[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 21970]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             REMEMBERING CONGRESSWOMAN HELEN CHENOWETH-HAGE

  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, in recent weeks, many of our thoughts have 
been turned to Helen Chenoweth-Hage, her memory, and her family.
  As you know, Helen was laid to rest in October after a tragic 
automobile accident took her life. We honor and remember this 
remarkable woman, and I feel privileged to share with you some of my 
memories and thoughts about her and the time that we served together in 
the U.S. House of Representatives.
  There will never be another public servant in Idaho like Helen. I 
served alongside her in the House of Representatives and worked on many 
issues with her, from fighting Federal mandates in north Idaho to 
fighting for our military at Mountain Home Air Force Base and Gowen 
Field in Boise. She stood firm in her convictions and beliefs, honoring 
the promises she made to those who put her in office. Helen knew, 
without a doubt, what she believed in, and she lived those beliefs in 
word and deed unwaveringly.
  She worked very hard to make sure she had an understanding of what 
was at stake. When she started her congressional career in 1995, she 
read every piece of legislation that was coming up for a vote on the 
House floor. She felt she owed it to those who sent her to Congress. 
She surprised more than a few committee chairmen by showing up at 
hearings being held by committees she didn't serve on, simply because 
of her desire to know more and understand an issue.
  One of her most-oft repeated matras was ``Love many, trust few, and 
paddle your own canoe.'' And that is exactly what she did--she was not 
someone who would check the wind before deciding what to do. She 
listened, asked questions, read documents, studied the issues, and 
talked with experts and plain folks. She took all that information she 
gathered and then made her decision. At her center was a very 
principled, gracious woman--one who was strong in her beliefs and kind 
to all those around her, regardless of theirs. In many ways, she 
mirrored the principled center many of us admire about President Ronald 
Reagan.
  Idahoans have lost a true champion for smaller government and 
personal freedoms. Helen brought Idaho into the national spotlight. She 
stood tough on the issues and spoke out often, even after she left the 
House of Representatives in 2001. She could always be counted on to 
call out hypocrisy in government and placed her reputation on the line 
many times to hold to her beliefs on what was best for Idahoans.
  Perhaps the best way to remember Helen is to quote her own words in 
an interview done with Reason Magazine in October 2000. When the 
reporter asked how she would like to be remembered, this is what she 
said:

       That I have been true to real Republican principles. It's 
     been people like Tom Coburn, Mark Sanford, and myself who 
     have constantly said, `Let's not forget who we are and why we 
     are here.' And that is to protect individual rights, American 
     sovereignty, and private property. If there is not a force of 
     law and justice to protect private property, then we have 
     lost the basis of our freedoms.

  She said something else in that interview that strikes a resonant 
chord with me, in particular. When asked what the greatest threat to 
American Liberty was, she said:

       Too much federal and state government. The lack of respect 
     of people working in government for individuals. An idea that 
     certain people who occupy powerful positions in the 
     administration can make better decisions about an individual 
     and their life choices than can that individual.

  Helen will always be remembered as a champion of the individual--the 
rugged, self-reliant American that is in all of us--and I thank her for 
that.

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