[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6141-6146]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING THE LIFE OF FORMER CONGRESSMAN WILLIAM LEHMAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fortenberry). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Meek) is recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Members 
of the House and also the Democratic leader for allowing me to have 
this time tonight.


                             General Leave

  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks on the life of Congressman Bill Lehman, the subject of my 
Special Order this evening.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, a great man who 
served in this House for 20 years went on to glory. On March 16, 2005, 
former U.S. Congressman Bill Lehman passed away peacefully in the 
presence of his family and a few close friends in Miami, Florida. He 
was ninety-one years old, and for 20 of those years he served in this 
great institution, the U.S. House of Representatives.
  We are here this evening to pay tribute to Congressman Bill Lehman 
who served with great dignity and integrity, who the Miami Herald 
described as a ``legendary figure in south Florida politics considered 
a visionary on racial issues and public transit.''
  Only three people have ever served in the 17th Congressional District 
of Florida, former Congressman Bill Lehman, former Congresswoman Carrie 
Meek and myself, Mr. Speaker. For this reason, it is a great honor for 
me to honor him today.
  By any measure, Mr. Lehman was an extraordinary man. He was a 
successful businessman who went back to college, got his teaching 
degree and taught in the Miami Dade County schools. He also was a 
school board member and a chairman of the school board, and he led his 
school system through a very difficult time, the end of segregation in 
schools.
  Congressman Lehman was a Member of Congress universally known for 
fairness, kindness and compassion. He had strong relationships on both 
sides of the aisle and guided national transportation policy through 
the 1980's.
  Congressman Lehman started out as a used car dealer in Miami, and his 
nickname was ``Alabama Bill'' because Congressman Lehman was born in 
Selma, Alabama, and I think that it was very appropriate at that time 
for

[[Page 6142]]

