[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16524]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            IN HONOR OF MARTHA LOIS McGINNIS CAMERON NORTON

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 28, 2006

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the achievements and 
promise of Martha Lois McGinnis Cameron Norton, or just simply Martha. 
I have known Martha much of my life as the ``go to woman'' in local 
elections. She is one of those Americans who embodies the meaning of 
the word citizenship; who works always to strengthen the quality of our 
democracy. Martha was born in Washington, Iowa, in 1922. She grew up on 
a farm and spent her childhood raising corn, tending hogs, and seeing 
to all the other chores of an Iowa farm girl. But being from 
Washington, she had politics in her blood. As a child she saw both 
President Hoover and Governor Roosevelt speak during the 1932 
presidential campaign. Four years later she worked her first of many 
campaigns when she helped re-elect President Roosevelt.
  While Martha built a remarkable professional career as a research 
scientist and educator, it is her relentless political activism that I 
wish to focus on today. That activism began in earnest in 1946 when 
Martha joined a local campaign to save San Francisco's landmark cable 
car system. In 1956, she worked to re-elect President Eisenhower. In 
1959, she helped run her father's successful write-in campaign to 
become Mayor of her hometown.
  In 1962 Martha moved to Monterey and hasn't stopped since. She soon 
worked on a variety of local races, including several of my father's, 
who was then serving in the California State Senate. In the late '60s, 
she worked on the coastal protection campaign that culminated in the 
voters 1972 adoption of the landmark Coastal Act. That same year Martha 
became a Democrat. As a young woman, she registered Republican on the 
advice of her mother who said that it was the Republicans who secured 
the vote for women. But she had become disenchanted with the direction 
that the Republican Party had taken, especially in civil rights, and 
followed Leon Panetta in making the switch.
  In 1976, Martha worked as a precinct walker in Leon Panetta's 
successful race against Congressman Burt Talcott. She also worked on 
Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign, coordinating more than 100 
volunteers from their teens into their 70s. In the '80s, she helped 
elect two pivotal Monterey County Supervisors, Sam Karas and Karin 
Strasser Kauffman. In 1996 she volunteered once again for Karin, in her 
primary race for the local state Assembly seat. While Karin lost the 
race, Martha felt that democrat Fred Keeley went on to be a great 
Assemblymember. And all along, Martha was instrumental in my own 
campaigns for local, state, and federal office.
  Martha truly is the tireless volunteer. In addition to her campaign 
work, Martha has devoted countless hours to many different boards, 
commissions, and other community organizations, including the MPUSD 
school board, the Highway 68 committee, the Toxic Waste committee for 
Fort Ord, several League of Women Voters committees, and local 
Democratic committees and clubs. Martha also served several stints as 
the President of the Peninsula Women's Democratic Club. She has worked 
tirelessly over the years to register voters and encourage 
participation in the political process. And it is this grass roots 
commitment to making democracy work that deserves the attention of this 
House because it is the people like Martha across this country that 
keep our democracy alive and well.

                          ____________________