[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 130 (Friday, September 25, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1815]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE VIC FAZIO

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. LOUIS STOKES

                                of Ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 24, 1998

  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend my colleague, Howard 
Berman, for permitting me this opportunity to express my gratitude to a 
departing member. I am here to join my colleagues as we salute a long 
time friend and colleague, Vic Fazio. Over my thirty year career in the 
United States House of Representatives, I am privileged to say that for 
twenty of those years, I had the distinct pleasure of knowing and 
working with Vic Fazio.The years that Vic served on the Ethics 
Committee presented him as a man of honesty, intelligence, and 
integrity. He is a man whose diligent work ethic has earned him a long 
and productive career in the House. He has worked on various committees 
and served in several key positions.
  As a freshman, Vic embraced a diligent work ethic that established 
him as a great legislator, Vic was elected to represent the Third 
District of California in 1978. Since that time, he has been elected to 
ten consequent terms in the House. He was appointed to the 
House Appropriations Committee in 1980 and served as the ranking 
Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch 
until 1996. Although still a member of the subcommittee, Vic 
relinquished his ranking position in order to gain a seat on the 
Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food, 
and Drug Administration.

  In 1990, he was the political arm of the Democrats in Congress when 
he was selected to the position of Chairman of the Democratic 
Congressional Campaign Committee. He then served as the Regional 
Representative on the Steering and Policy Committee and sat on the new 
Steering Committee. Vic has co-chaired the House Bipartisan Task Force 
on Ethics and was the Majority Whip-at-Large. Vic's tenure also 
included work on the Budget Committee and also served on the Select 
Committee on Hunger.
  Mr. Speaker, Vic Fazio has held a well respected position in the 
House as a very effective legislator. Many of my colleagues recognize 
Vic as the man with the quick and easy smile, a man to turn to in order 
to get things accomplished and represented the concerns of his 
colleagues. Vic is a man whose astute nature provided all he 
encountered with wisdom and guidance. Indicative of his well respected 
character, Vic was re-elected by an overwhelming majority of our 
colleagues to serve as the Chairman of the Democratic Caucus during his 
tenth term in 1996.
  On a personal note, I would like to wish Vic and his lovely wife, 
Judy, well as Vic embarks on a new path when he leaves the House of 
Representatives this year. No other has served with such integrity, 
intelligence, and diligence. The House of Representatives will not only 
lose a distinguished and hard-working legislator as Vic Fazio makes his 
final exit at the end of this year, but it will lose some of its luster 
when the man with quick smile and easy grace transcends to a different 
role outside the House of Representatives.

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