him to be in leadership, but he was a special kind of businessman even 
then. He developed a reputation as a used car dealer that you could 
trust, and that is something that is very uncommon these days, Mr. 
Speaker.
  My constituents still tell stories about ``Alabama Bill.'' One person 
said that he bought a car from Mr. Lehman but the battery died a few 
days later after he drove it home, and for Mr. Lehman, the solution was 
very easy, give him a new battery, something very common.
  Another person told the story of how she wanted to go to the prom 
with her boyfriend, but because they did not have a car, Mr. Lehman 
thought that it was fit for him to lend them a car for the evening. 
This was a very common man, but a man who walked softly and was a giant 
in this Nation.
  Mr. Lehman's customers were loyal and he never forgot them. Once at a 
town hall meeting as a Congressman, a constituent showed up and said 
that he bought a car from Mr. Lehman 35 years ago. He asked Mr. Lehman, 
``Do you remember me?'' Silence fell over the crowd as the two men 
looked at each other, and Mr. Lehman said, ``Your name is Willie,'' and 
the man said, ``No, that was my brother.'' Mr. Lehman remembered them 
both, and he had a great memory and that is something we do not see 
common in public service.
  Mr. Lehman had a restless mind and could not be confined to business. 
His IQ was high enough to qualify him for membership in Mensa, a 
society formed in 1946 to promote intelligent exchange between very 
bright people. Mr. Lehman said later that he went to a few meetings of 
Mensa but soon stopped because he found the people there very boring.
  So, after he got his business started, he went back to college and 
earned his teaching certificate and became an English literature 
teacher in the Miami Dade public schools. He would often quote 
Shakespeare and other English writers in his talks.
  His foray into education led him into an interest in school politics. 
He ran for the school board and won, the first of an unbroken string of 
electoral victories at all levels of government.
  Later, he would become the school board chairman, just as the Federal 
courts ordered busing to end racial segregation in the Miami Dade 
County schools.
  Mr. Lehman described attending meetings of parents so angry that he 
had to have police guards escort him in and out, but his personal 
courage and his uncanny skill at easing tensions helped him win the day 
and the schools were integrated.
  In 1972, the rapid growth in south Florida led to a new congressional 
district which was Congressional District 17. Mr. Lehman ran for it. 
Seven Democrats ran for that seat, and nobody ever gave Mr. Lehman much 
of a chance because he insisted on supporting busing to end racial 
discrimination in schools. But he came in a surprising second in that 
election against a well-known front runner and came in a surprising 
first in the run-off election that followed.
  Bill Lehman started out as a member of the House Education and Labor 
Committee, but his work in Congress is most closely associated with his 
service on the House Appropriations Committee, his chairmanship of the 
Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee and his membership on the 
Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee.
  As a member of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Committee, Mr. 
Lehman used his position to help improve the lives and relieve human 
suffering throughout the world.
  An example is his work in 1980, when the flood of hundreds of 
thousands of Cuban refugees, known as the Mariel Boat Lift threatened 
to overwhelm all of south Florida. Financially, Mr. Lehman managed to 
get $100 million in Cuban refugee resettlement aid included in a 
foreign aid bill, only to see it later stripped from the legislation. 
Mr. Lehman did not give up then. He tried for the refugee money again 
and again until finally it got included in another bill.
  Today, a whole generation of Cuban Americans who came to seek freedom 
in this country owe Bill Lehman for looking out for their needs when 
they first arrived in this country.
  In 1988, Mr. Lehman used his congressional contacts to work with the 
Castro regime in Cuba to obtain the release of three Cuban political 
prisoners who had spent more than 20 years in jail for opposing the 
Cuban government. Lehman bargained behind the scenes through informal 
diplomatic back channels. He eventually traveled to Cuba and met 
secretly with Castro himself to win their freedom. It was a victory 
that only a person like Bill Lehman could achieve.
  Bill Lehman only tried to use the power of government to help people 
who had no other recourse and often no hope. Just a few examples, Mr. 
Speaker: In 1991, Lehman engineered the release of a 16-year-old girl 
who was arrested and imprisoned by the repressive government of 
Argentina at the time. Lehman's personal diplomacy, along with a 
promise to the Argentine government that he would not publicize the 
case in a way that would embarrass the regime, led to her release which 
she is grateful for today and attended his funeral.
  When a constituent who was a single woman wanted to adopt a foreign-
born baby but found that the Federal Government prohibited her from 
doing so, Mr. Lehman introduced legislation to change it. The 
legislation became law, and now such adoptions are common.
  On a visit to a Federal agency in 1986, Mr. Lehman was told about two 
employees, a husband and a wife, who both worked in the same agency. 
The wife had inoperable cancer and a few months to live. They had young 
children, and she had only a couple of months to live. They had used 
all of their sick and vacation time on the treatments and care. Their 
fellow employees wanted to donate their unused time to the couple but 
found that the Federal law prohibited that from happening. Mr. Lehman 
introduced legislation to make it legal and started what is known as 
leave sharing, which is today an established Federal policy.
  When he learned in 1987 that the Communist government in East Germany 
would not allow Jews in East Berlin to have a permanent rabbi, Mr. 
Lehman made contacts with the U.S. ambassador to East Germany and the 
East German government and won approval for the first resident rabbi 
since World War II.
  Congressman Lehman learned through hearings about ``golden Hour'' for 
accident victims. If an injured person gets proper care within an hour 
of an accident, he has a much better chance of living or of recovery. 
That is called trauma care. Mr. Lehman was one of the major champions 
here in this institution for that and could be given credit for trauma 
care throughout the Nation and definitely in south Florida.
  He enlisted the help of then-Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole, 
now Senator Dole, and pushed through the establishment of the Miami 
Dade trauma center, which is known as the Ryder Center that is working 
today. The Bill Lehman Trauma Research Center in Miami is a testimonial 
to his work.
  These are just a few stories of the kind of man that Bill Lehman was 
and how he tried to use the power of government not for personal or 
political advantage but to help the lives of others. Perhaps one of the 
reasons Congressman Lehman was so effective is that he knew what others 
were going through through his own tragedy and trials in his own life.
  His beloved daughter Kathy died of a brain tumor. He was diagnosed 
with cancer and underwent surgery and rehabilitation therapy. Because 
of the surgery that cut some of the nerves that can allow him to speak, 
he had to take speech lessons to learn how to talk again. He used to 
joke he was the only politician that could only talk out of one side of 
his mouth.
  He also suffered a stroke that effectively ended his active 
lifestyle, which included tennis and various other activities that he 
maintained well into his seventies.
  Yet through it all, he was an example of grace, endurance and 
perseverance.

[[Page 6143]]

His mind remained as sharp and as quick as ever, and he always had a 
sense of humor.
  The many lives that Congressman Lehman touched, he touched deeply.
  Our hearts go out to his wife of 66 years, Joan Lehman; his sons, 
Bill Lehman, Junior, and Tom; and their families and grandchildren and 
his grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, I just would like to say that Congressman Lehman, they 
only walk this way once or twice in our lifetime, someone that was 
willing to lead at the appropriate time in the history of this country 
and definitely within the 17th District of Florida.

                              {time}  2215

  Mr. Speaker, the entire Florida delegation sends their heartfelt 
thoughts not only to the family but also to his friends who had a great 
appreciation for his existence. We are forever grateful as a humble 
country of having his family share his life with us.
  I personally feel the key to public service is helping those who 
cannot help themselves, and Mr. Lehman was an example of that.
  Mr. Speaker, there are many Members of the Florida delegation and 
Members of this Congress that will be adding their comments and 
memories.
  Finally, I want to end this Special Order with this quote from a book 
of poetry that Congressman Lehman wrote in his spare time. He was a 
well-read, well-written man. This book of poetry was called ``Hear 
Today,'' and the poem is called ``Recognition.''

     ``We all have our problems,
     But my acquiring wealth
     Was not the cure.
     Though I knew, sure as hell,
     I didn't want to be poor.
     Recognition was the thing
     I knew I needed,
     And before it's all over,
     I may have succeeded.''

