[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 3 (Thursday, January 8, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E42]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING JAMES ALBON MATTOX

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 8, 2009

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
recognize and pay tribute to the late James Mattox.
  Jim Mattox was a lifelong Dallasite. A graduate of Woodrow Wilson 
High School, he also worked his way through the Baylor School of 
Business and earned a law degree from SMU. He served as an assistant 
district attorney in Dallas County before beginning his long political 
career in 1973 when he took office as a State representative from East 
Dallas. From there he was elected to Congress for three terms and ended 
his political service in 1991 when he stepped down from his post as 
Texas attorney general.
  Jim Mattox will be remembered as a man who fought for average, 
working Texans, and who left an unforgettable mark on Texas government 
in politics. He took on airlines and the insurance industry--among many 
other corporations--on behalf of Texas consumers. He was one of the 
greatest attorney generals in the State's history.
  After his political career Jim Mattox became known as the ``People's 
Lawyer'' and built a truly modern law practice. He and his staff 
handled more than 2 million cases, won judgments totaling more than 
$2.5 billion for the State, and opened up the diversity of the office 
by hiring more women and minority lawyers than the top 10 Texas law 
firms of that era combined.
  Madam Speaker, Jim Mattox is survived by his wife Marta and their two 
children, Jim and Janet, as well as his sister, Janice, and brother, 
Jerry, both of Dallas. I ask my colleagues to join with me in honoring 
the memory of Jim Mattox. Although he has departed from us in body, his 
memory will live on in each of us.

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