[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S11894]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                RECOGNITION OF CONGRESSMAN NEIL STAEBLER

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge the life and 
accomplishments of a distinguished and principled public servant who 
served as a Member of Congress from my home state of Michigan, Neil 
Staebler. For nearly six decades, Neil embodied the very ideals on 
which this nation was founded. Born in 1905, Neil Staebler is widely 
credited as a founder of the modern Michigan Democratic Party. However, 
Neil's greatest desire was to make our government work for all its 
citizens.
  Throughout his life, Neil dedicated himself to serving the United 
States of America. At the age of thirty-seven, he joined the World War 
II effort by enlisting in the United States Navy, where he served as a 
lieutenant.
  After the conclusion of the war, Neil and a group of other 
distinguished citizens from Michigan, including former Governor G. 
Mennen Williams, former Congresswoman and Lieutenant Governor Martha 
Griffiths, and Martha's husband Hicks, helped to re-shape the Michigan 
Democratic Party and alter the landscape of Michigan politics. They 
sought to reinvigorate the Democratic Party and make it more responsive 
to the will and the needs of Michigan's citizens. Their efforts led to 
a renewed vibrancy within the Michigan Democratic Party, and propelled 
Neil to the chairmanship of the Party.
  Neil served as state chairman for over a decade, and was able to use 
his position to encourage active political participation by all people. 
In addition to serving as state chairman and winning a seat to Congress 
in 1962, he ran an unsuccessful but hard fought challenge of Governor 
George Romney in 1964.
  While he was a loyal member of the Democratic Party, Neil Staebler 
was first and foremost committed to our nation's institutions and the 
need for all citizens to participate in the democratic process. 
President Gerald Ford recognized Neil's commitment to civic 
participation when he appointed him to serve on the first Federal 
Elections Commission.
  Throughout this year's election, people of differing political 
allegiances have remarked on the stable and resilient nature of our 
nation's institutions. Our health as a democracy is due, in a large 
part, to the dedication and efforts of individuals like Neil Staebler. 
Neil Staebler was one of the true lions of Michigan and American 
politics. I am sure that my Senate colleagues will join me in honoring 
the memory of Neil Staebler, and in wishing his wife Burnette and their 
family well in the years ahead.

                          ____________________