  Mr. Speaker, I speak for my colleagues in the House of 
Representatives and for the people of South Florida and around the 
world whose lives were touched in recognizing Congressman Lehman this 
evening.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit the following articles for the Record at this 
time:

                 [From the Miami Herald, Mar. 17, 2005]

                       William Lehman, 1913-2005

                           (By Amy Driscoll)

       Former U.S. Rep. William Lehman, a legendary figure of 
     South Florida politics considered a visionary on racial 
     issues and public transit, died Wednesday at Mount Sinai 
     Medical Center in Miami Beach.
       He was 91. He died of heart failure, his family said.
       A used-car salesman, teacher, school board chairman and 
     powerful congressman who exercised broad authority over 
     transportation spending in the United States, Lehman was 
     remembered by friends and former staffers as a compassionate 
     soul and a progressive voice who helped shape South Florida.
       He was an Alabama-born Jew who opened a business in a black 
     neighborhood in Miami and once traveled to Cuba to rescue 
     political prisoners. Known at home as the father of the 
     Metrorail and Metromover systems, he was part of a renowned 
     generation of Democratic politicians, including U.S. Reps. 
     Dante Fascell and Claude Pepper, who delivered uncommon clout 
     to Florida.
       ``A person like this can only come along in a community 
     once in a century, twice in a century if you're lucky,'' said 
     John Schelble, once Lehman's press spokesman and now chief of 
     staff to Miami Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek. ``He was 
     truly colorblind.''
       At the news of his passing, condolences poured forth, from 
     Miami to Washington.


                           a real `folk hero'

       Former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek called him a ``real 
     humanitarian and folk hero'' in Miami's poor communities. She 
     recalled his car dealership, set in the heart of black Miami, 
     and his fight as a school board member in support of 
     mandatory busing to integrate schools.
       ``He felt very strongly about the people in the black 
     community, and that wasn't just pious platitudes. He showed 
     it in all the things he did. He showed it when he built his 
     dealership. He showed it when he was on the school board,'' 
     she said.
       Mike Abrams, lobbyist and former state representative who 
     had known Lehman since the 1970s, said the former congressman 
     was guided by an unshakable sense of right and wrong.
       ``He was the most moral man I ever knew in politics--and 
     I've known a lot of men in politics. He was clearly guided by 
     his personal principles,'' Abrams said. ``But that didn't 
     mean he didn't know how to use his knuckles in the process. 
     If he didn't think you had character, forget it. He was a 
     character man all the way.''
       Lehman's ability to reach people wasn't ruled by politics. 
     U.S. Reps. Clay Shaw and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both 
     Republicans, counted Lehman as a friend.
       ``He was a Democrat through and through, and I'm a 
     Republican, but that never interfered with our friendship,'' 
     Shaw said.
       Ros-Lehtinen characterized him as ``a gentleman to his last 
     breath.''
       Lehman was born Oct. 5, 1913, in Selma, Ala., the son of 
     candy factory owners. He graduated from the University of 
     Alabama, and married the former Joan Feibelman in 1939. They 
     became the parents of three children--two sons and a 
     daughter, Kathryn, who died of a brain tumor in 1979. She had 
     been a high school English teacher like her father.


                             `alabama bill'

       He spent 30 years as a used car dealer, calling himself 
     ``Alabama Bill'' in advertisements, before he got into 
     politics. Lehman was elected to the Dade County School Board 
     in 1966 and became chairman in 1971. His first election to 
     Congress to represent a Northeast Dade district came in 1972.
       The Biscayne Park Democrat was known for his low-key 
     manner, for the Southern drawl he never lost--and for his 
     political power.
       ``The fact that he was so demonstrably Southern probably 
     gave him an ability to play a conciliatory and constructive 
     role in some of Florida's toughest times,'' said former U.S. 
     Sen. Bob Graham.
       In the years when the Democrats held sway in Congress, he 
     rose to a position of great influence, a member of the so-
     called ``college of cardinals'' in the House. With an 
     unpolished speaking style and quiet strength, he controlled 
     billions of dollars for transportation as chairman for 10 
     years of the House Appropriations Committee's subcommittee 
     overseeing highways, seaports and mass-transit systems.


                          millions for transit

       He brought a significant portion of that money home to 
     South Florida, with some $800 million going to the 
     construction of the Metrorail transit system. Millions 
     secured by Lehman also went to build bridges and improve the 
     region's seaports and airports.
       ``Anyone who rides a bus or takes a train in this area, 
     they owe it to Mr. Lehman,'' Carrie Meek said. ``That's the 
     way poor people get around and he chose to make that his 
     priority.''
       Other favorite causes included support for Israel and the 
     resettlement of Soviet Jews.
       Sergio Bendixen, a Miami-based pollster who worked in 
     Lehman's Washington office as press secretary and executive 
     assistant from 1979 to 1982, said the congressman didn't need 
     the trappings of success to boost his ego.


