[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 27, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S921-S923]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Congratulating Dr. Frank Cleckley on His Retirement
Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to Dr. Franklin D.
Cleckley, one of the true giants of the legal system of West Virginia.
I do so because Frank is getting ready to retire after nearly half a
century of service to our great State--as a lawyer, as a professor, as
a judge, and as an unwavering champion of justice. I wish to
congratulate him for the extraordinary job he has done and to thank him
for his countless contributions to the betterment of West Virginia.
Dr. Cleckley's stellar and pioneering legal career began in 1965 when
he earned his law degree from Indiana University. It will end next week
at West Virginia University with a retirement ceremony that so many of
his family, friends, and colleagues will be attending to celebrate this
great man. I only wish I could be there because I have valued and
appreciated his friendship for so many years.
Frank Cleckley joined the faculty at West Virginia University College
of Law in 1969, after serving as a lawyer in the U.S. Navy Judge
Advocate General's Corps at the height of the Vietnam war. Not only was
he the first African American on the staff at the West Virginia
University College of Law, he was also the first full-time African-
American professor in the history of West Virginia University.
As a law professor at West Virginia University, Frank literally wrote
the book on practicing law in West Virginia. He authored two you will
find in every courtroom and every lawyer's office in West Virginia--the
``Handbook on Evidence for West Virginia Lawyers,'' and the ``Handbook
on West Virginia Criminal Procedure.'' These two books are continually
updated and are, in the words of the West Virginia Supreme Court, the
bible for West Virginia's judges and attorneys.
Of course, for the generations of West Virginia law students who have
passed through Dr. Cleckley's classroom, the fact that he wrote those
two books is a source of great amusement for them, whenever they hear
him quoting himself in his lectures. ``As it says in `Cleckley,' ''
Professor Cleckley would say with a smile.
Also, as a member of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the
first African-American justice in our State, Frank Cleckley would pay
special attention when lawyers stumbled over evidence in their
arguments. And on more than one occasion, Justice Cleckley would
quietly quip to one of his colleagues: There's one lawyer who didn't
take my evidence class.
Frank Cleckley grew up in Huntington, WV, the youngest of 11
children. At one point, his ambition was to play pro football. But
after working for former Indiana Congressman J. Edward Roush in the
1960s, he found his true calling--to be a lawyer and champion of civil
rights.
Throughout his legal career, he has been an exceptional trial lawyer,
not only in antidiscrimination lawsuits, but also in representing
clients who couldn't pay him. In fact, he came to be known as the
``poor man's Perry
[[Page S922]]
Mason.'' He has been a one-man legal aid society.
He also was instrumental in reviving the Mountain State Bar
Association, the oldest minority bar in the United States. In 1990, he
established the Franklin D. Cleckley Foundation to help former
prisoners with education and employment opportunities. Two years later,
he set up another organization to bring civil rights leaders to the
West Virginia University as lecturers.
Last fall, as he reflected on his long legal career, Frank said that
when he was a kid in Huntington, he wanted to do something with his
life that was meaningful and important in West Virginia. Well, he did.
But it turns out it wasn't the NFL, as he once thought. It was WVU.
Frank Cleckley is a true Mountaineer. He helped West Virginia
University become the nationally respected institution it is today.
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that the arc of the
moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. And, in my view,
one of the reasons it bends toward justice is there are people such as
Frank Cleckley bending it with their honesty, their integrity, and
their commitment to what is right.
It fills me with great pride to stand here today and tell the Senate
about the accomplishments of Prof. Frank Cleckley and his service to
West Virginia. He is a great lawyer, he is a great man, and a great
West Virginian, and Gayle and I join his family and friends in
celebrating his long and distinguished pursuit of justice.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, shortly, I hope, we will be voting on the
confirmation of Jack Lew to be the next Secretary of the Treasury, and
I urge my colleagues to support that nomination. He is the right person
at the right time to be Secretary of the Treasury. He has devoted his
entire life to public service. I thank him for that, and I thank him
for his willingness to continue to serve his Nation. He has a great
record of accomplishment.
I have known Jack Lew for 26 years. I have served with him on common
issues, and I want to bring to the attention of my colleagues some of
the things he has done. He first served in the House of Representatives
as a staff person for Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. In that
capacity, one of the responsibilities he had was to be the liaison to
the commission that was working on Social Security reform when
President Reagan was President of the United States. I mention that
because I think we all point to that time when a Democratic-controlled
Congress and a Republican administration were able to deal with one of
the most difficult challenges of the time, the solvency of Social
Security, and they were able to come together with a bipartisan
product. Jack Lew's fingerprints were involved in that transaction. He
was able to bring us together. We need that type of person as Secretary
of the Treasury today, a person who will bring together our Nation with
the type of fiscal policy that Democrats and Republicans can rally
behind as we look for a solution to our fiscal issues.
