[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 16, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S6186]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         CONGRESSMAN JIM JONTZ

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, it is with great sadness that I note the 
loss of former Congressman Jim Jontz, who died last month after a 2-
year battle against colon cancer. All of us, and especially our 
Nation's political discourse, are much the poorer for the loss of Jim's 
energetic voice for progressive politics and his use of grassroots 
organizing to connect people not only to elective politics, but even 
more important, to the politics of governing--to the art of making our 
government institutions respond and work for the people they serve.
  Jim's indefatigable, tireless approach to politics put him in the 
Indiana House of Representatives at age 22. He won that race, against 
the sitting House majority leader, by two votes, which he claimed to 
have picked up in a laundromat late in the night just hours before the 
election. He served in the Indiana House for 10 years, then in the 
Indiana Senate for 2 years.
  Jim was elected to Congress in 1986 and served in the House of 
Representatives from 1987 to 1993. A big part of his successful 
congressional campaign was his call for more effective Federal action 
responding to the worst economic crisis in American agriculture since 
the Great Depression. It was typical of Jim that he saw the pervasive 
ramifications of the farm crisis as striking at the heart and character 
of rural America. And he fought to turn that situation around.
  During his time in Congress, Jim emphasized environmental issues, as 
he had in the Indiana Legislature, including pushing for protection of 
forests in the Pacific Northwest. As a member of the House Agriculture 
Committee during debate on the 1990 farm bill, he was out front, in 
truth ahead of his time, in calling for a greater emphasis on promoting 
and supporting more effective agricultural conservation and 
environmental practices.
  As could be expected, some who were beholden to the conventional 
wisdom sought to portray Jim as attacking the very underpinnings of 
U.S. agriculture. Theirs was the politics of division, of contriving 
threats and sowing fear, but his approach, as usual, was not to deepen 
divisions but rather to find common ground.
  In Jim's proposals, stronger Federal policies to help agricultural 
producers practice better conservation and stewardship would also 
improve their prospects for making a living and remaining in 
agriculture, while enhancing the environment and quality of life for 
their families and others living in rural communities.
  Looking back from today's vantage point, much of what Jim was 
proposing for the conservation of our Nation's resources is now widely 
accepted as a fundamental part of our Nation's agricultural policy--
although we still have a long way to go to fulfill the vision Jim did 
so much to instill.
  For a second-term Congressman working on his first farm bill, Jim 
played an unusually significant and effective role in the 1990 farm 
bill. Many of his amendments promoting agricultural conservation and 
sustainable agriculture were adopted in the House bill and ultimately 
in the conference report enacted as the Food, Agriculture, Conservation 
and Trade Act of 1990. He also successfully pushed for initiatives 
involving packer concentration, grain quality, food aid, agricultural 
research and farm income assistance.
  After leaving Congress, Jim served for several years as the president 
of Americans for Democratic Action, and in recent years served as ADA's 
president emeritus. In that capacity, he led ADA's Working Families Win 
project which focused on heightening the profile of fair trade and 
environmental issues among presidential and Congressional candidates. 
True to his grassroots organizing origins, Jim employed the Working 
Families Win project to activate and motivate local efforts on 
outsourcing, minimum wage and health care issues.
  Jim's untimely death at age 55 leaves a big hole in the leadership of 
America's progressive politics. We should all take inspiration and 
instruction from this master in the art of deploying grassroots 
organizing and high-minded politics toward the highest ideals and 
aspirations for our great Nation.
  Along with my colleagues, I extend my deepest sympathy and 
condolences to Jim's mother, stepfather, sister and three nieces, and 
to the many friends and people he touched in his abundant but too short 
life.

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