                              small office

       ``He chose the smallest office--a cubbyhole, really,'' 
     Bendixen recalled. ``He was a congressman. He knew he was 
     powerful. He didn't need all the plaques on the wall and the 
     symbols that seemed to make other members of Congress happy. 
     He was secure.''
       Lehman was an unabashed liberal who voted against a 
     constitutional amendment banning flag-burning, against 
     military aid to the rebels fighting to topple Nicaragua's 
     leftist Sandinista government and against sending troops to 
     the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War.


                            prisoner release

       But he won respect among conservative Cuban exiles in 1988 
     when he went to Cuba and negotiated the release of three 
     political prisoners.
       It wasn't his first effort for victims of political 
     repression: In 1981, he won release of a political prisoner 
     in Argentina, and in 1984, he smuggled a synthetic heart 
     valve to a young patient in a hospital in the Soviet Union. 
     He was also a strong advocate for Haitian refugees.
       ``I'm a congressman,'' he told an aide inquiring about the 
     danger of venturing into the Soviet Union. ``If they catch 
     me, what are they going to do?''


                             down-to-earth

       Despite his power, Lehman retained his down-to-earth 
     sensibilities. He was a breakfast regular for years at 
     Jimmy's restaurant on Northeast 125th Street in North Miami.
       His two sons remembered him Wednesday as someone who never 
     raised his voice but taught them the value of working for 
     others.
       ``He'd get involved in things and he wouldn't skim the 
     surface--he'd get down to the very bottom,'' said Bill Lehman 
     Jr.
       ``He just took great pleasure in being a friend to 
     anyone.''
       Their father always listened to his internal compass, 
     financing cars for black customers in the '40s and '50s, when 
     few other white car dealers would, they said.
       ``He would look at a man's arms and if they had salt on 
     them, from sweating, he would know that was a working man,'' 
     said Thomas Lehman. ``That was his credit check.''
       Surgery for jaw cancer in 1983 left Lehman's speech 
     slurred. But he stayed in Congress for another decade, until 
     his surprise decision in 1992 not to seek reelection when his 
     influence was at its height.
       Friends say that even as he struggled with his speech and 
     other health problems, Lehman maintained a sense of humor.

[[Page 6144]]

       ``I'm the only politician who can only speak out of one 
     side of his mouth,'' he once joked, referring to treatment 
     that left part of his mouth paralyzed.
       But Lehman said he made up his mind to retire in 1992 for 
     health reasons: He said he had ``a sudden realization'' that 
     a 1991 stroke had made him a less effective legislator.


                               end of era

       His passing marks the end of a political era, said lobbyist 
     Ron Book.
       ``They don't make 'em like that anymore--him, Claude Pepper 
     and Dante Fascell--they're all gone now.''
       Lehman is survived by his wife of 66 years, Joan; sons Bill 
     Jr. and Thomas, and six grandchildren.
       The funeral will be at Temple Israel at 1 p.m. Sunday. In 
     lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the William 
     Lehman Injury Research Center, University of Miami Miller 
     School of Medicine, P.O. Box 016960 (D-55), Miami, FL 33101.
                                  ____


                          A Man of the People

       It is customary to bestow praise on the newly departed, 
     some of it well deserved, but in the case of former U.S. Rep. 
     Bill Lehman there is no need to depart from the unembellished 
     truth. He was a man of the people, and he had a gift for 
     politics. To those who knew him well and, indeed, to anyone 
     who encountered him even briefly, Mr. Lehman's humanity and 
     decency radiated like sunshine.
       This wonderful man who did so much for the people of South 
     Florida died Wednesday at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami 
     Beach. He was 91.
       Mr. Lehman will be remembered for the power he wielded as a 
     congressman. He was chairman of the House Appropriations 
     subcommittee that oversaw spending for mass-transit, highways 
     and seaports. He developed an expertise on transportation 
     issues that few could rival, and he used his legislative 
     clout to bring transportation dollars to the state, 
     especially to South Florida.
       Mr. Lehman often used his power to help ordinary people. He 
     negotiated the release of a political prisoner in Argentina 
     in 1981 and did the same thing for three political refugees 
     in Cuba in 1988. And once, he brazenly smuggled a synthetic 
     heart valve to a patient in the Soviet Union.
       For all his political achievements--and they were 
     legendary--Mr. Lehman will be remembered best for his genuine 
     warmth and generous spirit. Born in Selma, Ala., Mr. Lehman 
     embraced liberal values. He voted against a proposed 
     constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning; he opposed 
     sending military aid to the contras in Nicaragua; and he did 
     not favor sending troops to the Persian Gulf in the first 
     Gulf War.
       Mr. Lehman used his power to build community and promote 
     fellowship. Our community is richer for having had him among 
     us.
                                  ____


                         A Lifetime of Service

       Highlights of William Lehman's life in politics:
       1966: Elected to the Dade County School Board, where he 
     helped desegregate public schools in the late 1960s and early 
     '70s.
       1971: Elected chairman of the School Board.
       1972: Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where 
     he later became chairman of the transportation subcommittee 
     of the House Appropriations Committee.
       1980s: Won about $800 million for construction of the 
     Metrorail system.
       1981: Negotiated the release of a political prisoner in 
     Argentina.
       1984: Smuggled into the Soviet Union a life-saving heart 
     valve for a teenager.
       1986: Despite opposition of the Department of 
     Transportation, won full funding for two extensions to the 
     downtown Miami Metromover system.
       1987: Thanks to Lehman's work, a rabbi was able to 
     celebrate Passover in what was then communist East Germany.
       1988: Flew to Cuba and picked up three Cuban political 
     prisoners whose freedom he had secured from Fidel Castro.
       1992: Retired from Congress.
                                  ____


