Congressional Record, Volume 146 Issue 135 (Wednesday, October 25, 2000)

[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 135 (Wednesday, October 25, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H10884-H10890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

TRIBUTE TO CONGRESSMAN RON PACKARD UPON HIS RETIREMENT

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 1999, the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, the leader of our California delegation, the
gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), has given me the honor of
putting together a night to honor the gentleman from California (Mr.
Packard), one of our colleagues who is leaving the House, retiring at
the end of this session.
We wanted to take a little time to talk a little bit of his
accomplishments while here in the Congress. First of all, we will hear
from our leader, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis). I yield to
him such time as he desires.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate my
colleague yielding. And, Mr. Speaker, I would like to join my
colleagues this evening in paying tribute to our friend from the
Committee on Appropriations, Ron Packard. Ron is retiring from the
House after 18 years of service to his constituents. He has had the
privilege of representing one of the most beautiful parts of our State
in south Orange County and north San Diego County, a small piece of
Riverside County as well, as he would remind us.
It is understandable why Ron would want to spend more time at home.
He has just completed the building of a new home with his wife, Jean,
seven children and too many grandchildren to count. He has got plenty
to look forward to as he goes back home to his district.
Ron came to the Congress after serving in the U.S. Navy and later as
a member of the school board, active in the chamber of commerce. He
served on the city council and was mayor of Carlsbad. Ron was elected
to Congress as a result of his success as a write-in candidate in 1982,
one of the very few occasions in which a write-in candidate has been
successful.
I have worked most closely with Ron in the appropriations process
where over the years he has been the chairman of the Subcommittee on
Legislative Appropriations, the chairman of the Subcommittee on
Military Construction Appropriations, and is just completing a tour
representing our State very well on the subcommittee that deals with
energy and water appropriations, a most important appropriations bill.
Mr. Speaker, we are going to miss Ron greatly as a member of our
committee. He has been of great service to Southern California.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from Long
Beach, California (Mr. Horn).
Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, Ron Packard is truly a man of the House of
Representatives. He is a gentleman. He is civility. He is a good
listener, and he has got a ready smile. He won friends all over this
Chamber on both sides of the aisle; and, of course, that is what
effective legislators do.
Of course, when we all learned that he had a total of 44 children and
grandchildren, 7 children, 34 grandchildren, and three great
grandchildren, we were envious. And I always wondered how he

[[Page H10885]]

remembered their names. I suspect Jean, his charming wife, maybe put a
sort of easel up and when they were coming, said here are the names.
Ron, in whatever he did as a legislator here, first on public works,
now known as the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, but
now on the Committee on Appropriations, he was very fair when he
listened to all of us, Democrats, Republicans, Easterners, Westerners,
Northerners, Southerners. On appropriations, he brought basic common
sense to the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, one of the
most difficult committees in this Chamber, because it involves floods,
it involves ecology, it involves environment. Ron could deal with all
of those pressures.
He cared about our troops abroad, in particular. In the period when
he was chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Construction, our
troops abroad in Korea were in Second World War barracks going to
pieces, and Ron knew that should not be. If we have families, as we do
now in all the services, we need good facilities and we need a place
where they can call home when it is abroad.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Ron for all he has done in this Chamber,
and all he will do when he goes back to, as the gentleman from
California (Mr. Lewis) said, that beautiful part of the California
coast.
So, Jean and Ron, you are a great couple to have as a mentor and have
as a model, and we thank you for what you have done in your 2 decades
here, and we wish you well in the years ahead.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from New Jersey
(Mr. Frelinghuysen), a colleague of Ron Packard's on the Committee on
Appropriations.

