[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19614-19615]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO DAMON TOBIAS AND GEORGE O'CONNOR

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, if you serve long enough in the Congress--I 
had the opportunity to serve 10 years in the House, and now I am into 
my third term in the Senate--you have a lot of very capable and 
wonderful people who work for you. If you serve long enough, as I have 
mentioned, they not only work for you but sometimes they decide to 
retire. In my situation, in my office, I have two people retiring this 
month, and I am going to miss them greatly. I want to speak a few 
moments about them.
  First, I talk about Damon Tobias. Damon has been on my staff and 
handling my budget and tax issues and appropriations issues for a good 
number of years. I first met Damon in the House of Representatives when 
he was on the staff of Congressman Charlie Stenholm of Texas. Damon and 
I and Congressman Stenholm became involved in the balanced budget 
amendment movement at a time when deficits were totally out of control, 
and many of us worked to bring them under control. That is when Damon 
and I became friends. Through the 1980s we worked together on this most 
important issue.
  I left the House to come to the Senate, and Damon left the Stenholm 
office to go to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Later on, 2 years after I 
came to the Senate, Damon joined my staff in March of 1992. Damon has 
continued to work for me over that time, dealing with the balanced 
budget amendment, dealing with taxes and budget and labor issues, 
immigration issues. Probably Damon has spent more time, along with me, 
trying to solve the immigration question for American agriculture and 
for workers in the American agricultural economy than nearly any other 
issue. Of course, that paramount bill he worked so much on now has 
majority support in this Senate and a vast coalition of Americans 
behind it, known as AgJOBS, and it is a legacy of which Damon can be 
truly proud. He worked on appropriations and small business and 
Hispanic issues.
  He and his bride are going to return to his home State of New Mexico 
where Damon, I am sure, will proceed to do other things along with 
taking care of his aging mother. I and my staff are going to miss Damon 
Tobias, and I am convinced the Senate will also miss him.
  Mr. President, I now wish to speak about George O'Connor. Many who 
are in the energy field not only here in the Senate but across the 
United States know George O'Connor. He has served with me as counsel, 
on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee for a good number of 
years. He came to this city as a lawyer in 1980, working for the Stein, 
Mitchell & Mezines law firm as a litigator. He specialized in 
administrative law litigation before the Federal Trade Commission. He 
became a trial attorney for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's 
Office of General Counsel in the Division of Hydroelectric Licensing in 
1982.
  He worked then as a legal advisor to FERC Commissioner Charles A. 
Trabandt from 1985 until 1993 and was responsible for environmental 
issues

[[Page 19615]]

associated with energy projects. He returned to the FERC's Office of 
General Counsel until 1997.
  In 1998, George joined my staff as a fellow, and it was not long 
before I realized I needed his talent on a full-time basis in the area 
of energy and natural resources. In the year 2000, he became directly 
involved with me and has worked in that capacity for a tremendous 
number of years. I must say that both George and I, at the close of the 
session for the August recess and the passage of the National Energy 
Policy Act, saw that as not only a culmination of a great career here 
in the Senate for George O'Connor but a substantial success for myself 
and other members of the Energy Committee who were much involved in 
that.
  George has worked a total of 24 years in the Federal Government, and 
a total of 8 years in my office. I say, without question, I am going to 
miss George O'Connor. He is retiring to go downtown to do other things, 
and I am sure he will be back here when we need him helping us with his 
expertise and his talent. He is well known by all who associate with 
him as a tough but very fairminded and talented man.
  I must say that George O'Connor has served my State of Idaho well, 
has served the Pacific Northwest well, where hydro is still a dominant 
producer of our electricity, and has served this Nation and the Senate 
well.
  My hope for George O'Connor and Damon Tobias is that in their next 
life, which they are now about to assume, they will do well and be as 
successful in it as they have been as very talented and capable 
staffers here in the Senate.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.

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