[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 135 (Friday, December 8, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING COLBERT KING ON THE OCCASION OF HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE 
                     WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL PAGE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, December 8, 2006

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Colbert (Colby) I. King, the 
Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and Deputy Editorial 
Page Editor. In a recent column, Mr. King informed his readers that he 
soon will cease writing editorials. However, Colby King's informal and 
spontaneous Saturday morning reading club takes some comfort in knowing 
that Colby King will continue to write his weekly column.
  For 16 years, the Post, our city, and the region have benefited from 
reading a man who learned to write by doing it, not by going to 
journalism school. Colby went to school right here in the District, 
native born and native educated in the D.C. Public Schools and at 
Howard University.
  Colby King's preparation for the career for which he will be best 
remembered came from the life he has lived--a childhood bereft of 
privilege, even equality, but rich in family love and upbringing. His 
pre-Post eclectic career ranged from the U.S. Army and VISTA to 
Treasury Department official and international banker.
  Colby wrote about any and everything, but he was in his special 
element when he wrote about his hometown. Most of what the Post 
editorial page has had to say about this city came from Colby King--
sometimes sizzling with pride or indignation at shabby treatment by 
Congress and the like, even more often, hot with criticism of local 
officials and citizens alike, whose actions he thought unworthy of the 
city on a hill Colby wanted his hometown to become. Colbert King's role 
in writing the Home Rule Act, his special feel for the city of his 
birth, his wit and ability to laugh and to cry about this city, all 
contributed to the authority with which his views were received 
throughout the District and the region.
  Colbert King has a way with words, a mark of pure talent, but talent 
alone won't win you a Pulitzer in his tough and competitive business. 
Colby's Pulitzer was his alone, the fruit of his columns. He used them 
to speak his mind on an unpredictable variety of subjects-too much 
crime and too little punishment; forgotten children and star-crossed 
residents, often remembered only in his Saturday columns; national and 
local politics and politicians scored without fear, favor or mercy; and 
the beloved family that reared him and the family that he and his wife, 
Gwendolyn, raised.

  Colby King will be remembered also for his remarkable range. His 
contributions to the editorial page covered the page's territory, as 
Members know well from watching him on foreign and domestic affairs as 
a television opinion show panelist. His unusual set of talents and his 
judgment took him to editorial leadership on one of the world's most 
important papers. His contributions came during troubling times in our 
country and in this city. A failing war at home and an insolvent 
hometown, for example, badly needed unadulterated self-criticism and 
tough love. Colby King had the credibility, the talent, and the wisdom 
to offer both, to make us shake our heads up and down in agreement, and 
then to try again to reach his high expectations.
  Mr. Speaker, if I may, I note a personal regret as well that Colby is 
ending one part of his career. His 16 years on the editorial page and 
my 16 years in Congress overlap. I will miss not only reading Colby. I 
will miss having someone at the Post with whom I personally identify in 
so many ways--a friend who remembers the District as it was when we 
both were born in a segregated city and when we went to Dunbar High 
School, and a city that is both the same and very different today. I 
wish the Post good luck in finding such invaluable, institutional and 
personal experience for its editorial page.
  Colbert King has decided to no longer write editorials, but he has 
certainly left his signature in indelible ink on the Washington Post. I 
ask my colleagues to join me in both honoring and thanking Colbert King 
for using his craft in service to the public.

                          ____________________