[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 68 (Friday, May 26, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO LENCHO RENDON

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. SOLOMON P. ORTIZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 25, 2006

  Mr. ORTIZ. Mr. Speaker, this month Capitol Hill saw the departure of 
one of the most talented people in Texas politics today, my just-
retired Chief of Staff, my former Chief Deputy Sheriff in our other 
lives, my campaign advisor, my little brother, my best friend--some 
have even called him my ``alter ego'' Lencho Rendon.
  Lencho is a legend in the House of Representatives and counts many, 
many friends here in this Chamber . . . friends he will remain close to 
in this next chapter of his life. Several of them join me in bidding 
our friend and counselor farewell, but not goodbye.
  Lencho and I met not too long after I was elected Nueces County 
Sheriff in South Texas in 1976. He was working for the Webb County 
Sheriffs office and a DEA Task Force; and he was beginning to make a 
reputation for himself as one of the absolute best at finding the 
druggies and getting evidence on them.
  He was a master at that, and his detective and undercover work were 
monumentally dangerous just about every day. By the grace of God, 
Lencho lived to talk about--or not talk about--the everyday danger of 
living undercover to catch the bad guys.
  He ran my first campaign for Congress, a task he took on each 
election cycle--and he remains my campaign chairman. In Texas, Lencho 
is the guy you go to when you want to hear the straight scoop.
  He can find the bottom line . . . and see around the comers . . . and 
strategize a way to get you where you want to go. He works on numerous 
campaigns in South Texas during election season, and he understands the 
precise--yet nuanced--intersection of politics, policy, people, and the 
art of the possible.
  Here on the Hill and in the international community, Lencho has made 
more friends than we can count. He employs the same skills on Capitol 
Hill he learned and practices in South Texas: figure out where you want 
to go, and he can find a way to get you there. He is widely respected 
by both Members of Congress and Capitol Hill staff members.
  But it has been me and my staff members--here and in Texas--that have 
felt his absence most abruptly and most profoundly. We haven't missed a 
beat in our work for South Texans, but we have missed the presence of 
the man that we all respect and we all love. You grow so close to 
people with whom you stand in campaigns.
  Lencho is unbelievably talented on so many levels, and has a deep and 
abiding compassion for people and families. It's an old rule of 
politics: people that campaign together will always be there for each 
other. That is certainly true for me and my organization, but it's true 
for most every political organization.
  And so it will be--Lencho remains a trusted member of my family, and 
I will always seek his counsel on matters political and personal. I 
know he remains a trusted member of this Capitol Hill family.

                          ____________________