[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 14, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E540-E541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO HARRIS COUNTY JUDGE ROBERT ECKELS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JOHN ABNEY CULBERSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 14, 2007

  Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute and wish a 
happy 50th birthday to my dear friend and colleague, Harris County 
Judge Robert Eckels. Until last week, Judge Eckels was the presiding 
officer of the Harris County Commissioners Court--the governing body of 
the county, and the only member that is elected countywide. The 
position involves executive, judicial, and legislative functions in the 
third most populace county in the United States. There are 34 
municipalities within the county, including the county seat and the 
fourth largest city in the country, the City of Houston. More than 1.2 
million people live in unincorporated Harris County and rely on the 
county to be the primary provider of basic government services. The 
term County Judge in Texas is comparable to a County Executive or 
County Mayor in other parts of the country.
  Judge Eckels has been in public service for more than 25 years. He 
recently retired from public service after a distinguished career to 
join the private sector. He and his wife, Jet, are dear friends of mine 
and my wife, Belinda.
  Robert Eckels was first elected to the Texas Legislature in 1982. 
When he began his service in January of 1983 he was only 25-years-old. 
Few thought he would have much impact his first year, but he passed 8 
of 13 bills in his legislative package. Robert's quiet demeanor 
frequently led fellow members to urge the enforcement of the ``no 
mumble rule'' so they could understand what he was saying, but his 
understated nature was also key to his success in Austin. He did not 
care who got credit for passing legislation, so long as it was good law 
that did not have to fix later. He understands the legislative process, 
legislative language and the legislative intent as well as anyone I 
know.
  Robert also cared about his colleagues. He would approach Members 
towards the end of our legislative sessions to ask them how their 
legislative agendas were coming along. If a Member complained that 
their most important bill was in trouble in committee or on the House 
floor, he would help his colleagues amend their priority onto another 
bill or find some other way to pass their bills.
  In 1991 the Texas Monthly Magazine described his character in its 
biennial article at the end of the Legislative session entitled ``The 
Best and the Worst Legislators.'' In that piece he was named an 
Outstanding Legislator for his work in ethics reform and redistricting, 
``the session's most thankless issues.'' It said ``Eckels wrote a bill 
that outshone its rivals as silver outshines dirt.'' Other quotes 
describe his character, ``Eckels is unselfish to the point of being 
sacrificial. He's the Good Samaritan of the House; he finds hurt people 
by the side of the road and helps them get well.''
  In 1994 Robert decided to leave the Legislature, over the protests of 
many of his House colleagues, myself included, to run for the office of 
Harris County Judge. He saw an opportunity to work on the issues that 
were most important to him and his vision for the county he grew up in 
and served with distinction in the Legislature. He won the election and 
his opponent in that election later became a member of his advisory 
group.


                             Transportation

  Judge Eckels believes as I do that one of the most important 
priorities in our county is improving the major transportation 
corridors so people do not spend hours stuck in traffic jams. Judge 
Eckels also believes, as I do, that mobility is vital to our county's 
future. He served as chairman of the Transportation Policy Council for 
the Houston-Galveston region and was a major author of the 2025 
Regional Transportation Plan.
  Judge Eckels was also Chairman of the Alliance for I-69 Texas and the 
Texas High Speed Rail & Transportation Corporation. Texas House of 
Representatives Speaker Tom Craddick appointed him to the Study 
Commission on Transportation Financing to look at the broader issues 
facing the State of Texas. It was Judge Eckels who spearheaded an 
effort to turn abandoned railroad right-of-way running through my 
District into major traffic arteries which bring hundreds of thousands 
of daily commuters into and out of downtown Houston. Today, as a result 
of his vision and leadership, the Westpark Toll Way, the country's 
first entirely electronic toll road, is an innovative addition to the 
Harris County Toll Road Authority.