{time} 1930

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to wish our colleague Ron Packard well in
his retirement from the House of Representatives at the end of this
106th Congress.
Tonight a number of us have gathered in this Chamber during this
special time to pay tribute to our colleague and our friend who has
served with distinction in this people's House for 18 years. All of us
know this very good-natured gentleman from California is one of only
four Members of Congress to have ever won their first election to the
Congress as a write-in candidate, a tremendous feat in and of itself.
Little did we know that Ron would go from that point in 1982 to become
chairman of three very important House appropriations subcommittees.
As other Members have mentioned, many of us here tonight know Ron for
his years of service on the House Committee on Appropriations. I myself
have had the honor of serving with him on that committee, and most
recently I have had the pleasure of serving under his chairmanship on
the appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water.
For the past 2 years, Ron has been steadfast in reversing the
President's decision to underfund our Nation's infrastructure needs.
Due to his leadership, the Congress has maintained a strong commitment
to partnerships with our local communities and States by providing
these needed funds for flood control, shore protection and dredging our
harbors and the like.
As a former businessman, school board member, city councilman, and
mayor, Ron has always believed that the Federal Government should
provide a helpful hand but the true power and decisions should be
returned to State and local government officials who know the best
needs of their constituents.
On a personal note, in July of 1999, I traveled with Ron and his
wife, Jean, and other Members to Russia as part of our committee
assignment on Energy and Water. Ron and our colleagues toured the
Russian ``closed cities'' or the former nuclear sites and met with
numerous Russian officials. It was a trip to remember, in large part
due to Ron's leadership, his insistence that we see where U.S. dollars
were being spent to dispose of or contain nuclear waste.
Throughout our trip within Russia, Ron showed his dedication to our
purpose for being there and to the American people by insisting on
receiving a complete understanding of the current status of all of
these nuclear sites. Additionally during this trip, I had the
opportunity to get to know Ron and Jean; and I can tell you, judging
from our discussions about our families, that Ron and Jean will
definitely continue to be busy grandparents, taking a very active role
in all of their 34 grandchildren's lives. The Congress' loss will be
his family's gain.
I wish you well in retirement, Ron. You have set a high standard for
all of us to follow that remain. We will miss you. Good luck and
Godspeed.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Riverside,
California (Mr. Calvert), another of Ron's good friends and neighbors.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Valencia,
California, for putting together this special order for our good
friend, Ron Packard; and I say that very sincerely.
I do not know if the gentleman remembers, but in 1982 we both ran for
Congress in Republican primaries, and, something we have in common, we
both lost. I lost my Republican primary, but Ron went on to win a very
substantial victory in a write-in campaign.
That has only happened four times in the history of the United States
House of Representatives, which shows how popular and well loved he is
in his district. I know that for a fact, because our districts adjoin
each other in the Temecula-Marrietta areas of our district. And every
year we would get together for the last 8 years I have been in the
House, and we would meet and have what they call the Ron and Ken show
up there. And we would talk about issues that affect the Temecula-
Marrietta Valley. I will miss that very much; and you need to come out,
Ron, to celebrate those times.
On issues out in those areas, Pierce's Disease, which is devastating
the vintners out there in that area, and avocados, that we just
successfully concluded here shortly, those I am sure are issues you are
very proud of in the local sense. But, obviously, on a national sense,
the service that you have done for the Committee on Appropriations in
all the various subcommittees, legislative branch, certainly military
construction, where you have helped a lot of young families get better
housing and a better place to live, to help retention in our military
forces, something I am sure you are very proud of. And certainly the
energy and water account in which you have done many things throughout
the country, and happily in our own area, the Temecula-Marrietta
area that has devastating floods, that we can finally move toward flood
protection for the many people that live in that area and the property
we would like to protect.

So Ron, it has been a privilege serving with you. I know that another
thing that I do not know if a lot of people know, he is probably the
finest golfer in the House. No doubt about it. He will be giving me at
least a stroke a hole from now on. I really appreciate that.
I thank the gentleman for his service and look forward to many years
to come of friendship.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California
(Mr. Baca), another golfer, a Member from the other side of the aisle,
and also a neighbor and friend of Ron's.
Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to be up here to say a
few words about an individual. I am the new kid on the block. I just
got elected not too long ago. I said, who is Ron Packard? But, you know
what, since I have gotten to know Ron Packard, basically he reached out
and touched the lives of many of us.
You may think the type of relationship he built here on a bipartisan
is very important. I know we are going to miss you. I know I am going
to miss you, since I am relatively new here. I know, not only because
you are on the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure, the Subcommittee on Energy and
Water, but what you have done throughout the area is you really have
left a legacy for many other individuals in the community, because
truly your legislation and your policies have been bipartisan, in the
interests of California, in the interests of the Nation.
That is important for people to remember when they look at a
legislator

[[Page H10886]]

that is serving us. That is why not only is he well liked and loved in
his district, but throughout the Nation and by many of us. You truly
are a leader, a visionary, an individual who cares about not only our
communities as a whole, and in your district, but you are an individual
that is willing to listen on a bipartisan basis and say what is
important for our Nation, what is important for California, and take
action, which is very important on a bipartisan basis.
As the new kid on the block, I find that very energizing, I find that
very enthusiastic, and I find that very motivating, because it is
important to get motivated. Everybody told me, when you come up here,
Joe, it is going to be so partisan. I found out that not everything is
so partisan. Sometimes, yes, but there are individuals that are not,
and you truly have developed a kind of friendship and you have opened
the doors to many individuals to say what is it that you have to say
that is good for California, what is it that is good for all of us. If
it is good, I am willing to listen. That kind of relationship and kind
of friendship, there is no dollar value that you can put on it.
It truly has been an honor to be your friend and know you this short
period of time. I wish you were here longer. But I know that you left a
legacy, not only the legacy in policy, but the legacy in golf. You
truly are one individual that has been an outstanding golfer. A lot us
are going to try to follow in the same footsteps, and hopefully we can.
Thank you very much for serving the State of California and our Nation.
Mr. McKEON. I yield to the gentleman from San Diego, California (Mr.
Cunningham).
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Joe Baca, a Member
from the other side of the aisle, for giving tribute to someone that we
cherish very, very much.
You know, Ron Packard was a write-in, and what a rich legacy he gave
the constituents of North County. Much of the district I now represent
was Ron's former district, and his legacy was hard to keep up with. As
a matter of fact, when I go up there, they used to tell me, well, ``Ron
didn't do it that way, Duke.'' But Ron gave me a lot of guidance.
Ron Packard, Duncan Hunter, myself and Brian Bilbray represent North
County, San Diego and San Diego City, both on authorization and
appropriations, and I want to thank you for your leadership and what
you were able to help us with. Not only from the appropriations, but
Ron also knows how to breach partisanship and work with Members on the
other side, as you just witnessed with Joe Baca.
But he is no nonsense, and his style is that of a grandfather to a
child. If you were bad on this House floor, or very partisan, Ron,
through his leadership, was not above going after somebody that was
partisan. He was also not afraid to call for removal of the President
or a cabinet member when he thought it was within his value system, and
he had the strength of a leader to carry that through.
Ron loved public service. He loved his wife, Jean, and his family,
but his family might be described as a covey, a herd, a flock, or just
maybe a large group. Ron has seven children, 34 grandchildren and
three great-grandchildren, the last we heard; and I am sure that that
number is going to go up.