                 [From the Sun Sentinel, Mar. 17, 2005]

        William Lehman, Dead at 91, Leaves Legacy in S. Florida

                           (By Buddy Nevins)

       South Floridians can see former U.S. Rep. William Lehman's 
     legacy through their car windshields or out the windows of 
     their trains: Tri-Rail, Metrorail, the downtown Miami 
     Metromover, Interstate 595 and I-95 and dozens of other 
     bridges and roads.
       Rep. Lehman, once one of the most powerful congressmen to 
     hold a firm grip on the nation's transportation spending, 
     died Wednesday at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. 
     He was 91.
       Although the hospital did not announce the cause of death, 
     Rep. Lehman had suffered from a number of illnesses including 
     cancer and a disabling stroke in his senior years, according 
     to his family.
       During his 20 years representing north and central Miami-
     Dade County, Rep. Lehman's passion was moving people, whether 
     he was selling them cars from one of his auto dealerships, or 
     building them a modern road and transit system.
       Rep. Lehman was the last living member of the trio of 
     liberal Democrats who wielded enormous clout in Washington 
     and brought attention and billions of dollars in federal aid 
     to South Florida. In the 1970s and 1980s Rep. Lehman, along 
     with U.S. Reps. Dante Fascell and Claude Pepper of Miami, 
     made the Florida delegation one of the most influential in 
     the House.
       ``Public transit was always important to Bill Lehman, as he 
     knew it was a lifeline to employment, grocery shopping, 
     doctor visits and other necessary services for poor and 
     working-class citizens,'' said U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-
     Miramar. ``Bill Lehman was known as an `unbending liberal.' 
     This is one of many characteristics that endeared him to 
     me.''
       As Florida Speaker of the House in the late 1980s, Tom 
     Gustafson worked with the congressman to kick-start I-595 and 
     the Tri-Rail transit system, which carries passengers from 
     Miami to West Palm Beach.
       ``He was the go-to guy for any money for transportation. If 
     you needed federal money, you went to Bill Lehman,'' 
     Gustafson recalled.
       From his perch as chairman of the subcommittee on 
     transportation appropriations, Rep. Lehman threw money at 
     South Florida projects.
       ``I-595 was Bill Lehman. The Clay Shaw Bridge [on the 17th 
     Street Causeway in Fort Lauderdale] was Bill Lehman. Tri-Rail 
     was Bill Lehman. This is a guy who has more monuments to him 
     than anyone I know,'' said U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort 
     Lauderdale.
       Some of the facilities in Miami-Dade named for Rep. Lehman 
     illustrate the breadth of his impact: an elementary school, a 
     causeway, a transit maintenance building, a research center 
     at the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
       As news of his death reached the community, tributes poured 
     in.
       ``He didn't just make government work, he brought people 
     together,'' said U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, the Miami Democrat 
     who occupies Rep. Lehman's seat.
       ``Mr. Lehman clearly left his mark on the South Florida 
     community,'' said Mayor Carlos Alvarez of Miami-Dade. ``His 
     pioneering works will be a fixture in Miami-Dade County for 
     many years to come. My thoughts and prayers are with his 
     family during this difficult time.''
       Rep. Lehman's liberal voting record included opposing a 
     constitutional amendment banning flag-burning, voting against 
     military aid to Nicaragua's contra rebels, and voting against 
     sending troops to the Persian Gulf in the first Iraq war. He 
     went to Cuba in 1988 to negotiate the release of three 
     political prisoners and was an advocate for Haitian refugees.
       Born on Oct. 5, 1913 in Selma, Ala., Rep. Lehman's roots 
     were far from the underprivileged he would champion in 
     Congress.
       His father was a wealthy candy manufacturer. His mother was 
     a housewife and the young Bill Lehman would ride in the 
     family's chauffeur-driven Cadillac, family members said 
     Wednesday.
       Rep. Lehman's liberal philosophy sprang from the 
     realization early in life that his small Southern town was 
     filled with the less fortunate who could make it in life only 
     with the help of the government, said Tom Lehman, his son and 
     a Miami-Dade lawyer.
       ``He saw that, especially during the Depression, all that 
     the federal government could do,'' Tom Lehman said. ``He was 
     a big believer in the role of government in peoples' lives.''
       Moving to Miami in the 1930s, Rep. Lehman sold used cars, 
     billing himself as ``Alabama Bill'' He developed the unusual 
     reputation for a car dealer as a gentleman who respected his 
     customers and he carried that into politics.
       ``He was admired, respected and loved, and you can't say 
     that about a lot of members of Congress,'' said U.S. Rep. 
     Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami.
       Bill Lehman Jr. recalled that his father never lost the 
     common touch.
       ``He was as comfortable talking to Ted Kennedy as he was 
     talking to a car porter at the dealership.''
       After a stint as a public school teacher, Rep. Lehman 
     entered politics in 1966, winning a seat on the Dade County 
     School Board. Six years later he went to Congress. Rep. 
     Lehman left Washington in 1992 after suffering a stroke, but 
     also as he faced the possibility of being thrown into the 
     same congressional district as Fascell when boundaries were 
     redrawn.
       Services for Rep. Lehman are at 1 p.m. Sunday at Temple 
     Israel of Greater Miami. He is survived by Joan, his wife of 
     66 years, two sons and six grandchildren.
                                  ____


