[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 17 (Wednesday, February 7, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H205-H207]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                    GORO HOKAMA POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 132) to designate the facility of the United States 
Postal Service located at 620 Jacaranda Street in Lanai City, Hawaii, 
as the ``Goro Hokama Post Office Building''.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 132

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. GORO HOKAMA POST OFFICE BUILDING.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 620 Jacaranda Street in Lanai City, 
     Hawaii, shall be known and designated as the ``Goro Hokama 
     Post Office Building''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the Goro Hokama Post Office Building.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gibbons). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) and the gentlewoman from Hawaii 
(Mrs. Mink) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller).
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  On January 3 of this year, I introduced H.R. 132, to designate the 
Post Office on the island of Lanai as the ``Goro Hokama Post Office.'' 
I thank the majority of this committee for allowing me to bring this 
bill up at this early stage in our session, and I know that this is a 
moment of great honor to Mr. Hokama, whom I advised yesterday. Although 
it is only 5:00 a.m. in Hawaii, I believe that he and his family are 
listening.
  The Lanai Post Office came to my attention, and it is in my district; 
it is a small island with only 3,000 people, but the Post Office 
situation came to my attention several years ago. The population had 
grown at that point and there were post office boxes on the outside of 
the Old Post Office, and it became quite evident that a new building 
had to be constructed. So, after years of waiting, finally in February 
of the year 2000, a new post office was constructed.
  I think that it is extremely appropriate, therefore, that this post 
office be named the Goro Hokama Post Office. I have known Mr. Hokama 
almost the entire time that I have been active in politics, since the 
late 1950s. I have known him as a person of enormous dedication and 
integrity. He has given of his life to the growth and development of 
the island of Lanai where he was born and where his family currently 
resides. He was picked out as a person of great leadership potential. 
Even in his high school, he was elected to serve as the student body 
president.
  Like most other young men, he went off to war, served in the army, 
came back and began his public service career. He was employed by the 
Dole Pineapple Company, which virtually ran the entire economic 
industry of Lanai for many, many years, and was a member of the 
International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union and served in many 
important capacities.
  I recall that he came to Washington during my first tenure here as a 
Member of Congress representing the interests of the working people of 
this Nation, as well as the people of his union, the ILWU. He continues 
to serve in many capacities as a member of that union.
  His life story expands the traditional life story of most people who 
are active in civic affairs, in athletic programs, giving of himself in 
every possible way. But the thing that singles out Goro Hokama is 
someone who is deserving of this honor that we are bestowing on him 
today is his 42 years in elective office, representing his island on 
the Maui County Council and previously on that same board which was 
then named the Board of Supervisors. He chaired this County Council for 
16 years, served in all of the various capacities, and really exerted 
not just a feeling of Lanai and his hometown, but the essence of 
Hawaii, the directions that we wanted to go, the concern that he always 
expressed about working families.
  He also was active in the Hawaii Association of Counties and served 
as president 11 times and came to numerous meetings with NACO, the 
National Association of Counties. He has currently not abandoned his 
responsibilities; in fact, he has engaged himself in many, many more 
ways. He serves as the chairman of the Maui County Hospital Management 
committee and has been, since 1998, vice-chair of the Maui Civil 
Service Commission. In fact, when I called to reach him yesterday, he 
was presiding over that Civil Service Commission meeting over on Maui.
  So with his family, his wife, Kiwae Deguchi and their two children, 
Riki and Joy, who I know are all very, very honored and pleased at this 
effort today in the naming of the central place on Lanai Island where 
everybody goes and to have the name of Goro Hokama emblazoned over this 
post office is just a small way to honor this humble and simple public 
servant for all of the years that he has devoted to the betterment of 
their lives. So I am pleased to stand and offer this bill and to ask 
Members to support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from the First Congressional District of Hawaii (Mr. Abercrombie).
  Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, I want to particularly thank the 
chairman today for the opportunity to be here. Mr. Speaker, it is 
probably something that many of us tend to take for granted over time, 
that we have the opportunity to be on this floor and to sponsor bills 
such as the Goro Hokama Post Office Building bill, and in some respects 
could be seen by others as pro forma. I think, Mr. Speaker, we have 
learned, and I am sure the chairman has learned, that it is the obvious 
that we have to repeat to ourselves over and over again, because it is 
the obvious that sometimes we take most for granted and forget first. 
This, perhaps, Mr. Speaker, is one of those occasions, where we remind 
ourselves that we really, in fact, do have the high honor and privilege 
of serving the people of this Nation.
  While the issues may be weighty in many respects and a somber and 
sober attitude required with respect to the adjudication of these 
issues and the resolution of these issues, today I can tell my 
colleagues, this is an occasion of joy for the gentlewoman from Hawaii 
(Mrs. Mink) and myself, and I hope, by extension in some small way, for 
the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Gibbons) as presiding officer, and for 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) today, to be here because we 
have, in fact, the opportunity to recognize, as my colleague indicated, 
a public servant, someone who has seen himself always as the humble 
servant of the people of Hawaii and, most particularly, the people of 
Lanai.
  As the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink) indicated, the island of 
Lanai is a small island; small in population, small in size, known the 
world over as the Pineapple Island, and Goro Hokama is central to the 
history of this island, not only from the time that he spent as a young 
man before his service in the United States Army, but almost literally 
upon the time that he returned from the service to Lanai to take up his 
duties as a member of the ILWU in representing the working people of 
the island of Lanai. He was elected to public office. The people who 
knew him best, who knew him from the time he was a little boy, 
understood that in Goro Hokama, they had someone of extraordinary 
ability. That ability and insight, I might add, Mr. Speaker, was such 
that he encouraged people. He encouraged people to participate in the 
public life of Hawaii, and with statehood 41 years ago, the experience 
that he had with the county, the experience he had with my good and 
dear friend, the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink), and in 
encouraging her, and this is not always possible. It is something we 
take for granted now, Mr. Speaker.
  It was not easy to be a member of a minority. It was not easy to be 
seen as someone who did not have control of the levers of power, to be 
able to continue to succeed, to encourage others, to participate in a 
way that gave others confidence in him, and Goro Hokama was the person 
who did that.