But I think it also shows the competitiveness of Ron Packard. I would
like to give a story off the Hill. Ron does love golf, with a passion,
and if he loses a dime, I mean, he frets for a week if he loses a dime.
He is a fierce competitor. As a matter of fact, right there where he is
sitting at this moment he was sitting with Duncan Hunter one night.
Now, Ron is a very good golfer, in the 70s or 90s. Duncan Hunter is
of equal caliber, in the 70s or 80s. I am lucky to break 100, so I am
always asking for strokes on the golf course on the weekends from these
two rascals, but they will not give it. Sometimes they cave in.
They were discussing something, and I was sitting behind them waiting
for them to finish. Come to find out, they were plotting on Saturday
when we went to the Old Soldiers Home golf course, both of them were
going to show up with their arms in slings so they would not have to
give me a stroke a hole that game.
Well, they did not see me slip out behind, they did not know the
stealthiness of one Member; and, when we showed up, I had my arms in
two slings, so they had to give me a stroke a hole.
But I thought I would share this letter. I thought enough of this, I
got this just a couple of years ago from Ron, to show you what a
competitor he is. I would like to read it. He says, ``Dear Duke, you
can have my wife, you can have my children, my grandchildren, my house,
my car, my good name, but never, never, never, ever a stroke a hole.
Signed, Ron Packard.''
God bless you, Ron. We love you.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from California
(Mr. Rohrabacher).
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to be here tonight to
honor Ron Packard. It is not a happy occasion, however. It is not
happy, and it does not make me happy and does not make us happy that we
will not have Ron Packard with us to help us and to guide us and direct
us and to cheer us in the years ahead in this body.
We will remain friends, we will remain people who respect Ron Packard
forever, but we will sorely miss you. This is something that I say from
the heart.
Ron has been a father figure, especially for those of us in the
Republican Party and the Republican delegation from Orange County. He
has been truly a father figure, a kind father. He has been a hard-
working father, he has been a caring father, and he has been a wise
father, and all of the things you think of when you think about a good
man and a person of integrity, of strength, that is what you think of,
that is what we think of, the people who have worked with him so many
years and relied upon his strength of character and his cheerfulness,
that is what we think of when we think of Ron Packard.
Ron started his career as a dentist. I always find it is fascinating
to talk to people, as I have spoken to Ron for many hours, about what
they did in the previous career before actually coming here to
Washington, D.C. Actually I know it is hard to say you were thrilled to
hear stories of his dentistry, but it made him a real human being to
me, and realizing you could actually go into a dentist's office and
have Ron Packard there, you know, him leaning over you and saying this
is going to hurt me as much as it is you, and you realize that is
really true; that Ron is such a sympathetic person and empathetic with
people, that he was as a dentist and a human being was very successful
outside of the political arena.
Also we know that Ron Packard served in the Armed Forces. I know he
has several stories which he will not tell in public about the Armed
Forces. He served his country and he had a good time doing it, but he
also was very dedicated to his country. Ron is the true image of a
Patriot, of an American Patriot. American patriots, some of us in the
conservative movement think patriots are the solemn guys and just
repeating slogans about the country. Ron is an honest, honest patriotic
person. He is an American, a true American, and you can sense that in
his heart.

{time} 1945

How one can tell that this is so evident, not only to us, but to his
constituents, as has been mentioned here several times, Ron did not win
his first race right off the bat. Ron won a write-in race. Now, with a
name like Rohrabacher, I can tell my colleagues that that would have
been absolutely impossible, but even with a name like Packard, which
anybody can spell, it has only happened 4 times in the entire history
of the United States Congress.
Why did this happen? What was the issue which made people in his
district take the time to fill out that name? What was it that
motivated them? What was the crying need that said, we need Ron Packard
in that first election? It was one word, and the word is integrity. The
people in his district knew that they needed integrity and they called
out for it and they knew that Ron Packard was the candidate, even
though they had to go out of the way and do more work to get him in by
writing his name in, to get him in this

