cancer, he had been in 
     the thick of the legislative debate over property-tax lids 
     and projected treasury surpluses. Members of the Legislature 
     and people outside the Legislature were still looking to 
     Warner for guidance on how to manage the tangle of tax 
     issues.
       It was logical that they were turning to the Waverly 
     senator. Nebraska has benefited substantially from the wisdom 
     and balance he displayed during his 34 years as a state 
     senator. His passing leaves a void in state government.
       Warner served in the Legislature longer than any other 
     person. He held all the top leadership positions and three of 
     the most powerful committee chairmanships--Appropriations, 
     Revenue and Education.
       Many of his achievements came in the area of providing 
     essential services with a fair system of taxation. He was the 
     father of Nebraska's roads classification system, which took 
     politics out of highway planning. He planned the 
     Postsecondary Education Coordinating Commission to eliminate 
     unnecessary duplication in higher education. He was 
     instrumental in bringing Kearney State College into the 
     University of Nebraska system.
       Warner got Nebraska's variable gasoline tax through the 
     Legislature. He wasn't the kind of politician who would 
     promise good roads and leave the financing to someone else. 
     He knew that the highway program needed more money. He came 
     up with what he thought was the fairest system of obtaining 
     more.
       Warner had personal qualities that made him effective as a 
     politician and likable as a human being. His integrity was 
     unimpeachable. He was always pleasant and polite to those 
     around him, whether they were high-powered officials or the 
     college students who work as legislative pages. He respected 
     ordinary people. He was a ``bottomless pit of patience,'' a 
     former legislative colleague once said.
       Some politicians gain dignity when they are elected to 
     public office. With Jerry Warner, it was the other way 
     around. The way he conducted his 34-year career as a state 
     senator enhanced the honor and dignity of the office. Few 
     Nebraskans ever came closer to being the model public 
     official.

                          ____________________