[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 CHAIRMAN MIKE OXLEY

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JOSEPH CROWLEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 7, 2006

  Mr. CROWLEY. Madam Speaker, I rise to salute my friend and colleague 
from Findlay, Ohio, Mike Oxley. I think I can honestly say Mike Oxley 
is the most famous name to come out of Findlay since the original 
square hamburger, And Mike is so well liked around here, even the 
square hamburger could well fall behind Mike in popularity.
  I got to know Mike Oxley from our days playing basketball when he 
brought the Congressional team to New York to play the New York State 
Assembly where I served at the time. Although we beat him twice, he 
never let me forget it!
  He was always a good friend of my predecessor, Tom Manton. Tom, who 
recently passed away, developed a strong and lasting friendship with 
Mike Oxley; and as I came to Congress, Tom--my friend and mentor--told 
me to seek out Mike. He told me Mike was a straight shooter and someone 
who I should get to know. Tom was right.
  And then, I had the pleasure of working with Chairman Oxley during 
the 6 years I served as a member of the House Financial Services 
Committee, which he has chaired since its creation. Our Committee has 
had a long record of accomplishment, but he will be best known for the 
act that bears his name, Sarbanes-Oxley.
  Created during the corporate scandals of Enron, Worldcom, Waste 
Management Inc. and others, this law helped restore confidence to our 
nation's investors, who were questioning the safety of their funds in 
our country's capital markets. But he has had a hand in so many other 
laws as well, including tough new identity theft and anti-money 
laundering laws, as well as guiding our capital markets during a time 
of mergers, globalization and modernization. While these are the things 
he will be remembered for in the newspapers, and in the history books, 
it may not be the exactly what we all--those who know him remember him 
for.
  We know him for his friendship, his great stories and his good 
nature. And of course, his great record on the baseball diamond--the 
only place I think he should have tried to be more bipartisan. But he 
was a great coach, and possibly the one area where a lot of us on this 
side won't miss him. But in an era of politics of personal destruction 
and ``take no prisoners'', Mike succeeded here both professionally and 
personally as someone who worked with and listened to everybody. 
Friends were friends, not Democrats or Republicans.
  Mike is a solid conservative and a good Republican, but that never 
stopped him from working with Democrats to pass legislation, or to work 
to find common ground. If more members were like Mike Oxley, we 
wouldn't all be lamenting the partisan gridlock and meanness in 
Washington. Mike, we will miss seeing you every day in the chamber but 
I know that this is not the last time we will see you. So as your 
career in Congress ends, and you start new adventures, I look forward 
to working with you again, albeit in your new capacity. So tonight, I 
wish you and Pat my best as you end one chapter and open another.

                          ____________________