[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 103 (Thursday, July 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1513]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING BILL LYNCH AS DEPUTY MANAGER FOR KERRY-EDWARDS CAMPAIGN

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                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 22, 2004

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the appointment of 
William (Bill) Lynch Jr. as Deputy Campaign Manager for the Kerry-
Edwards Presidential Campaign.
  A Harlem native and former Deputy Mayor of the City of New York, Bill 
Lynch has more than 30 years experience in local and national politics, 
government operations and public policy. In 1997, former President 
William J. Clinton nominated Mr. Lynch for the position of Vice Chair 
to the Democratic National Committee.
  Prior to Mr. Lynch's appointment as the Deputy Mayor for 
Intergovernmental Affairs in 1989, he served as Campaign Manager for 
David Dinkins '89 and as Chief of Staff to the then Manhattan Borough 
President. Bill Lynch has been a social and political activist for the 
past twenty-five years, serving as Director of Legislation and 
Political Action for District Council 1701 of the American Federation 
of State and Municipal Employees (AFL-CIO), as well as Campaign Manager 
for Congressman Major Owens and Assemblyman William Frank Boyland both 
of Brooklyn, New York.
  Mr. Lynch will lead a national effort to motivate and deliver key 
Democratic Party constituent groups, particularly African Americans and 
Latinos that have been marginalized in the past. I urge my colleagues 
to join me in commending Mr. William Lynch on his recent appointment as 
the Deputy Campaign Manager for the Kerry-Edwards Presidential Campaign 
and wish him all the success.
  I commend to my colleagues the following article, which appeared in 
the New York Daily News on July 20, 2004.

                  [From the Daily News, July 20, 2004]

                           Dems' New Captain

                            (By Errol Louis)

       On a quiet, isolated farm in Tennessee, a few hundred 
     political leaders gathered Sunday to honor two New Yorkers--
     Len Riggio, the Brooklyn-born chairman of Barnes & Noble, and 
     former Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch--in a ceremony that symbolizes 
     a pivotal moment in the race for President. Newly named to 
     the post of deputy manger of the Kerry-Edwards campaign, 
     Lynch will help lead a national effort to fire up and deliver 
     many of the Democratic Party's key constituent groups. That 
     includes women, gays, young adults, blacks, Latinos and union 
     members, especially in the swing states--all in the 104-day 
     sprint between now and Election Day.
       Should Lynch succeed, the ticket stands a good chance of 
     winning. But if he comes up even a little bit short in key 
     states like Ohio, Pennsylvania or Florida, it could cost the 
     Democrats the election.
       Given the importance of his mission, it's fitting that 
     Lynch was back at the Haley Farm Freedom School, a 157-acre 
     spread outside Knoxville, over the weekend. There he joined a 
     cross section of the Democratic Party's elite, including 
     David Dinkins and Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of the vice 
     presidential candidate, at the dedication of the Riggio-Lynch 
     Chapel, a building paid for by the bookstore magnate and 
     designed by renowned architect Maya Lin (of Vietnam memorial 
     fame).
       The farm, formerly owned by the writer Alex Haley, was 
     acquired a decade ago by the Children's Defense Fund and 
     transformed into a thriving conference and training center 
     for veterans of the civil rights movement and their younger, 
     modern successors. Over the last 10 years, more than 6,000 
     young people have passed through the Haley farm for retreat-
     like workshops on everything from writing policy papers to 
     studying how civil disobedience works.
       College-age activists, many with dreadlocks and tattoos, 
     regularly sit and swap stories with movement veterans who put 
     their bodies on the line in places like Selma, Birmingham and 
     the Mississippi Delta. The same kids are the secret weapon 
     that could carry the election.
       Lynch, a former union organizer who did his share of sit-
     ins before turning to electoral politics, is expected to tap 
     into this army of well-trained young activists and bring 
     their farm-stoked energy into the Kerry-Edwards campaign.
       The challenge for Lynch will be to persuade party bigwigs 
     that in many communities, no amount of expensive advertising, 
     fancy Internet networking or televised debating can replace 
     doorknocking, phone-banking and other kinds of grass-roots 
     organizing.
       It's a debate that goes on in every Democratic campaign. 
     All too often, fancy media strategists win the debate and 
     grab most of the campaign funds--and then lose the election.
       It doesn't have to turn out that way. The troops who could 
     win the fall election have been training quietly for more 
     than a decade on that quiet farm outside Knoxville. If Lynch 
     succeeds at bringing them into a Democratic win, it will look 
     like a 100-day electoral miracle.

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