[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 172 (Thursday, November 19, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H13328]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING GOVERNOR BRUCE KING OF NEW MEXICO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Teague) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TEAGUE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague Ben Ray Lujan from the 
great State of New Mexico. I also want to thank the gentleman from New 
Mexico's First Congressional District, Martin Heinrich, for helping to 
arrange this tribute to one of New Mexico's greatest citizens. Bruce 
King is, without a doubt, a New Mexico legend. If you never got a 
chance to meet him, then all I can tell you is that you missed an 
opportunity to meet someone who really was a dedicated public servant 
and a good man.
  Many of us that are public servants in New Mexico today have learned 
from his example. One thing I learned from Bruce King was how important 
it is to stay in touch with the people that you represent. In fact, I 
first met Governor King in the steer barn at the Lea County Fair. And 
over the years, it seemed that you would run across the Governor 
shaking hands at nearly every fair in New Mexico. Bruce King was New 
Mexico. A lot of people describe him as ``the cowboy Governor,'' and 
that could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. 
But for Bruce King, it meant that his heart was as big as our skies. It 
meant that his handshake was as good as his word. It meant the only way 
he knew how to work was hard. It meant his family and the people he 
represented always came first, and that he was willing to look out for 
their needs. It meant that when he had to make tough choices, he stuck 
by them, even when that meant that he had to make sacrifices.
  It also meant that he led by example. During one of his terms as 
Governor, Bruce King had to contend with an energy crisis like the rest 
of the country. He didn't just tell New Mexicans that they had to save 
energy. He showed them by trading in his motorcade for a horse. For a 
while, Bruce would actually ride his horse from the Governor's mansion 
in Santa Fe to the State capitol as a way of showing folks that he was 
willing to do his part.
  When I ran for Congress, I kept telling voters that I was running to 
put New Mexico's families first in everything that I did. Governor King 
did that when he created the Children, Youth and Families Department in 
New Mexico that looks after the well-being of our children and our 
loved ones. He put New Mexico families first because, in a lot of ways, 
the people of New Mexico were his family. He put the education of our 
kids first when he changed the way we fund our schools back home.
  In too many States, wealthy neighborhoods have the best schools while 
poor rural areas or inner city schools have to scramble for funds every 
year because their families are poor. Governor King changed that. He 
made sure that every single child in New Mexico got a shot at an 
education when he made sure that all money for education was doled out 
equally for every school district. He knew that one child's education 
was not more important than another's, and countless New Mexicans have 
benefited from that change.
  In a recent interview, Bruce told a story about how he started making 
a few people angry on the Santa Fe County Commission when he, as a 
first-term commissioner, kept pushing the county employees to get roads 
paved faster. He remembered that one person took him aside and said, 
``Bruce, you're new here, and you don't know how things are done.'' He 
just smiled and told him, ``I understand the way things are done. The 
people pay their taxes on time, and they expect us to do our work on 
time. That's how it's done.''
  Governor King's service to our Nation and our State should never be 
forgotten. As a county commissioner, speaker of the House and as 
Governor, he was one of those unique public officials who never had 
forgotten where he came from. He listened sincerely to the needs and 
concerns of his constituents, and then he got to work addressing those 
issues because he cared deeply about the State of New Mexico. He showed 
the rest of the country what it meant to be a New Mexican. He brought 
out the best in all of us.
  That's probably why so many of his political rivals became friends of 
his afterwards. For so many years, Bruce King was ours. Now the cowboy 
Governor's ridden off into the sunset one last time, and he will be 
missed.

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