               [From the Washington Post, Mar. 17, 2005]

          William Lehman, Fla. Congressman and Car Dealer, 91

                          (By Adam Bernstein)

       William Lehman, 91, a used-car dealer who later served 20 
     years in the U.S. House of Representatives and became a force 
     on transportation legislation, died March 16 at a hospital in 
     Miami Beach. His heart was weakened from a recent bout with 
     pneumonia.
       Mr. Lehman, known as ``Alabama Bill'' when he was in 
     business, owed his nickname

[[Page 6145]]

     to his birthplace. But he spent most of his car-sales career 
     in Miami, a district he served as a Democrat in the House 
     from 1973 to 1993.
       He was a member of the Appropriations Committee and chaired 
     its transportation subcommittee, which controlled billions of 
     dollars in federal projects.
       Soft-spoken and adroit, as a politician he was not at all 
     the caricature of the flamboyant, hard-sell salesman. Long 
     gone were the days when he appeared in advertisements sitting 
     on cotton bales and ``making deals as solid as a bale of 
     Alabama cotton.''
       He was much more subtle in the House. As a member of the 
     so-called ``college of cardinals,'' so named for their 
     seniority, he worked quietly to pass bills with the least 
     resistance.
       His attentiveness to his constituents, in the form of 
     authorizing public works projects for South Florida, 
     occasionally caused turf disputes with the House Public Works 
     Committee. When the committee's then-chairman, Rep. James J. 
     Howard (D-N.J.), called ``egregious'' Mr. Lehman's efforts to 
     approve a large mass-transit funding bill, the Floridian 
     backed down.
       That is to say, he found another way to get his projects 
     approved--through an omnibus spending package.
       William Marx Lehman was born Oct. 5, 1913, in Selma, Ala., 
     where his father owned the American Candy Co. A 1934 graduate 
     of the University of Alabama, he focused on business at his 
     father's behest.
       Early in his career, he worked for CIT Corp., an industrial 
     finance company, in New York. He went to Miami on a job to 
     finance auto dealerships and soon decided he would take some 
     family money to finance a car-sales venture himself.
       During World War II, he learned airplane mechanics and went 
     to Brazil to help train others aiding the Allied effort.
       Mr. Lehman was a member of Mensa International. For years, 
     he wanted to teach English. After studying at Oxford 
     University in the early 1960s, he became a high school 
     English teacher in Miami.
       He also won election to the Dade County School Board and 
     became its chairman. He ran for the U.S. House when a new 
     district was created.
       In Congress, he championed public transportation, 
     especially light-rail systems in his district. He also helped 
     shepherd legislation to allow federal workers to donate their 
     paid leave time to co-workers.
       He made several publicized mercy trips.
       In 1984, he flew to Moscow and smuggled an artificial heart 
     valve to an ailing young woman who was related to one of his 
     constituents.
       Describing his part with cloak-and-dagger mystique, he told 
     Roll Call that he sneaked the device past customs and 
     immigration authorities.
       He then went to a pay phone as arranged, where a voice told 
     him to be at a certain address and to watch for ``a woman in 
     red standing next to a short man.'' The woman eventually got 
     her heart valve.
       In 1988, he traveled to Cuba and successfully appealed to 
     Fidel Castro to release three longtime political prisoners.
       Mr. Lehman had a massive stroke in 1991 that hastened his 
     retirement.
       A daughter, Kathryn Weiner, died in 1979.
       Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Joan Feibelman 
     Lehman of Miami; two sons, Bill Lehman Jr. and Thomas Lehman, 
     both of Miami; six grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.
                                  ____


                    [From Roll Call, Mar. 17, 2005]

                Ex-Florida Rep. Bill Lehman Passes Away

                           (By Jennifer Lash)