[[Page H10887]]

position. Of course, since then he has been winning every election by
huge majorities.
As a Member of Congress and the dean of the Orange County delegation,
he has given all of us direction. We have looked at his hard work, we
have looked at his fairness and his willingness always to lend a
helping hand to others on both sides of the aisle, and yes, to give
advice. We look at those things as a role model for the rest of us. I
came in in 1988 and Ron was already a veteran. I will have to say that
what he has offered us and offered me personally has been very, very
advantageous. He has given me a lot of professional guidance on how I
should be operating here as a Member of Congress, but he has also
served as a role model and given professional advice, or I should say
personal advice.
Ron is a model for us, both professionally and personally. Ron, I
might add, in the last election showed his values and showed how
important values are to him by taking a lead in California in trying to
pass the Save the Family or Protect the Family Act, which is basically
designed to protect the institution of the family in California. Also,
the efforts he has made to make sure that the Boy Scouts are not forced
into lowering their moral standards or giving up the word ``God'' in
their scout oath.
Mr. Speaker, I was just married 3 years ago, and I will close with
this. I hope that I have as much happiness in my life and that it shows
on my face and in my life as much as Ron's family life and the
happiness and joy that he has had has had on his life, because he has
been a shining example to all of us of what marriage and what love
between people is all about. We will miss you, Ron. Your presence will
not be forgotten; it will shine on as long as the rest of us are here.
Thank you very much for all you have done for us and for what you have
done for the United States of America.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from California
(Mr. Dreier), the chairman of the Committee on Rules.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I feel compelled to be very kind to Ron,
because as I have been listening to some of my other colleagues who are
going to follow me, I think that this will end up as something other
than a love fest. I have just heard a story that has not been shared
with me that in fact our colleagues will get to hear from my dear
friend and classmate, the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) in a
few minutes about Ron's earlier life.
So let me take a couple of minutes and be very kind. I know that many
people focus on the divisiveness that exists here in the Congress and
the partisan antipathy that regularly goes on, but there is, in fact, a
camaraderie. Then, when we look at the California congressional
delegation, the California delegation is known for being
extraordinarily divisive: Californians all hate each other; the
Democrats and Republicans do not get along; the Republicans are all
divided; the Democrats are all divided. If the truth were to be known,
we rally, and Ron Packard was key to putting together the kind of
solidarity which we frankly do enjoy today.
I will always remember many late-night meetings which members of the
California congressional delegation held, and Ron Packard was always
there. He had as a top priority bringing our delegation together, and
he was key to that effort.
Mr. Speaker, I have heard about his wife, Jean, and this huge family,
and he is the only guy I know who will actually look you in the eye and
say that he does not know the names of some of his relatives. Somebody
talked about the fact that he has a number of grandchildren and 7
children, and that when they have family reunions, the Packards have
hundreds, I think it may be even thousands, who gather together for
family reunions. It is a very, very impressive family that he has. I
hope one day he gets to meet all of them.
I will say that when we look at the work that he has done on the
Subcommittee on Energy and Water, most recently, I have to say that
this very soft-spoken dentist, the former mayor of Carlsbad, has stood
up in meetings, and now that he is getting ready to leave, I think I
can share this, that he has made it very clear that if Members of
Congress have been fortunate enough to have their issues that are
priorities for them included in legislation, they had better vote for
the legislation. Ron very calmly, very firmly makes that statement, and
he does it with a kind of confidence that only a powerful cardinal can
exercise around here.
So we are going to miss Ron. The gentleman from California (Mr.
Hunter) and I were just talking about the fact that Ron is our junior
colleague. We had the privilege of coming here with Ronald Reagan back
in 1980 and then, as many have said, Ron shocked the world of being the
person, I guess the fourth, to win that famous write-in election, and
the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) has all kinds of stories
about that write-in election that he will probably share with us.
So let me just say to Ron and Jean, his wonderful wife who has stood
by him, and I have had the privilege of traveling with them and
spending time with other members of their family, they will be sorely
missed. The California delegation has come together in large part due
to the commitment that Ron Packard made to that goal, and I shall
always be grateful to him for that.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to another strong member of our
delegation, the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose).
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give my thanks also to Mr.
Packard who has done so much during his 18 years here in this body for
the State of California and everybody not only who lives in his
district, but in mine and in Mr. McKeon's, Mr. Hunter's, Mr. Dreier's,
and others. I know the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) has some
great stories that are coming. We have heard them in our luncheons and
been regaled with them. They are good. I hope that they are presented
and taken in the spirit of camaraderie that we have.
Ron has a quiet leadership style that, as the gentleman from
California (Mr. Dreier) said, members of both sides of the aisle
appreciate and, frankly, rally around. He has been very fair to all
members, regardless of party affiliation. Frankly, I have only been
here for just about 2 years now, but in my short time, I have tried to
emulate his qualities: humility, fairness, honesty, accountability, and
frankly, the integrity that just comes. If one gets the chance to work
with Ron, it just comes out. It is just so clear. His qualities have
won him many friends and admirers here in Washington and in California,
as we can see from him being returned 8 times from his initial
election.
Mr. Speaker, on the Subcommittee on Energy and Water, Mr. Packard has
provided critical assistance for the safety of Americans across the
Nation and particularly for Californians and specifically for people
who live in the Sacramento area. He understands our challenges along
the Sacramento River and the American River, and his work has led to a
significant increase in the level of flood protection for the people
that live in my area, and for this I am grateful. It makes a
difference.
Mr. Speaker, Ron Packard, as others have said, is very devoted to his
family, which is and always has been his most important priority in
life. As he takes his bride, Jean, and returns to California and leaves
this august body, I know that he will enjoy spending time again with
them in the manner in which perhaps every one of us should, and
devoting more time to those that he loves as family members. I say to
the gentleman, I appreciate your leadership and guidance, and you will
be missed. Godspeed.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from Michigan
(Mr. Knollenberg), a colleague of Mr. Packard's on the Committee on
Appropriations.
Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I too rise this evening to pay tribute to Ron Packard,
who I consider to be a distinguished statesman from the State of
California, and on this occasion of his retirement at the end of the
106th Congress, I wish him well.
I have known Ron and I have known his wife, Jean. I have not known
the 7 children and, I believe, 34 grandchildren and the great
grandchildren, but that will come. I have had the

