[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 84 (Wednesday, June 24, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H5274]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CONGRATULATIONS TO NEW MEXICO'S NEW CONGRESSWOMAN, HEATHER WILSON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, we have great news from the State of New 
Mexico. My district is in the State of Colorado and as many of us know, 
we lost our colleague Steve Schiff who represented very ably over the 
years the First Congressional District of the State of New Mexico.
  After his passing, the Governor of the State called for a special 
election. And last night, the people of New Mexico made a very good, 
good decision. They are sending to Washington, DC a very capable, very 
competent, very energetic, very dedicated and very patriotic brand-new 
Congressman.
  That Congressperson is Heather Wilson. Heather Wilson is the mother 
of three children, Joshua, Caitlin and Scott. Congresswoman Wilson is 
37 years old. She will be sworn in tomorrow. She is married to an 
Albuquerque gentleman by the name of Jay Hone.
  She is a distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force 
Academy. She is a Rhodes Scholar who earned her master's and doctoral 
degrees in Oxford University in England. Her dissertation, 
``International Law and the use of Force by National Liberation 
Movements,'' was published as a book and won the Paul Reuter Prize from 
the International Community of the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland.
  For 7 years, Heather Wilson lived and worked in Europe. She was a 
negotiator and defense planning officer with the United States Air 
Force in England, where her work included negotiating all aspects of 
cruise missile deployment in Britain and managing to bring a $125 
million construction project to completion on time and under budget.
  She then went to the United States Mission of NATO in Belgium where 
her work included arms control negotiations. She was the acting 
representative of the Secretary of Defense at the Conventional Forces 
in Europe, CFE, and handled negotiations in Vienna, Austria.
  After leaving the Air Force in 1989, Heather became the Director for 
European Defense Policy and Arms Control on the National Security 
Council staff at White House.
  In 1991, Wilson founded Keystone International, Inc., in Albuquerque 
to work with senior executives and large American defense and 
scientific corporations with business development and program planning 
work in the United States and Russia.
  Keystone's clients included McGraw-Hill, Martin-Marrietta and others. 
Heather has written for the Wall Street Journal and publications 
specializing in foreign policy and defense issues, and has been a 
spokesman on those issues at Harvard University, the Military Academy 
at West Point, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and 
other organizations.
  She has also appeared on national television programs including 
Firing Line and CNN's Crier and Company.
  She is active in civic affairs. Heather is a licensed foster parent, 
a member of the Albuquerque Kiwanis Club, and Kiwanians throughout New 
Mexico ought to be proud of what she did yesterday and who is going to 
represent their State.
  She is a strong advocate for improved public schools. She was a 
bronze medalist in the 1990 American Rowing Championships.
  What is exciting about Heather is not only her background, which is 
fairly extensive as I read by this resume, but the excitement that she 
reflects. One can tell by just talking with Heather how thrilled and 
honored she is to represent the fine State of New Mexico.
  So New Mexico, despite the fact that there were some people who ran a 
very, very negative nasty campaign against her, her positive attitude, 
her ``can do'' attitude, her personality, clearly her background is 
what prevailed in that election.
  Mr. Speaker, it shows that negative elections do not prevail. We can 
tell just by talking to her, just how excited and how positive this 
person is. That is what this Congress is made up of, a lot of people. 
That is what is should be totally made of.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to see that tomorrow New Mexico will 
have a new United States Congressman sworn in. They have a lot to be 
proud of. I can tell my friends in New Mexico, as their neighbor from 
the north in Colorado and on behalf of all of my colleagues, we are 
thrilled to see their new Congressman in Washington, DC.

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