[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 12, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S917]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RETIREMENT OF MARK SMITH

 Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to a very 
special Iowan and a truly exceptional labor leader, Mark Smith. Mark 
retired earlier this month after serving 28 years in leadership roles 
in the Iowa Federation of Labor. He served as secretary-treasurer from 
1974 until 1997, and as president from 1997 until his retirement. 
Throughout, he has remained a member of the American Federation of 
Teachers, Local 716.
  Prior to coming to the Iowa Federation of Labor, Mark spent 5 years 
as an instructor at the University of Iowa's Labor Center, where he 
taught up-and-coming union leaders about labor law, labor history, 
communication, leadership, economics, and public policy. Mark may have 
left the classroom, but he never stopped being a teacher and mentor. He 
has always believed strongly that to achieve real successes for working 
families and to advance a progressive public policy agenda, it is 
critical to train people to organize and advocate for themselves.
  Throughout his distinguished tenure as IFL president, Mark was 
respected for his keen intelligence and his direct, honest, feisty 
style of doing business. He understood the political system, and how to 
get things done. He didn't believe in top-down political engagement; he 
believed in organizing and empowering people at the grass roots to 
fight for a brighter future--and to win.
  Mark is a proud progressive, with a passion for economic and social 
justice. He is also a passionate believer in bringing people together 
in collective action, whether in the political arena, at the bargaining 
table, or in the community. He has devoted his life to building 
stronger unions because he believes that they are an ideal vehicle for 
effecting positive change for ordinary people.
  For many years, I have counted on Mark for his friendship, counsel, 
and support--and that will not change. But his retirement is a 
tremendous loss for working families and for the labor movement in 
Iowa. In the Bible, it says that ``if the trumpet gives an uncertain 
sound, who will prepare himself for battle?'' For more than a decade as 
president of the Iowa Federation of Labor, there has been nothing 
uncertain about Mark Smith's trumpet. He has been a great labor leader, 
and a strong, unwavering voice for progressive change. I wish him a 
long and happy retirement with his family, including wife Marty, 
daughter Christine, sons Michael and Erich, and grandson 
Isaiah.

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