[[Page H10888]]

pleasure to travel with he and Jean on some CODELs, I would not say
around the world, but certainly to various parts of the world, and we
have had I think some very interesting experiences on those trips and I
have gotten to know he and Jean. We find that his dedication to his
family and to his church is very, very strong. It is unwavering. The
fact that he is a dentist and that he moved from being a dentist into
Congress is a little bit of a change, I guess, but others do the same
from the field of medicine, so that is not so unusual. But he has made
the change and he has done it, as somebody has already said, several
members have mentioned the fact that he was only the fourth member,
only the fourth in history to actually come to the House via the write-
in process. I never believed anybody could get here by the write-in
process, but Ron did. The residents of his district in southern
California have seen fit to send him back to Washington, and by
overwhelming majorities, every election since, back to 1982. I think
well they should, because Ron Packard has been a respected and
dedicated member of this House ever since.
He has served his California constituents well. Not only that, he has
served the Nation well, and that includes his service in the Navy and
his time as the mayor of Carlsbad, California and, of course, the 18
years here in the House.
As we know, Ron Packard is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on
Energy and Water, and it has been my privilege to serve with him on
that committee as well as on the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations for
the past few years. He has also served, as we know, on the Subcommittee
on Military Construction and the Subcommittee on Legislative
Appropriations, as well as his efforts on the Subcommittee on
Transportation.
I can assure my colleagues that the Energy and Water bill is no easy
task, and let me say a little bit about why. It was only through Ron's
tireless dedication and self sacrifice that made difficult matters
appear mundane. Energy and Water runs the gamut of issues, hitting upon
matters of national and energy security. That bill provides vital
important funding for such items as the Nation's stockpile stewardship,
Cold War weapons plant cleanup and energy supply, only to name a few.
But here is the part that gets tough. It not only funds hundreds, even
thousands, of local water priorities performed by the Corps of
Engineers and conducted in just about every Member's district, and the
member from California has brought balance, he has brought common sense
in approaching the Energy and Water bill discussions during his tenure.
In fact, this year, Ron Packard had to deal with some 3,000 requests.
Now, those were not all Member requests, but a good many were and the
rest came from a variety of sources. All of these have to come before
the committee, all have to be dealt with. His hard work and dedication
resulted in a timely and reasonable piece of legislation that covered
all of those bases, and it took patience and it took thoughtfulness and
it took courtesy, and he had all of those qualities to meet and deal
with people and with their requests.
Ron Packard's retirement will leave a set of shoes that will be
difficult, if not impossible, to fill. Mr. Speaker, I think I echo the
sentiments of all of the Members who have spoken here this evening in
saying that this gentleman will certainly be missed.
I am certain that Ron will make good use of his time in the coming
months. I can only guess that golf courses around the country will be
richer, will be the richer for it. Ron, congratulations to you and to
Jean. Enjoy your retirement, and thank you very much.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to another good friend of Ron's
and a member of the California delegation (Mr. Doolittle).