He was President Clinton's OMB Director, and during that time we
balanced the Federal budget. We were able to do something that has only
been done once in my lifetime; that is, we actually balanced the
Federal budget. Jack Lew was the architect of bringing us together to
balance the Federal budget. We need that type of leadership in the
Treasury today--a person who understands fiscal responsibility and
understands how to do it in a way where you can create job growth.
During those years, let me remind us, we created millions of jobs.
He then returned to public service as the OMB Director for President
Obama and as Chief of Staff. He has the experience we need to be
Secretary of the Treasury, and he has the political know-how to bring
us together--Democrats, Republicans, Americans--to do what is right for
this country.
I am proud he is willing to step forward. I urge my colleagues to
support his nomination. He is the right person at the right time to
lead our Nation on fiscal policy.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be 10
minutes remaining for debate, equally divided in the usual form, on the
Lew nomination; that following the use or yielding back of time, the
Senate proceed to vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, earlier today I spoke in support of Jack
Lew's nomination to be the next Treasury Secretary. Over the last 6
hours or so some have come to the Senate floor to question Mr. Lew's
character, claiming he has not been forthcoming throughout his
confirmation.
Let me remind my colleagues that Mr. Lew participated in one of the
most thorough reviews of any candidate for this position: a process
that included hours of interviews and the examination of 6 years of tax
records and more than 700 questions for the Record. In comparison, the
committee asked Secretary Geithner only 289 questions--only; Secretary
Paulson 81; and Secretary Snowe 75 questions. Remember, Jack Lew was
asked over 700 questions.
Throughout the confirmation process, Mr. Lew has been nothing but
open and transparent. I believe he has gained the trust and confidence
of many in this Chamber. In fact, 19 of 24 Senators on the Senate
Finance Committee yesterday voted on a bipartisan basis in favor of
Jack Lew's nomination.
Many recognize that Mr. Lew is well qualified to be the Nation's next
Treasury Secretary. He has demonstrated time and again that he has the
knowledge and policy expertise to help get the Nation's economy back on
track. He is a very smart man and a very dedicated, total public
servant.
If confirmed by the Senate today, Mr. Lew has said he is eager to
work with all of us here in the Congress to strengthen the American
economy and create more jobs. That is the key, work together to create
more jobs. The only way we could get past these constant budget battles
is by working together, Republicans and Democrats, in the House and the
Senate, and we need to work with Mr. Lew and the administration to
craft policies that create more jobs and spark economic growth.
If confirmed, we will be entrusting Mr. Lew with the authority to
oversee America's financial system and economic policy. It is a great
responsibility, one which I believe Mr. Lew will live up to. I think he
has what it takes.
The Treasury Secretary is obviously the top economic adviser to the
President. He works for the President and he works for the country. So
the second role of the Treasury Secretary is to speak to the Nation
about our Nation's finances. It is a dual role. He is working for the
President and he is also working for all of us, the people of the
United States of America. It is a very prestigious, very important
position. When he speaks, he is speaking for America on financial
matters and also on economic matters. It is a separate role that all
Treasury Secretaries perform, the good ones, and I think Jack Lew is
going to be a very good one.
I ask my colleagues to confirm Mr. Lew today as the Nation's next
Treasury Secretary so he can get to work and help strengthen the
economy.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I will wrap up here with a few thoughts
before we vote. I spent a good deal of time today delineating a series
of serious, deep problems with this nomination, why I truly believe he
should not be confirmed. I suppose maybe there are votes to confirm
him. We will see as that goes forward. I do not see any need to delay
any further, but it is time for the American people and the Members of
this Senate to consider where we are with this nomination.
On February 13 of 2011, a day before the President submitted the
budget, the budget Jack Lew wrote, he went on CNN and other TV stations
and said these words, words that will live in infamy if we care
anything in this body about respectful treatment from the executive
branch, if we have any commitment to the plain truth. He said:
Our budget will get us, over the next several years, to the
point where we can look the American people in the eye and
say we're not adding to the debt anymore; we're spending
money that we have each year, and then we can work on
bringing down our national debt.
[[Page S923]]
How unbelievable a statement could that be, since his own numbers--
not somebody else's, his own numbers when he submitted the budget on
Monday, the next day--showed that the lowest single deficit in any one
of the 10 years was $600 billion. He would have added $13 trillion to
the gross debt of the United States over 10 years and the numbers, the
deficits were going up in the last 5 years--a totally unsustainable
course.