       Former Rep. Bill Lehman (D-Fla.), considered a strong 
     advocate on both race and transportation issues, died 
     Wednesday at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. He was 91.
       Throughout his tenure in Congress, which began in 1972, 
     Lehman voted against such issues as a constitutional 
     amendment banning flag burning and sending troops to the 
     Persian Gulf. He also fought to aid victims of political 
     repression in areas such as Cuba, Argentina and the Soviet 
     Union.
       Lehman remained in Congress for a decade following a jaw 
     cancer surgery that left his speech slurred in 1983. Eight 
     years later, the Florida Democrat suffered a stroke, and in 
     1992 he announced his decision to retire, citing health 
     reasons.
       Lehman, the son of candy factory owners, was born Oct. 5, 
     1913, in Selma, Ala. He received his bachelor's from the 
     University of Alabama in 1934. Three years later, he married 
     Joan Feibelman. The couple had three children--a daughter, 
     who died of a brain tumor 1979, and two sons.
       Before entering the political arena, Lehman sold used cars 
     for 30 years, referring to himself as ``Alabama Bill'' in his 
     advertisements. He also spent time as a teacher and school 
     board chairman prior to his election to Congress.
       Lehman never allowed his Congressional duties to cause him 
     to lose touch with his Florida district. He regularly ate 
     breakfast at a restaurant in North Miami, and he resided in 
     Biscayne Park, Fla., through his final days.
       Although Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) came to Congress 10 
     years after Lehman had retired, Meek said he was ``struck'' 
     by the friends Lehman had made on both sides of the aisle.
       ``Only three people have ever represented Florida's 17th 
     District in Congress: Bill Lehman in the 80's; Carrie Meek in 
     the 90's and now me,'' Meek said in a statement. ``I will 
     always cherish the photo of the three of us together, because 
     Bill Lehman was my Congressman when I was just a teenager and 
     it is such a privilege to continue his service here.''
                                  ____


                     [From the Hill, Mar. 17, 2005]

                        Former Rep. Lehman dies

                         (By Mark H. Rodeffer)

       Former Rep. Bill Lehman (D-Fla.) died yesterday morning at 
     a Miami Beach hospital. He was 91.
       Lehman, who chaired the Appropriations Transportation 
     Subcommittee until he retired from Congress in 1992, was 
     known for running the subcommittee by consensus and for a 
     willingness to earmark money for district projects.
       Before his 1972 election to Congress, Lehman was a used-car 
     salesman for 30 years. ``Even though I came to Congress 10 
     years after Representative Lehman left it, I was struck by 
     how many good friends he made, in both the House and the 
     Senate and among both Democrats and Republicans,'' said Rep. 
     Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.), who today holds the seat Lehman held. 
     ``He didn't just make government work; he brought people 
     together.''
       Carrie Meek (D) was elected in 1992 to Lehman's north Miami 
     district. She served until 2002, when she was succeeded by 
     her son, Kendrick.
       ``I will always cherish the photo of the three of us 
     together because Bill Lehman was my congressman when I was 
     just a teenager, and it is such a privilege to continue his 
     service here,'' Kendrick Meek said.

  Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, my wife, Emilie, and I are deeply saddened to 
learn of the passing of Congressman Bill Lehman. I will always remember 
his good sense of humor, his leadership and his unrivaled sense of 
duty. He had a reputation of having the courage and conviction to do 
what was right for his constituents, and his country.
  Bill was a good friend, and was a political mentor when I first came 
to Washington. He led a remarkable life; from his service to his 
community to his strong leadership in Congress. Bill was the Chairman 
of the Transportation Subcommittee of the House Appropriations 
Committee. Many of the transportation facilities in South Florida are a 
direct result of his tireless efforts as Subcommittee Chairman.
  Bill will be missed by so many, but has left an extraordinary legacy. 
His family will remain in our thoughts and prayers.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to our former 
colleague, the late William ``Bill'' Lehman, who recently passed away 
in his home state of Florida.
  Bill represented the 17th Congressional District of Florida from 1973 
to 1992. While he was a great advocate for transportation, foreign 
affairs issues, and racial equality in education, he has received very 
little or no recognition for his work on behalf of Haitian refugees. In 
1979, Haitian refugees faced significant due process violations by the 
Federal government. At the time, he represented almost all of the 
fledgling Haitian community in South Florida. Bill felt very strongly 
that he could not successfully oppose the onerous civil rights 
violations faced by Haitians, because of their national origin, without 
additional political support. It was at his urging that the 
Congressional Black Caucus formed the CBC Task Force on Haitian 
refugees. The Task Force eventually succeeded, accompanied by various 
legal victories, in establishing an immigration designation, ``Cuban-
Haitian entrant status'', that permitted Haitians seeking political 
asylum to remain in the country while they pursued their asylum claims.
  Without his personal intervention and commitment on their behalf, the 
Haitian community in South Florida may have never received some form of 
equitable treatment under our immigration laws. With his passing, our 
colleague, Bill Lehman's contributions to improved immigration laws in 
this country should not be forgotten. I am proud to have served with 
him during his last 10 years in Congress.
  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember and honor my friend and 
distinguished former colleague Bill Lehman.
  Bill Lehman represented South Florida in the House of Representatives 
for twenty years beginning in 1972. Bill and I came to Congress 
together that year. It is with sadness that I stand to pay tribute to 
him today as one of the last remaining members of the class of '72.
  Though Bill left Congress in 1993, he and I kept in touch. It was 
less than a month ago when we last corresponded. He noted my name in an 
article in the Miami Herald and wrote to encourage me to keep up the 
fight. I'm going to miss those notes and his many years of friendship.