{time} 2000

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from
California (Mr. McKeon) for organizing this special order.
Ron is obviously someone who is looked upon very favorably here in
the House and who is a friend to all. And in the frenetic pace that we
have, we do not take time to stop and pause upon the contributions of
any given individual until the time of his or her retirement.
It is unfortunate that it is that way, but at least we do have this
occasion to pause for that moment, and many things have been said. Ron
has a very interesting life and a number of significant
accomplishments.
I just want to provide just two or three brief snapshots of my
encounters with Ron. When I was a brand-new Member here, 10 years ago,
I would take the Metro in; and so if we stayed late at night, although
I could have taken the Metro back out, Ron lived out near us, and he
was kind enough to give me a ride.
So he introduced me to an interesting way of getting home. But the
best way, and I always take it whenever I am driving, and that is you
go down 395 South. You get off at Maine Avenue. You go past the
Jefferson and Vietnam Veterans and Lincoln Memorials right along the
Potomac River.
There are quite a few little turns you have to know how to make, but
you end up going up over the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge looking past the
Kennedy Center, and you are on 66 West. And, Ron, every time I go that
way I have you to thank for that. I think of you. I think of you every
single time. I do think of you teaching me how to get home that way.
We have another thing that is somewhat unusual. When we were not back
in our districts and happened to be here for the weekend, Ron and I
were members of the same congregation, the Oakton Ward of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And Ron served for many days for the
instructor of priesthood group.
I might add Orrin and Elaine Hatch are members of that ward. And
Jean, of course. Ron and Jean's daughter Lisa. We miss them, I must
say, as they have been wrapping up their affairs and making the
transition completely back to California.
They have moved back with their family, and we do not see Ron so much
in that capacity, but we did see him there this last Sunday.
Anyway, I treasure those memories.
Lastly, but not least and most directly related to our legislative
life, I had the privilege of working with Ron on a very important issue
to California, the subject of water and specifically, the subject of
cow fed. Ron is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water
Development, and as we all know, there is an appropriations
subcommittee that handles the money to be spent for each of the
different policy committees.
The policy subcommittee that I chair is the Subcommittee on Water and
Power. And so we worked rather closely together on this very
contentious issue of water, and that is really not resolved as of this
moment and will be taken up in the next Congress.
But I do want to say this, rather than simply doing whatever he liked
as the appropriations chairman, because frankly, if that power is used
in that fashion, legislating on appropriations bills can occur and can
occur contrary to whatever the policy committee would like to have
happen. I do not think that that is appropriate, but it occasionally
happens around here.
It did not happen with Ron and his subcommittee, and I really value,
Ron, how closely you worked with us and the authorizers to try to reach
an accommodation on that. You and I and our committees were together,
but not all the parties in this process were, and so it has not worked
out yet; but you certainly gave it the maximum effort. I am convinced
the foundation that we laid will eventually be built upon to resolve
this problem.
Lastly, the last personal snapshot, as you heard what a great golfer
Ron is, and I think he is one of the best in the House. But he and his
wife also love games, board games, and we had a couple of delightful
evenings over the years enjoying those experiences together as couples.
So I want to say thank you. We will miss you, and Godspeed in your
new endeavors.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from San Diego,
California (Mr. Hunter), another good friend.
Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from
California (Mr. McKeon) for putting this special order together, and we
talked about the serious side of Ron I think a little too much tonight.
I need to tell you a couple of stories about this guy.

[[Page H10889]]

The first story is, a number of people have talked about his
patriotic service to the Nation as a Naval officer, indeed, a dentist;
and there is one story that is floating around Southern California
about a certain dentist who was seeing a large number of recruits.
They were running them through pretty rapidly, filling teeth, pulling a
few here and there and getting them in shape to go overseas.