                 Homeland Security/Emergency Management

  Judge Eckels has always been deeply concerned with hurricanes and 
other natural disasters and the county's reponse to crises. He 
commissioned a study showing the impact of a Category-V hurricane 
coming into Galveston Bay, and he initiated planning procedures to 
ensure first responders had the proper training and equipment to take 
action.
  He began to set up an interoperable communications system for Harris 
County that could be expanded regionally to allow communications among 
first responders across jurisdictional and disciplinary lines. Building 
such a system has required a strong leader like Judge Eckels to 
convince various agencies that rely on mission-critical communication 
to trust Harris County's Information Technology Department to build an 
interoperable system which was better than one they could run on their 
own.
  Today, the Harris County Regional Radio System is a model 
communication system that has grown to support a shared intrastructure 
with more than 133 channels and 17 tower sites. It currently covers all 
of Harris County and parts of eight other counties, with the intent to 
expand even farther. As resources are available it will be expanded 
until it serves all 13 counties in the Houston/Galveston Area Council's 
service area.
  There are more than 20,000 users from more than 400 different 
departments/agencies with nearly 2,000 mobile data-terminals and the 
system is growing quickly. The regional radio system is not only an 
essential response tool when disaster strikes, it can also be adapted 
to conform to the needs of the partners in day-to-day operations. 
Harris County has more than 90 different policing agencies operating in 
very close proximity. This system allows dispatchers to send the 
closest officer to the scene of an incident regardless of which agency 
the responder works for.
  In his first State of the Union Address after 9/11, President George 
W. Bush called upon all Americans to dedicate at least two years of 
their lives--the equivalent of 4,000 hours--in service to others. He 
launched the Citizen Corps initiative to inspire and enable Americans 
to find ways to serve their communities and country. In response to the 
President's initiative, in August 2002, Judge Eckels created the Harris 
County Citizen Corps Council The Council coordinates with volunteer 
groups such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the United Way to 
identify volunteer opportunities. The Citizen Corps programs include 
the Community Emergency Response Team, the Neighborhood Watch Program, 
Volunteers in Police Service, Fire Corps, and the Medical Reserve 
Corps.
  When Hurricane Katrina caused the evacuation of more than 250,000 to 
the Harris County area, Judge Eckels coordinated and managed the relief 
effort to create comfortable, welcoming shelters. Approximately 27,000 
evacuees came to ``Reliant City,'' which was created in the facilities 
at Reliant Park and the George R. Brown Convention Center in a 20 hour 
period in August 2005. This was the largest sheltering operation in 
U.S. history.
  Thousands of volunteers were needed to assist in the relief operation 
and within one hour of the initial call for assistance to the Citizen 
Corps, more than 1,000 volunteers arrived at the shelter. In all, more 
than 60,000

[[Page E541]]

of our citizens came forward, received training from existing Citizen 
Corps members, and made the massive, weeks-long sheltering operation 
possible. The Judge said that Katrina was a blessing for our community 
because it showed us just how much we were able to give when our 
Louisiana neighbors needed a helping hand.
  Just three weeks after the nation watched the devastation of New 
Orleans and the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita was 
headed straight for Harris County. An already exhausted team, led by 
Judge Eckels, shut down the last sheltering operation for Katrina 
evacuees and prepared for the next storm. With less than 48 hours 
before Rita was predicted to reach landfall on Galveston Island, Judge 
Eckels worked with Governor Rick Perry and Houston Mayor Bill White to 
begin the largest evacuation in U.S. history. Under Judge Eckels' 
watchful eye and calm demeanor, he gave frequent updates to motorists 
stranded in the exodus and assured them that help was on the way. While 
the unprecedented evacuation was difficult, it was considered a 
success. Before the storm reached the shore later that night, the 
roadways were empty and our citizens were out of harms' way.
  The Judge's work during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was recognized 
with a number of awards. In an article entitled ``The Power of 
Government to Do Good'' in Esquire magazine, Judge Eckels was named the 
Best and Brightest 0/2005, Citizen of the Year for his extraordinary 
leadership. ``When the city of New Orleans evacuated to Houston, Harris 
County Judge Robert Eckels took them in. He was an island of competence 
in the face of catastrophe,'' Esquire wrote.
  The Partners for Livable Communities, a nonprofit organization 
headquartered here in Washington DC, gave the Judge the ``Bridge 
Builders Award'' for his collaboration efforts during the hurricane 
crises. The Greater Houston Partnership named him one of ``Houston's 
Greatest Individuals 2005.'' American City and County Leader magazine 
named Eckels ``2006 County Leader of the Year.''
  Under his leadership, the Harris County Office of Homeland Security 
and Emergency Management has become a national model for preparedness 
and response to emergency situations, natural or manmade. Considered an 
expert in local emergency management and response, Judge Eckels has 
testified before both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. 
Senate Homeland Security Committees and he serves on the State and 
Local Senior Advisory Committee to President Bush's Homeland Security 
Advisory Council.


