[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 155 (Saturday, December 19, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2364]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO CONGRESSMAN GLENN POSHARD

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JERRY F. COSTELLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Saturday, December 19, 1998

  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the public 
service of my very good friend, Congressman Glenn Poshard.
  Glenn and I were elected to Congress during the same year, 1988, and 
worked together as a team to represent the 22nd and 21st Districts of 
Illinois until those districts changed in 1992. Since then, Glenn has 
represented the 19th District and I have represented the 12th District, 
which covers a large amount of territory formerly in Glenn's old 
congressional seat.
  I can tell you that there is no one in Southern Illinois who is held 
in higher esteem than Glenn Poshard. During his race for Governor in 
1998, Glenn ran a race that made all of his colleagues in the Illinois 
Delegation proud. However, I can tell you that the constituents in my 
district who know and love Glenn Poshard were also very proud of his 
congressional service and his race for Governor.
  Glenn has always been a unique representative. He made the decision 
early in his congressional career to refuse money from political action 
committees, a commitment he made as well in his race for Governor. He 
imposed on himself a term-limit of five terms in Congress, which he 
fulfills by leaving at the end of this session of Congress. He has 
carried himself with a quiet dignity, working hard for the people of 
his district while promoting those policies he thought best for the 
entire nation.
  His sources of inspiration have been those individuals who overcame 
difficult circumstances to excel in life, including his parents, and 
notable public figures like Lech Walesa and Nelson Mandela. Glenn was 
born poor in Southeastern Illinois and rose to achieve a PhD and go on 
to one of the highest honors an individual can attain in the United 
States--to serve his fellow men and women in the Congress.
  Glenn Poshard will leave this Congress with a distinguished record: 
fighting for a balanced federal budget; increasing the pay, working 
conditions and health care for working men and women; protecting the 
Constitution and improving the economy of rural America. But he will 
also leave here with enormous affection and gratitude of his 
colleagues, and the thanks and devotion of his constituents, who may be 
seeing the end of his days in the Congress but surely not the end of 
his public service.
  I join my colleagues in saluting the honored service of my good 
friend, Glenn Poshard.

                          ____________________