Ron and his cohort there, the other dentist who worked in the office,
decided they would have a little fun. It involved a new technique, the
technique of utilizing dynamite to remove bad teeth. So they had a
rather large, naive young man who was in the chair, a little bit
apprehensive about this dental work that was to begin.
Ron very ceremoniously opened up a large volume, a big book; and he
said we are going to try the new blasting technique on your teeth. I
hope you like it. It is experimental, and Ron proceeded to take a
piece, a little roll of gauze that he dipped in iodine that looked like
a miniature dynamite stick.
And as this horrified recruit, who had been promised good dental care
in the U.S. Navy, lay back in that chair with just a look of horror on
his face, Ron inserted this small stick of dynamite under one of the
molars or on top of one of his molars, he looked back at the book and
he said it now says we have to attach the fuse, and he pulled out a
piece of dental floss, which if you light it will in fact fizzle and
sputter and acted something like a fuse, then he plugged the fuse into
the small stick of dynamite that was laying on top of a now horrified
recruit's back molar.
Ron then, a very, very solemn man. We all know Ron can be a solemn
person. When Ron is solemn we all get solemn, and he very solemnly
skipped a few lines in the book, and he says to his friend, his fellow
dentist, that we have to take cover. So they led the fuse over behind
the desk and got down behind the desk; and Ron then lit the fuse, and
as this fuse sputtered and fizzled and the flame, the spark got closer
and closer to this young recruit, the recruit got more and more
agitated, as you may imagine, and finally leaped up with a squeak and
raced out of the office.
Ron was required shortly thereafter to visit the commanding officer.
And this is pure Ron Packard. He has gotten away with stuff all of his
life. He very solemnly went in and began to explain what had happened
very truthfully, and his commanding officer wanted to be very severe,
but after Ron had gone about halfway through the story, his commanding
officer could not help himself, and he burst out laughing.
He finally just admonished Ron and his colleague to get out of there,
so they left. They promised not to harass any more recruits, and that
is one of my favorite Navy stories.
But that epitomizes the sense of humor that Ron has and Ron has
carried that sense of humor over to today. In fact, he has a great
sense of humor. He actually told the gentleman from California (Mr.
Cunningham) and I we had good golf swings before he proceeded to take
us for a small wager, of course not illegal; but we have had a lot of
fun out there playing golf.
Ron is a fairly tight-fisted guy. I had an opportunity to actually
make a hole-in-one in a golf tournament that my colleagues played in,
and I thought I would get a car. But I was informed that since Ron was
running the tournament, I would not get any car. And I think I got just
a couple of dollars for making this fabulous hole-in-one, even though
another member of the conference then got a very nice car after he made
a hole-in-one a couple of tournaments later.
Ron wanted to present me with my car this year, which I understand
was a small model about 5 inches long; so, Ron, I want to get that as
soon as possible.
My other favorite story about Ron Packard involves his family, and it
involves where he comes from in that great area of the Snake River
Plains in Idaho, where people work from dawn to dark and have a
tremendous work ethic and where everybody looks the other guy right
straight in the eye and where literally a big piece of American
wilderness was carved into a very productive land, and that is where
Ron and his 16 brothers and sisters, 14 boys and 3 girls, grew up near
Meridian, Idaho, and the Snake River Plains there.
His father was working for Morrison, Knudson just prior to the
Japanese bombing in Pearl Harbor in World War II, and he was on Wake
Island. He was working as a civilian worker. When Wake Island was taken
shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor he was captured by the
Japanese. His father became a POW.
I think what his father did in that POW camp represents the character
that Ron took on, and that has followed him all of his life, and that
is that Ron's dad who became a POW was taken on one of the so-called
hell ships to Japan and treated very brutally, helped to take care of
the other POWs.
He became the historian of the POW camp, and he wrote down the
history of all of the members of that POW camp, and he kept a log on
what happened to them. As you know, 30 percent of our POWs were killed
in World War II that were incarcerated in Japan.
He hid that little history, as I recall, in a piece of bamboo. And
when he came back to the States, he made sure that he contacted every
family that had a loved one in that POW camp and gave them the history
of their loved one, who in most cases did not make it back or in many
cases did not make it back before he went back to his own family, and
then like Ron Packard, he told them, all the kids, what had happened,
and then he talked very little about it. And that is Ron.
He is the kind of guy who has got great character, a great caring and
does not dwell on himself a lot. We have had little cabals, as the
gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) said in the California
delegation. I like a good cabal myself, and a good secret meeting; Ron
Packard is a guy that likes to bring people together and likes to put
oil in the water and bring out the best in everyone.
He really epitomizes what is best about this Congress. He has got a
good heart. He looks you in the eye. He helps you whenever he can, and
he is a great citizen. And I cannot help but think that it was that
upbringing that the 17 boys and girls, 14 boys and 3 girls, on the
Snake River Plains of Idaho and all that hard work that they had to
endure and keeping that family going without a father that made Ron
Packard what he is.
We have been better for his presence. God bless you, Ron.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to another good friend of Mr.
Packard's, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), who served
with him on the Committee on Appropriations.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I sat in my office listening to speeches
being made, and I thought to myself how many times I had shared in
private conversations with so many people both in this Congress and
outside, how much admiration and respect I had for Ron Packard. I
thought to myself, maybe this is a good time to share with the world at
large exactly what some of my feelings are for him.
Mr. Speaker, I met Ron first when I showed up to play in one of his
golf tournaments, and I think when he saw me, he thought maybe I had
strayed on to the wrong golf course. But we struck up a relationship on
that day; and some time after that, I was elected by my party to serve
on the Committee on Appropriations and of course I sought a seat on the
Committee on Energy and Water Development, and much to my pleasant
surprise, I found out that Ron Packard was the Chair of that
subcommittee.
I cannot think of anybody with whom I have worked since being in this
body that I felt more fairly treated than the time I spent on that
subcommittee. And of course, I took leave from the committee and am
still on leave from that committee and his subcommittee. We still find
time to interact with each other.
Quite frankly, I am not too sure he didn't treat me more fairly in my
absence than he would have if I had been there to argue my case in
person. But this past Members golf tournament I had the opportunity to
play in a foursome with Ron Packard, and I always thought of how much I
admired and respected him, until that day when he politely taught me
just how much better a golfer he is than I am, but he did it in such a
way that I really enjoyed that thumping you gave me on that day.

{time} 2015

But all of that aside, as I said earlier, in this body, I think, as
some things

[[Page H10890]]