                               Healthcare

  The population of Harris County has grown considerably in recent 
decades and with that growth has come a disproportionally large 
population of uninsured and underinsured. Judge Eckels realized long 
ago that the needs of this growing community cannot be met by 
government alone. Therefore, under his leadership, Harris County has 
forged strong partnerships with non-profit, private, public, and faith-
based health care providers and clinics to coordinate medical services 
to the poor and indigent. The Harris County Healthcare Council was 
created to coordinate a more efficient health care delivery system. He 
has, throughout his tenure as County Judge, maintained that the Harris 
County Hospital District should be there for those who have no where 
else to turn.


                             Flood Control

  In 1996 Judge Eckels asked Congress to help speed some of the 
critical flood-damage reduction projects to protect the citizens of our 
county. Under his leadership, the Harris County Flood Control District 
is now able to take the lead on flood reduction projects. As a result, 
our constituents along the Brays Bayou and White Oak Bayou are already 
receiving the benefits of flood mitigation years ahead of schedule.


                               Clean Air

  Harris County is committed to cleaning the air in our region. Judge 
Eckels is nationally recognized as an expert in devising and 
implementing acceptable air quality plans on the county level. He has 
testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on air quality issues and 
has appeared on national television news shows discussing environmental 
issues.
  He also initiated new monitoring systems to ensure compliance with 
federal and state regulations, funding computer modeling to base our 
clean air decisions on the best information possible and searching for 
the newest and most cost-effective technologies to clean our air. Under 
his watch, the latest state of the art monitors that detect most of the 
189 Hazardous Air Pollutants listed by the Environmental Protection 
Agency are in place in Harris County--paid for by environmental 
violators, not taxpayers.


                           Children's Issues

  Judge Eckels is passionate about children's issues. As fathers, he 
and I have shared many stories about raising our daughters. Like me, he 
always puts his family first. He and his wife, Jet, could not be more 
committed to their daughter, Kirby Rae.
  That commitment inspired Robert to take a vital leadership role in 
the Do the Write Thing Challenge, a program of the National Campaign to 
Stop Violence. As chairman for the State of Texas, he has grown the 
program to an unprecedented size with more than 24,000 participants in 
10 communities. Judge Eckels also spearheaded a collaboration that 
would become the Children's Assessment Center (CAC). The CAC gives 
victims on-site access to experts in abuse prevention, medical 
treatment, forensic examination, family counseling, therapeutic 
services and criminal prosecution. Each year, more than 5,000 sexually 
abused children, their siblings, and non-offending caregivers are 
served by this nationally recognized partnership of more than 20 
agencies.

  Judge Robert Eckels is a sound fiscal conservative who has always 
taken a business approach to government. Harris County applies common 
sense business principles to provide the best service at the least cost 
to taxpayers. Under his leadership Harris County introduced private 
sector competition to drive down the cost of government services. He 
led the reorganization of county departments and performance reviews, 
cut the number of departments in half, reducing service duplication, 
improving coordination and accountability and saving more than $14 
million each year.
  Under his leadership the county's debt was restructured, saving more 
than $60 million since 1995. Confidence in Harris County's financial 
footing has been restored. All of the major bond rating agencies have 
upgraded Harris County's bond ratings saving taxpayers millions of 
dollars in interest each year. Most importantly, financial reserves are 
up, revenues are up, and spending is under control. Judge Eckels 
understands that when we decrease taxes here at the Federal level, and 
cut funding to state and local governments, they cannot and must not 
increase taxes at the local level. He has found new and innovative ways 
to deliver the same services that promote the quality of life we have 
all come to expect here in the greatest country in the history of the 
world.
  I hope that Robert Eckels will reenter public life again someday 
because he is an exemplary leader. If he chooses not to, there is no 
doubt that he has left behind a strong legacy in Harris County. I will 
always value his friendship and counsel.

                          ____________________