[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 21022]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO MARGARET CARTER

 Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr President, Former Oregon Governor Tom 
McCall once said, ``Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red 
sky. They are people who say, `This is my community, and it's my 
responsibility to make it better.'''
  I rise today to pay tribute to Oregon State Senator Margaret Carter, 
a remarkable woman who truly is a hero, for she has devoted much of her 
life to making her community and state better.
  Senator Carter was honored earlier this week at a dinner saluting her 
service as President of the Portland Urban League. Nearly 300 civic and 
business leaders gathered in Portland to thank Margaret for the 
leadership she provided to the Urban League during a very crucial time.
  I first got to know Margaret when I came to the Oregon State Senate 
in 1993. At that time, she was serving the fifth of her seven terms in 
the Oregon State House of Representatives, where she made history as 
the first African-American woman ever elected to the Oregon House.
  Margaret was a Democrat representing inner-city Portland. I was a 
Republican representing rural Eastern Oregon. Yet, we quickly became 
friends and decided there were a number of projects on which we could 
unite our efforts. We have been working together ever since.
  An educator by training, Margaret has worked as a youth counselor, 
the assistant director of a community action agency, and for 27 years 
she served on the faculty of Portland Community College, where she was 
a founder of the PCC Skills Center. While in the State Senate, I was 
proud to work with Margaret to preserve funding for the Skills Center, 
which is a center of hope for those looking for a better future.
  In 2000, Margaret was elected to the Oregon State Senate, having won 
the nomination of both the Democrat and Republican parties. Her 
legislative achievements include helping to create a statewide Head 
Start program and the Oregon Youth Conservation Corps. She was also the 
chief sponsor of the law that created a state holiday to honor Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr. Indeed, few Oregonians have done more to make 
Dr. King's dreams a reality that Margaret Carter.
  Included among Margaret's many talents is the fact that she has one 
of the most remarkable singing voices I have ever heard. While I 
couldn't join in the dinner in her honor this week, I did want to raise 
my voice here on the Senate floor to pay tribute to a woman who I am 
honored to call my friend a woman who is a true Oregon hero.

                          ____________________