[[Page H206]]

 Goro Hokama was someone who encouraged the gentlewoman from Hawaii 
(Mrs. Mink) to pursue her political career which has manifested itself 
in the marvelous record that she has here in the United States 
Congress. Goro Hokama was someone that encouraged a young kid from the 
east coast of the United States who had come all the way to Hawaii in 
the hopes of beginning another life with statehood as I did 41 years 
ago, not only encouraged me, but gave me the idea that it was what I 
had to contribute that counted. It was what was in my heart that 
counted. And when we have a man like Goro Hokama as a guiding light, as 
a mentor, as someone who can make clear the path for you, encouraging 
you all the way, it is something that is truly to be treasured.
  So my colleague and I come to the floor today with a sense that with 
the naming of the Goro Hokama Post Office Building, there is a 
conclusion to a life of public service, and I hope that his grandsons, 
Jordan and Trent, possibly are up at 5 o'clock in the morning, too, to 
see their grandfather honored.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I want to conclude my remarks by again thanking the 
chairman, not only for his consideration, but for giving us the 
opportunity to honor someone who truly deserves it, a great American, a 
great son of Hawaii, a true representative of everything that is great 
and good about the island of Lanai, Goro Hokama.
  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I would like to conclude by saying that I want to thank two of my 
colleagues who cosponsored this legislation, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. George Miller) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Stark), both of whom are cosponsors of this legislation. I want to 
thank the majority for giving me this opportunity to bring this bill up 
so early in the session. I want to thank the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Dan Miller) for taking on this responsibility of representing the 
majority. I certainly want to thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. 
Burton) for his support of this legislation, and certainly the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman). I appreciate so much this 
opportunity to honor a longtime friend and colleague, and I hope that 
this bill will be passed and reported over to the Senate.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  On behalf of the majority, let me congratulate the gentlewoman from 
Hawaii for bringing forth this method of recognition of someone who has 
apparently done a great deal for Lanai City and Hawaii. This is one 
small way that the House of Representatives and Congress can help 
recognize people that have made outstanding contributions to their 
areas, and certainly this is the case here.
  With that, I urge a vote in favor of this motion.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to reclaim 
my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Hawaii?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume 
to the gentleman from California (Mr. Stark).
  (Mr. STARK asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 132, designating 
the Lanai City Post Office the Goro Hokama Post Office.
  To bring just some of the Stark family remembrance to this occasion, 
my family and I have been visiting the Island of Lanai for at least 10 
years and, with all due respect to the rest of the Hawaiian islands, 
pretty much the same hibiscus, and pretty much the same bougainvillea, 
pretty much the same marvelous climate, pretty much the same sand.

