[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 29 (Thursday, February 15, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E358-E359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               A TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE LEO T. McCARTHY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 14, 2007

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, the following are the remarks of 
remembrance given by the Honorable Art Agnos, former Mayor of San 
Francisco and long time member of the California Legislature on the 
occasion of the vigil and rosary of his former boss, mentor, and 
brother-friend, the Honorable Leo T. McCarthy, who passed away on 
February 5, 2007.

       I never thought this day would come for me.
       Over the 40 years I worked for Leo McCarthy, I came to 
     think of him as indestructible . . . as he became my boss . . 
     . my mentor . . . my role model . . . and simply my best 
     friend.
       For me, Leo was never sick . . . never tired . . . never 
     discouraged . . . and never gave up . . . no matter what 
     confronted him.
       He just showed up every day ready to tackle every challenge 
     that stood in the way of making life better for the poor, the 
     needy, the worker, the children, the aged and anyone else who 
     might need his help in our society.
       Leo was one of those rare public officials who got better 
     in every way . . . the closer you got to him.
       There were no feet of clay here.
       One of my early remembrances of him is on our first trip to 
     Sacramento together in December of 1968.
       Leo had just been elected to the assembly and it was my 
     first week on the job as his new assistant. On that day he 
     wanted us to drive together to checkout the new office and 
     meet with the Assembly leader Jess Unruh to discuss his 
     committee assignments.
       I remember that it was raining hard that day, pouring, and 
     in what was to become our routine for the next 10 years--I 
     was driving and he was teaching, as we talked about the 
     issues of the day and what we might do about them in the year 
     to come.
       Just as we passed Dixon on Highway 80, the rear tire went 
     flat and I had to pull over. As I came to a stop, Leo said 
     suddenly, ``Wait here, opened the car door in the pouring 
     rain and ran through a hayfield the length of a football 
     stadium to a service station to get help with the flat tire.
       I stayed in the car warm and dry.
       He was still soaking wet through his suit when we got to 
     Sacramento. Undaunted, he kept his appointment with Unruh as 
     though nothing had happened.
       And that's the way it was, every time.
       He never asked his staff, and there were hundreds of us by 
     the end of his political career, to do anything he wouldn't 
     do. He cared about all of us, our careers--our families, our 
     well being.
       Every one of his former staff will tell you similar stories 
     about when he would apologize for taking them away from their 
     family when they had to work late on legislative testimony 
     for the next day, or how he would show up at the Operating 
     Engineers at 2 in the morning with food and encouragement as 
     we printed brochures to help elect another candidate who 
     would vote for him to be Speaker in 1974.
       And what a Speakership that was!
       The best description I ever heard was from the former 
     Republican Speaker of the Assembly, Bob Monagan from Tracy, 
     California.
       Bob had left the legislature some years before and was the 
     President of the California Manufacturers Association when he 
     said Leo McCarthy's Speakership would be remembered in the 
     history of the California Legislature as the ``Days of 
     Lancelot.''
       You see, Leo was a leader who inspired other politicians--
     not with his power or tactics, but with his integrity, his 
     adherence to good principle, and his deep commitment to the 
     common good.
       In all his years, there were no scandals, no innuendos, no 
     shameful disgrace, and the legislature followed his example 
     in doing the best work it ever did for the people of 
     California.
       That's not me talking. It is every editorial written in 
     every major newspaper since last Tuesday.
       Over the last 7 months, I saw a lot of him in the hospital, 
     as did many of you.
       We talked about his career, successes and failures. We soon 
     ran out of failures, but the successes went on for ever. But 
     I had to bring them up--Coastal preservation, Nursing Home 
     reform, Farm Worker legislation, Subdivision Reform, Mental 
     Health, Child nutrition, Human rights, Legislative 
     Transparency and on and on.
       But most of all, most of all, as great and prodigious the 
     volume of his work, Leo was proudest of his family.
       Jackie was the light of his life. She was his love, his 
     energy, his will to live as they raised four magnificent 
     children you will hear from tomorrow morning.
       And then you will know for yourselves why he always 
     answered the question: ``What was your most important work--
     with a resounding, `My family!' ''
       The things he did to try and make his contribution as a 
     father and a husband are legendary to all of us.
       You have heard and read the thousands of roundtrips to and 
     from Sacramento by car, greyhound bus, and even airplane.
       It was all very real because the kids were going to see 
     their father every night no matter what. He always said that 
     Jackie did all the work, but he had to be there for whatever 
     he could do at night.
       One of my favorite stories starts one morning when I could 
     not drive him and he drove himself down to the greyhound 
     station to catch the 7 a.m. bus to Sacramento.
       He was late and very much focused on the busy day to come 
     in the Legislature. So he sped into the parking lot, jumped 
     out of the car, tossed the keys and 20 bucks to the man 
     standing by the pay booth while running to catch the bus.
       That night I got a call from a perplexed Leo asking where 
     his car was because the lot was empty and the attendant was 
     gone. For three days he did not believe me when I tried to 
     tell him that there was no attendant at that lot because it 
     was self pay.
       We didn't talk about it again for a while because on the 
     fourth day he learned the car had been found intact by the 
     SFPD with an empty gas tank. And the rumor was that some 
     homeless guy was going around town telling about the nice guy 
     who tossed the keys to him with 20 bucks and ran off.
       The longest trip home for Leo was one he took this past 
     January.
       He had been in the hospital for 6 consecutive months--
     something neither he, his family, or any of us could have 
     imagined when we watched him being wheeled into UC hospital 
     on June 1st of last year--not to mention the countless number 
     of difficult tests in all kinds of machines, hundreds of 
     needle sticks, a combined month and a half in the intensive 
     care unit, dialysis every other day, cups of awful tasting 
     medicinal concoctions, and bravely fight harder than ever 
     before as he became weaker and weaker.
       But as his body failed, his mind and spirit did not.
       There were several times when he was asked, ``Do you want 
     to go on?''
       And every time--every time--his answer was the same. ``Yes! 
     I have things to do.''
       He was planning family vacations next year with Jackie. He 
     was advising Kevin about jobs after Law School. He was 
     listening carefully to Courtney's added responsibilities at 
     work, talking to Niall about a big case, he was thinking 
     about Adam's new environmental business deals--he absorbed 
     all of Conna's scholastic and athletic news about her 
     children--he listened intently as Sharon discussed the latest 
     events at St. Stephens--he studied writeups about outstanding 
     college football players and discussed them with Dale so he 
     could make the best choices for his famous annual top 10 NFL 
     Draft choices list he published to family and selected 
     friends, and occasionally to Bill Walsh at the 49ers.
       He did all this from a hospital bed he was too weak to get 
     out of, all the while monitoring and mentoring by phone and 
     in person, one more politician--the future Speaker of the 
     House of Representatives.
       He loved the phone calls and visits from Nancy and her 
     right arm and another former McCarthy staffer, Representative 
     Anna Eshoo. Every week they were in town--they

