[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 165 (Friday, November 19, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2494-E2495]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING THE LATE JOE SERNA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 18, 1999

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, Joe Serna was a good man and an outstanding 
Mayor. I was honored to join my colleagues this week and support House 
Resolution 363, recognizing and honoring Sacramento, California, Mayor 
Joe Serna, Jr., and expressing the condolences of the House of 
Representatives to his family and the people of Sacramento on his 
death.
  As a son of an immigrant farm worker, he learned the values of hard 
work which exemplified his career. Eager to help others, Joe entered 
the Peace Corps in 1966. When he returned to California, he joined the 
faculty at California State University, Sacramento, in 1969 becoming a 
professor of Government. He was so good at energizing and inspiring his 
students that in 1991 he received the Distinguished Faculty Award.
  Joe Serna decided to continue serving his community by being first 
elected to the Sacramento City Council in 1981 and reelected in 1985 
and 1989. He was then elected mayor of Sacramento in 1992 and again in 
1996.
  Joe Botz of Sacramento wrote a Letter-to-Editor in the Sacramento Bee 
last week, which

[[Page E2495]]

I believe embodies Joe Serna's legacy as a political role model and as 
a leader. Botz wrote, ``Most citizens look at the day when citizen-
politicians governed us. Serna was a living and working embodiment of 
those days. He was brash and arrogant as he looked after Sacramento and 
its citizens' best interests in the larger political level. But on an 
interpersonal level, he expressed deep concern and intense compassion 
of all River City citizens, particularly the poor and disadvantaged.''
  Joe Serna possessed an unparalleled commitment to helping others. He 
fought for the underdog and befriended those who needed him the most. 
For that Mr. Speaker, I will always look up to Joe Serna.

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