[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 137 (Monday, December 6, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TRIBUTE TO RETIRING REPRESENTATIVE CAL DOOLEY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 6, 2004

  Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to have the opportunity 
tonight to join with my fellow members of the New Democrat Coalition in 
paying tribute to Representative Cal Dooley of California, who is 
retiring from Congress at the end of this year.
  As the Almanac of American Politics 2004 edition described Cal: ``The 
congressman from the 20th District is Cal Dooley, a Democrat first 
elected in 1990. He is a farmer, growing cotton, alfalfa and walnuts, 
as his great-grandfather did before him. In 1987 he became a staffer 
for Tulare state Senator Rose Ann Vuich. In 1990, he ran for Congress 
in a more Republican-leaning district. Luck was with him: The incumbent 
had accepted contributions from S&L operator Charles Keating and 
interceded on his behalf with regulators. Dooley won with a solid 55%. 
. . . Dooley's endurance has been partly a testimonial to his moderate 
voting record, which is the most conservative of California Democrats. 
On the Agriculture and Resources committees, he tended to district 
interests. He was one of three committee Democrats to vote for Richard 
Pombos' guest worker bill, and he supported lifting the ban on food 
sales to Cuba. He has co-chaired the Congressional Beef Caucus, the 
Western Water Caucus and the Biotechnology Caucus. He strongly backed 
PNTR with China and he worked closely with neighboring Congressman and 
Ways and Means Committee chairman Bill Thomas to get Democratic votes 
for trade promotion authority in 2001 and 2002. . . . He sided with 
most Democrats in opposing the increased work requirements in the 
Republicans' welfare bill. Dooley is active on local issues, including 
flood control projects, increased dam capacity, and additional funds 
for farm workers. . . .''
  Most importantly, Cal Dooley was one of the founders and original co-
chairs of the House New Democrat Coalition, which Politics in America's 
2004 edition described as ``a growing group of moderate, pro-business 
lawmakers who say they seek bipartisan solutions. . . . It is a measure 
of Dooley's reputation as a leader of centrist Democrats--he co-founded 
the New Democrat Coalition in 1997 along with Virginia's James P. Moran 
and former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer--that his name was floated, during 
the disputed 2000 presidential election, as a potential appointee to 
either a Bush or a Gore administration.''
  Mr. Speaker, Cal Dooley has been a friend and mentor of mine during 
the past 6 years I have served in Congress. As a fellow member of 
Congress who has sought bipartisan solutions to the many difficult 
issues we have faced in this body, he has offered me wise counsel on 
many occasions and his leadership of the New Democrat Coalition in the 
House Democratic Caucus provided important leadership to all members of 
our Caucus. The people of Cal Dooley's California congressional 
district have been very well served by his 14 years of representing 
them in Congress and I know they join with me and his colleagues in 
this body in wishing him all the best as he pursues a new career in the 
private sector. He will be missed in the halls of Congress. But Cal 
Dooley will not be forgotten.

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