get contentious, we often plead our partisan cases in such a way that
even we are often not proud of how we have done it. But I have never
seen an instance when my interaction with Ron Packard was not of the
highest regards for each other.
I wanted to come to the floor tonight and say how much I appreciate
serving with him, how much I appreciate my friendship with him, and to
wish him Godspeed in all that is before him in life and let him know
that, if ever he comes to South Carolina, I want to repay that thumping
on the golf course that he gave me not too long ago. I thank him and
Godspeed.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from Orange
County, California (Mr. Cox), one of the leaders of our California
delegation.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California very much
for yielding to me.
Mr. Speaker, I want to join with this distinguished group of Members
on both sides of the aisle in paying tribute to my friend and our
colleague, this great national leader from Southern California, Ron
Packard.
I, too, have enjoyed listening to the stories tonight on the floor,
and I hope the gentleman from California (Mr. Packard) has, too. There
are many to tell about a man whose time here in Congress has done so
much to improve our national life and to improve this institution.
Ron and Jean and their seven children and their 34 grandchildren are
a family that the Packards have made us all feel a part of. I have met
some, but not all of the Packard family. Perhaps someday I will be able
to do that. But the family members that I have been introduced to and I
have met are fine men and women that say a lot about Ron and Jean.
I have my own much younger family. It seems to me, given the natural
limits to mortal life, I can never catch up. But I know from the task
of being a father what a measure of our own worth that is. That is one
and only one, a big one, area of Ron's life in which he has set an
example for the rest of us.
When I first came to Congress, I had the opportunity to serve on the
Public Works and Transportation Committee with my neighbor in Orange
County to the south, Ron Packard. Ron was and is an expert in aviation,
served on that as well as other subcommittees in the Congress, and
continued to have even greater influence in that area on the Committee
on Appropriations where, as has been remarked upon several times
tonight, he is a cardinal, a term of reverence, well deserved in his
case for someone who wields extraordinary power of the purse in our
constitutional system.
I have had the opportunity even to have some vacation dinners with
Ron and Jean. Rebecca and I have shared a nice meal at some romantic
spots in Hawaii together and gotten to know Ron in that way personally,
and it has been a lot of fun. I hope we have the opportunity to
continue to do that even after he retires, because we are Southern
California neighbors.
It has been mentioned because it is such an extraordinary fact of
Ron's career here how he got here in the first place, one of only four
Americans in our national history to come to this people's House as a
write-in candidate.
It is extraordinary in a time in election season right now when we
are all talking about campaign finance reform and the nefarious
influence of special interests to think about what this means in Ron's
case. Ron got here in exactly the opposite way, not because of special
interests, not because he was even the nominee of a major party. He was
not. He had to run against the Democratic nominee, run against the
Republican nominee as an individual. He was Ron Packard first and
became the party's standard bearer thereafter because the people wrote
him in.
Ron Packard and I share another distinction that I am very proud of.
Possibly this means more to a Republican than a Democrat. But Ron and I
are the only Members to have our legislation become law,
notwithstanding the veto of President Clinton, in two full terms of the
Clinton administration: in my case, the Securities Litigation Reform
Act; in his case something even more important, I have to say, and that
is rebuilding our Nation's military.
Because as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Construction
of our Committee on Appropriations, he put before this House what was
necessary to rebuild our military, to provide the resources that armed
services needed. He convinced our colleagues on both sides of the
aisle. They voted to support his legislation. The same was true down
the corridor in the other body, the United States Senate.
We sent that legislation to the President. When the President made
the rare decision to cast a veto that he should not have, the Congress
reacted quickly and supported Ron Packard, even against the wishes of
the President of the United States, because they knew he was supporting
the United States military and that he was right.

Now, it should be said about a Republican who serves on the Committee
on Appropriations that there are temptations. The whole term limits
movement has a reason in America because of those temptations, because
people who serve too long in Washington find it too easy to spend other
people's money on pork barrel projects, on wasteful Washington ways.
Sometimes they forget about the people back home. It is sad to say that
temptation is strongest when one is closest to the money on the
committee charged with spending it, the Committee on Appropriations in
the House and in the Senate.
So how honored have we been as American citizens to be served by a
chairman on the Committee on Appropriations who took his trust so
seriously that, in discharging it, he actually reduced spending.
When Ron Packard first became a chairman on the Committee on
Appropriations in 1995, he quickly sent a bill to the floor of the
House of Representatives that did not just cut spending for the benefit
of taxpayers, it cut spending at home where, presumably, it would hurt
Members of Congress themselves most, in our own legislative budget. He
cut spending by Congress on itself by fully one-third, an extraordinary
achievement when we had a new majority, a new Congress, under the
leadership of Ron Packard.
In fact, throughout his career in the majority as a cardinal, as a
chairman on the Committee on Appropriations, Ron Packard has been
garnering awards, not for bringing home the bacon, but from such groups
as Americans for Tax Reform, which rated him a taxpayer's hero, and the
National Taxpayers Union, which rated Ron Packard an appropriator and a
chairman and a cardinal in the top 5 percent of people in this entire
Congress interested in cutting spending.
This is an extraordinary accomplishment and something, Mr. Speaker,
that the gentleman from California (Mr. Packard) can not only be proud
of, but that all of his colleagues here are proud of. He has made us
all proud. Everything that he has done in his career, even before he
came to Congress, as a local leader, as a mayor, as a member of the
city council, as a dentist with his own practice has distinguished him.
But in this Congress for 18 years, everyone on both sides of the
aisle, as the gentleman is hearing tonight from his friends, has found
him to be scrupulously honest in his dealings, to be always fair, and,
just as importantly, to be hard working and is represented by the fact
that he got here as a write-in candidate, a citizen legislator. The
gentleman from California (Mr. Packard) is, in short, everything that a
Member of Congress should be, everything a national leader should be.
It is well said that ours is a government of, by and for the people.
The for and by parts are very important. But remember that it is also a
government of the people, and that this Congress, which manufacturers
nothing, is simply the sum of the people who populate it, the people
who were chosen by the voters to come back here.
Therefore, by being who he has been, the fine gentleman that he has
been and is, the leader that he has been, the exemplar that he has been
for all of us, he have improved this institution, the people's House.
The Congress of the United States and thus our country is the better
for it.
It has been a privilege to know the gentleman from California (Mr.
Packard) and to work with him, and I look forward to continuing our
friendship in the years ahead.

____________________