[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 56 (Tuesday, May 3, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H2785-H2786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING CRAIG WASHINGTON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a man who spoke on this 
floor and wandered these historic hallowed hallways over a decade ago.
  Craig Washington, a former Democratic Congressman from Texas, made a 
name for himself in this place of Washington and in the Lone Star State 
of Texas.
  At home in the great State of Texas, he is best known for his 
courtroom mesmerizing oratory, his remarkable victories as a criminal 
defense lawyer and his persistent passion for helping out the little 
guy.
  Eleven years ago, he left Congress and headed back to Texas. Now 
Washington is back in the spotlight again defending one of Texas' high 
profile clients and doing what he does best, arguing for constitutional 
rights, helping the downtrodden. Those are the people who need him the 
most.
  He is gracing the front pages of the Houston Chronicle yet again, but 
if you ask his daughter, Chival, she claims that her dad is just a 
regular guy and that is one of the reasons she admires him so much.
  Craig Washington was born in deep east Texas, a town called Longview. 
He grew up in Houston and after high school he enrolled in Prairie View 
A&M University at the age of 16 with the hopes of becoming a dentist. 
Eight years later he finally graduated with a grade point average too 
low to complete his plans of dentistry. He was tremendously intelligent 
but could not be bothered with attending classes.
  In 1966 Craig Washington was introduced to the Dean of the Texas 
Southern University Law School. Washington had charisma and 
determination even at a young age, and he managed to talk the dean into 
accepting him into the law school program and then transferring to 
dentistry. But instead he was hooked on the law and looked on it for 
the rest of his life.
  Four years later, he would graduate with honors and become the 
assistant dean and assistant professor of law at his alma mater.
  Then in 1970, he left the university to enter private law practice, 
and in 1972, he was elected to the Texas State Legislature. In 1982, he 
was elected to the Texas States Senate. It was there he made a name for 
himself as the second African American to serve in the Texas State 
Senate since reconstruction. It seems, Mr. Speaker, the war between the 
States died real hard in Texas.
  In 1989, his good friend, Congressman Mickey Leland, was killed in a 
tragic

[[Page H2786]]

plane crash representing this body in Ethiopia. Washington was 
determined to continue the work that Leland started and he ran for 
Leland's seat and was sworn in as Leland's replacement in Congress in 
1990.
  His years in Congress were spent on national issues and advocating 
for those who had no voice. Some in Texas did not agree with the way he 
voted and carried himself, but inside this beltway he was seen as a 
star on the rise. He was a maverick. He wooed his colleagues on many 
issues and upset more than one organization when he voted against big 
issues like NAFTA and even NASA.
  One particular evening on this House floor he argued against amending 
our Constitution to protect the flag. He said, ``I prefer a man who 
will burn the flag and then wrap himself in the Constitution to a man 
who will burn the Constitution and then wrap himself in the flag.''
  That is typical Craig Washington. Although Craig Washington and I 
disagree on many political issues, I admire him because he never made a 
decision based on politics.
  Eleven years ago, Washington left this Congress to return to his 
roots, Texas.

                              {time}  2030

  He has a home in Bastrop, Texas, a small German town near Austin, and 
today Washington devotes most of his time to fighting for those who 
have no advocate in our courts.
  When I was a prosecutor, we tried cases against each other, and I 
found his word and handshake were his bond, as it is today. When I 
became a judge, I had the opportunity to see him represent people in 
the most serious of accusations. In court, he spoke with the oratory of 
Daniel Webster and often uses his words with such power, he could put 
the jury in a hypnotic trance.
  Like Spartacus of the ancients, Mr. Washington goes into the pit of 
the courtroom arena armed with the sword of righteous indignation, the 
shield of the Constitution, and the breastplate of impeccable honor to 
fight for those broken of spirit. When Craig Washington does his final 
summation, I am convinced the angels from above get a seat in the 
rafters of the courtroom just to listen to his voice, a voice from 
heaven advocating persistently and passionately for the poor and 
persecuted.
  Craig Washington may be quiet, but he is a hell fire and brimstone 
lawyer from East Texas that argues a case with such intelligence, 
intensity, and logic that juries are forever mesmerized. He has the 
courtroom demeanor and dignity the law deserves and a hallowed respect 
for the Constitution that is waning today among many lawyers and even 
some Supreme Court Justices who see the Constitution as an 
inconvenience to result-oriented agendas.
  Politically, Craig Washington, I think, is a populist and an 
honorable gentleman from the Old South from an era when honor was 
important. He serves his clients with distinction and compassion and 
tremendous energy. He is a tremendous criminal defense lawyer as well 
as a right-thinking American, and I stand today on this floor where he 
stood 11 years ago to salute Mr. Washington. I am proud to call him my 
friend; and if I ever leave Congress, I hope to return to the courtroom 
to join him in trial, to do battle together against the forces of evil, 
tyranny, and injustice.

                          ____________________