[[Page E359]]

     were at the hospital checking up and giving Leo updates and 
     details on the key races--information the Republicans would 
     have paid dearly for.
       And when he was too sick to talk, Nancy and Anna would call 
     me for a report.
       Nancy got the short report because she was in an airport 
     somewhere--and Anna got the long report because she had time 
     to sort out the information in between our tears.
       On election night last November, Leo was in intensive care 
     again and unable to take Nancy's call to tell him of the 
     democrats' victory.
       Several days later he was back in his room and we were 
     watching a live CNN report showing Nancy and President Bush 
     on the Speaker Elect's historic first visit to the Oval 
     Office.
       As the news report ended, shortly thereafter, the phone in 
     the room rang, and it was Nancy herself calling to check up 
     on him and give him a report on her meeting with George Bush.
       I think he was prouder of Nancy's Speakership victory more 
     than his own.
       Yes, Leo never gave up.
       He said once to Mary Leslie, another terrific staffer 
     during the Senate Campaigns that ``Defeat will show you 
     another way to make a difference.''
       That was Leo McCarthy.
       So when he left elective office, he committed himself to 
     his successful business interests to secure his family's 
     future because his political interests sure never did.
       And succeed he did--fulfilling a goal to fund a family 
     foundation for poor children as well as begin the Leo T. 
     McCarthy Institute for Public Service and the Common Good.
       Today--on the campus of this great University, thanks to 
     the support and encouragement of Father President Steve 
     Privett, the leadership of Board President Joe Cotchett, and 
     the day to day guidance of Dr. Patrick Murphy, the ideals, 
     values, integrity, and lessons of Leo's life are blended with 
     academics and real time internships in a spectacular 
     opportunity for students.
       In the years to come--more of the people who shared Leo's 
     commitment and vision will have a chance to share their 
     remembrances and lessons with USF students, and in so doing 
     perpetuate the meaning of a life so well lived.
       It was a blessing for me to have been so close to Leo 
     McCarthy and his family.

                          ____________________