[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 62 (Monday, April 7, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H1425]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE WES WATKINS

  (Mr. Cole of Oklahoma was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, this is a little bit unusual. I have comments 
on my friend Wes Watkins, as well.
  I want to talk a little bit off the cuff about the man that my good 
friend and colleague Frank Lucas was talking about a few minutes ago.
  Wes Watkins liked to think of himself as an ordinary man and a 
typical Oklahoman. I can assure everybody here he was neither ordinary 
nor typical. He was extraordinary.
  Wes Watkins was born, as my friend Mr. Lucas said, in very humble 
circumstances, yet he succeeded in every single thing he did over the 
course of his lifetime. He succeeded in college. He succeeded as a 
businessman. He was a family man, and he was extraordinarily successful 
at that. He was in the National Guard. Finally, he began a political 
career, first in the State senate and then in the Halls of this 
distinguished institution.
  Wes Watkins served two different stints in Congress, but what my 
friend Mr. Lucas didn't say was that he served the first seven terms as 
a Democrat. Then he went home to run for Governor. He is the only 
person I know of in Oklahoma history, maybe in American history, that 
ever carried his congressional district first as a Democrat, then as a 
Democrat running for Governor, and then as an independent seeking the 
governorship, and, finally, later as a Republican.

  He was so impressive on the campaign trail in his second term that 
the person who won the election, former Governor Frank Keating of 
Oklahoma--who was actually my friend, my mentor, and my client at the 
time--was so impressed that he would come back from the campaign trail 
and say: I love Wes Watkins. He is for everything I am for. He is such 
a great guy.
  As soon as Frank became Governor Keating, he offered Wes Watkins a 
cabinet position in his own administration. Wes was the only person 
ever turned down who had been a State senator for a cabinet spot 
because Democrats were so mad at him at the time. Frankly, he got the 
last laugh because, the very next year, he ran for his old 
congressional seat and won.
  Republicans thought so much of him. I remember calling Newt Gingrich, 
who was the Speaker of this institution at the time. I was Wes' 
campaign consultant and a good friend of Speaker Gingrich. I said: He 
really wants to go on the Ways and Means Committee. Speaker Gingrich 
said: If he runs, he has got it. I will absolutely put him there.
  Wes was one of the best Members of Congress. He was a pretty 
extraordinary guy.
  I will tell you, of all the different candidates I have worked with 
and for over the years, nobody ever worked harder and longer. As a 
matter of fact, on one occasion, I remember getting a call at 5:30 in 
the morning--actually, on more than one occasion. I would also get 
calls late at night. I called his beloved wife, Lou, once and said: 
Lou, I am getting calls at 5:30 in the morning and 10 at night. She 
said: Tom, he keeps a list of people he can call before 8 in the 
morning and after 8 at night, and somehow you have gotten yourself on 
both those lists.
  That is how hard he worked. That is how relentless he was.
  While he changed political parties over the course of his lifetime, I 
can tell you he never changed his political principles. Quite frankly, 
he symbolized and propelled the transformation of Oklahoma from a 
Democratic State to a Republican State. I never met Democrats who 
didn't like him or Republicans who didn't like him. He was simply a 
revered individual.
  I remember Wes Watkins with a great deal of fondness.
  In the course of his life, there were three things he loved the most.
  First was his family. When you think of his family, you always think 
of his wife, Lou. They were inseparable.
  Then, he loved the State of Oklahoma, and he served it proudly, as 
well.
  Finally, and I say this as an OU alumnus and a fierce Sooner, he was 
the proudest, most ferocious Oklahoma State graduate I ever met. He 
absolutely revered that institution and spent a lifetime working for 
it.
  I know the people of Oklahoma will miss Wes Watkins. He was, in many 
ways, a favorite son of the State. He certainly distinguished himself 
in public service and in his devotion to the interests of the State.
  I am going to miss Wes even more than that. I will miss him as a 
friend. I will miss him as a mentor. I will miss him as a role model. I 
will miss him first, foremost, and always as a great Oklahoman.

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