Erskine Bowles, the head of the fiscal commission, was in shock, I
think, when he saw this. He was appointed by President Obama to head
the commission. He said this will take them nowhere near where they
have to go to avoid the Nation's fiscal nightmare--nowhere near. And he
was absolutely right about that.
Then he also said, on CNN on a different day, another interview, the
budget ``takes real actions now so that between now and 5 years from
now, we can get our deficit under control so that we can stabilize
things so we're not adding to the debt anymore.''
It had never come close to that. It is a horrible thing. He said
this. I asked him about it before the committee. I read that very quote
to him before the committee 3 days later and this is what he said. I
asked him, is it an accurate statement, this statement right here? And
he said:
It's an accurate statement that our current spending will
not be increasing the debt. . . .
He went on to add:
We've stopped spending money that we don't have.
First of all, this Senate, this Congress, should defend the integrity
of our process. We should not have high government officials come
before our committees and before the American people and misrepresent
in such a dramatic way the financial condition of our country. I called
it then and I repeat now that this, I believe, was the greatest
financial misrepresentation in the history of this Republic. If anybody
has one that is bigger, let me hear it, but I don't think they will. I
said that earlier today. You tell me--$13 trillion added to the debt
and they say we are not going to be adding to the debt anymore.
The budget was a terrible budget. It was a terrible budget. Editorial
board after editorial board--the Washington Post, the Los Angeles
Times, the Denver Post, the Dallas Morning News--there must have been
40 editorial boards that hammered this budget for failing to lead--the
Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Investor's Business Daily--they
all hammered this budget because this was early in 2011, after the 2010
elections, after the shellacking of the big spenders, and there was a
hope somehow that we would be able then to get the administration to
come around and change some things. But they stayed right with their
big spending policies. They stayed right with it and they decided not
to tell the truth, that we are not backing down, we are going to
continue to spend, we are not going to cut spending. They would not say
that. This is what they said. Whereas their budget did just the
opposite.
I feel strongly about this. This is not right. We in Congress should
not have this kind of misrepresentation before us and we should not
reward people who participate in such misrepresentation. He is the
architect of the administration's calculated plan to misrepresent the
budget, to not have a budget in the Senate, to not expose themselves
any more than possible, to attack Republicans such as Paul Ryan in the
House, who actually laid out a plan that would change the debt course
of America. That is what the plan was, and Mr. Lew was the architect of
it and he executed it. Boy, what was it like, do you think, for him to
be in the Senate, in the White House, and have to be told or asked:
Would you go out and say this?
Mr. Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury--I ask consent to have 1
additional minute.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Geithner--and this is important, colleagues--
Treasury Secretary Geithner came before the committee. He would not
repeat these words. I questioned him. Of course he tried to avoid it
but eventually when asked directly he honestly said: Senator, this
budget will not put us on a sustainable path, exactly opposite of what
Mr. Lew was saying.
I ask my colleagues to consider this. I ask them not to award the
person who participated in so calculated a plan to misrepresent the
financial condition of America and cause the American people to believe
we had some sort of time that had the country on a sound path when we
remain to this day on an unsustainable path that endangers working
Americans.
I yield the floor.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I yield back all remaining time. I ask for
the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be. There is a sufficient second.
The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination
of Jacob J. Lew, of New York, to be Secretary of the Treasury.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Begich), the
Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Lautenberg), and the Senator from Colorado
(Mr. Udall) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 71, nays 26, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 25 Ex.]
YEAS--71
Ayotte
Baldwin
Baucus
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt
Boxer
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coats
Cochran
Collins
Coons
Cowan
Donnelly
Durbin
Feinstein
Flake
Franken
Gillibrand
Graham
Hagan
Harkin
Hatch
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Hirono
Hoeven
Isakson
Johanns
Johnson (SD)
Kaine
King
Kirk
Klobuchar
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Manchin
McCain
McCaskill
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Paul
Portman
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Shelby
Stabenow
Tester
Thune
Toomey
Udall (NM)
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--26
Alexander
Barrasso
Boozman
Chambliss
Coburn
Corker
Cornyn
Crapo
Cruz
Enzi
Fischer
Grassley
Heller
Inhofe
Johnson (WI)
Lee
McConnell
Moran
Risch
Roberts
Rubio
Sanders
Scott
Sessions
Vitter
Wicker
NOT VOTING--3
Begich
Lautenberg
Udall (CO)
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table.
The President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
____________________