[[Page 6146]]

  Bill was unique. He was special among those who've served in this 
institution. He was an individual of great principle and compassion 
beloved by the community he represented. As his hometown paper the 
Miami Herald eulogized him, Bill Lehman was a ``legendary figure of 
South Florida politics considered a visionary on racial issues and 
public transit.''
  Bill Lehman was legendary in this House where he served ten years as 
Chairman of the powerful Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation. 
He was a tireless advocate of progressive causes at home and abroad, 
known for taking principled stands on international and constitutional 
issues.
  Bill Lehman had another distinction, too. He's the only politician I 
ever met that, when compared to a used car salesman, he was proud to be 
a used car salesman.
  Born in Selma, Alabama in 1913, he took the moniker ``Alabama Bill'' 
when he moved to South Florida and opened a used auto dealership in 
Miami in 1936. Playing country music in his advertising, ``Alabama 
Bill'' earned a modest reputation as a country western singer. That 
original business has grown into one of South Florida's largest auto 
dealerships carried on today by his son Bill Lehman, Jr.
  After nearly 30 years in the used car business, Bill Lehman went off 
to Oxford University. In the early 1960s, he returned to Miami and 
began a second career teaching high school English. In 1966, he began 
yet a third career running for and winning a seat on the Dade County 
School Board and went on to serve as Board Chairman in 1971. A year 
later he was elected to Congress.
  I was greatly saddened to hear of Bill Lehman's passing on March 16 
of this year and commend my colleagues for dedicating this evening in 
his honor.
  My thoughts are with Bill's wife Joan, to whom he was married for 66 
years, their two sons Bill Jr. and Tom, and their 6 grand children and 
2 great-grandsons.
  Bill's years of dedicated public service in this House will never be 
forgotten. His spirit and the principle and compassion he brought to 
the job will continue to be greatly admired by those of us who knew 
him.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a great man, 
Congressman William Lehman of Florida. In his passing, I have lost a 
dear friend, Congress has lost a role model, and the Nation has lost a 
brave leader and national hero.
  Congressman Lehman was, above all, a true liberal, dedicated to 
equality among races and classes. He opened his used car dealership in 
a black neighborhood, and was one of the few dealers in the 1940's and 
1950's--white or otherwise--who would finance cars for black customers. 
He supported issues that were important to poor communities, fighting 
against highways that divided and ruined communities, and bringing home 
more than $800 million for a Metrorail system in Miami, providing 
multiple ways for the poor to get to and from work.
  He was also a gifted politician, inspiring loyalty in his committee 
members and his party. He neither dictated policy, nor ran his 
subcommittee overseeing highways, seaports and mass-transit systems 
with an iron fist, but by striking a perfect balance between offering 
incentives to cooperate and promising consequences to those who didn't. 
He knew all the legislative routes, and successfully steered bills he 
believed would benefit his constituents and the country around the road 
blocks and land mines in the House. If he was defeated on the House 
floor, he would work tirelessly in the conference committee to ensure 
the soundest legislative policies were written into law.
  Bill was respected on both sides of the aisle, and had friends in 
both parties and all over Capitol Hill. He conducted himself with 
dignity, and he showed others that he believed in the issues he fought 
for, and wasn't merely supporting them for political purposes. When you 
hear people describe him, they almost always include the words 
``honest'' and ``moral'', attributes that are rarely connected with 
politicians in this day and age, but which truly fit Bill.
  Even after becoming one of the more influential members of Congress, 
he never lost touch, with his roots. He maintained his southern accent 
and his unpolished yet powerful manner of speaking throughout his 
career, and continued to dine and spend time in his old neighborhood.
  One would be hard pressed to find a Congressman who took more risks, 
and for more noble reasons, while in office. In 1988 he chartered a 
plane to Cuba and successfully negotiated the release of three 
political prisoners, endearing him to the conservative Cuban community 
in his district. Seven years earlier he had negotiated the release of a 
political prisoner in Argentina, and he smuggled an artificial heart 
valve into the Soviet Union for an ailing 22 year old woman.
  In my mind, Bill was more than a gifted colleague and a good person; 
he was a very close friend. I can attest that this is one of the rare 
cases where the statements being made about a person after his death 
are absolutely true. He was as good of a person in life as he is being 
described in death--a smart, moral, genuinely decent human being, one 
whose company it was a pleasure to keep.
  Over the years I had the pleasure of working with Congressman Lehman 
a number of times. We served on the House Judiciary committee together, 
and in 1982 we traveled to several Latin American countries, including 
Nicaragua to investigate illegal arms sales. He was as much of a 
gentleman in the professional world as he was in the personal one.
  Our country has experienced a great loss. Congressman Lehman was the 
kind of man who does not come around often, and we were blessed to have 
him in Congress. He was a role model to politicians everywhere and an 
inspiration to citizens all across the Nation. He will be sorely missed 
wherever he was known.

                          ____________________