                              {time}  1030

  What is so different about Lanai? It is the people. It really is. 
They have made us and our children feel welcome there, at home, 
comfortable, not overburdened, just a wonderful group of people. And 
when we have someone like Goro Hokama, who is almost a legend on the 
island of Lanai, he has served the people as a public servant for the 
County of Maui, the State of Hawaii, over 40 years, long before it 
became the tourist mecca that it is today.
  He has been a labor leader, an elected official, a Little League 
volunteer, and he typifies the kind of pitch-in spirit of togetherness 
that the Hawaiian people on the island of Lanai have every right to be 
so proud of.
  I am delighted to be here with my colleagues from Hawaii today in 
support of H.R. 132.
  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gibbons). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 132.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the 
ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a 
quorum is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
  The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 413, 
nays 0, not voting 19, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 11]

                               YEAS--413

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Aderholt
     Akin
     Allen
     Andrews
     Armey
     Baca
     Bachus
     Baker
     Baldacci
     Baldwin
     Ballenger
     Barcia
     Barr
     Barrett
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Bentsen
     Bereuter
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Bishop
     Blagojevich
     Blumenauer
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonior
     Borski
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Brown (SC)
     Bryant
     Burr
     Burton
     Callahan
     Camp
     Cantor
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Carson (IN)
     Carson (OK)
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Clay
     Clayton
     Clyburn
     Coble
     Collins
     Combest
     Condit
     Conyers
     Cooksey
     Costello
     Cox
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Crane
     Crenshaw
     Crowley
     Cubin
     Culberson
     Cummings
     Cunningham
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis, Jo Ann
     Davis, Thomas M.
     Deal
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     DeLay
     DeMint
     Deutsch
     Diaz-Balart
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Dooley
     Doyle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Edwards
     Ehlers
     Ehrlich
     Emerson
     Engel
     English
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Everett
     Farr
     Fattah
     Ferguson
     Filner
     Flake
     Fletcher
     Foley
     Ford
     Fossella
     Frank
     Frelinghuysen
     Frost
     Gallegly
     Ganske
     Gekas
     Gephardt
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Gonzalez
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Gordon
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Graves
     Green (TX)
     Green (WI)
     Gutierrez
     Gutknecht
     Hall (OH)
     Hall (TX)
     Hansen
     Harman
     Hart
     Hastings (FL)
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Herger
     Hill
     Hilleary
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hobson
     Hoeffel
     Hoekstra
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley
     Horn
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hoyer
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hutchinson
     Hyde
     Inslee
     Isakson
     Israel
     Issa
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Jenkins
     John
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, E.B.
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Keller
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kerns
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind (WI)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kleczka
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     Kucinich
     LaFalce
     LaHood
     Lampson
     Langevin
     Lantos
     Largent
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Leach
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (GA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     Lipinski
     LoBiondo
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Lucas (OK)
     Luther
     Maloney (CT)
     Maloney (NY)
     Manzullo
     Markey
     Mascara
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McCrery
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntyre
     McKeon
     McKinney
     McNulty
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Menendez
     Mica
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (FL)
     Miller, Gary
     Miller, George
     Mink
     Mollohan
     Moore
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Murtha
     Myrick
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Nethercutt
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz

[[Page H207]]


     Osborne
     Ose
     Otter
     Owens
     Oxley
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Paul
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Pence
     Peterson (MN)
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Phelps
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Platts
     Pombo
     Pomeroy
     Portman
     Price (NC)
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Rahall
     Ramstad
     Rangel
     Regula
     Rehberg
     Reyes
     Reynolds
     Riley
     Rivers
     Roemer
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Ross
     Rothman
     Roukema
     Roybal-Allard
     Royce
     Rush
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Sabo
     Sanchez
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Sawyer
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schaffer
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Schrock
     Scott
     Sensenbrenner
     Serrano
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherman
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shows
     Simmons
     Simpson
     Sisisky
     Skeen
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Solis
     Souder
     Spence
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stearns
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stump
     Stupak
     Sununu
     Sweeney
     Tancredo
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Tauzin
     Taylor (MS)
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Thornberry
     Thune
     Thurman
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Tierney
     Toomey
     Towns
     Traficant
     Turner
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Upton
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Vitter
     Walden
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Waters
     Watkins
     Watt (NC)
     Watts (OK)
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Wexler
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson
     Wolf
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn
     Young (FL)

                             NOT VOTING--19

     Baird
     Becerra
     Bono
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Cannon
     Capito
     Clement
     Doolittle
     Evans
     Greenwood
     Grucci
     Istook
     Meehan
     Moakley
     Morella
     Rodriguez
     Rogers (KY)
     Young (AK)

                              {time}  1059

  So (two-thirds having voted in favor thereof) the rules were 
suspended and the bill was passed.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  Stated for:
  Mr. GRUCCI. Mr. Speaker, due to the death of my mother-in-law, Mrs. 
Carmella Fierro, I was unable to participate in today's recorded vote. 
However, I would have voted in the affirmative on the suspension bill 
on today's agenda: H.R. 132 to designate the facility of the United 
States Postal Service located at 620 Jacaranda Street in Lanai City, 
Hawaii, as the ``Goro Hokama Post Office Building.''
  Ms. CAPITO. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 11, I was not present due to 
erroneous information. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

                          ____________________