[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 22631-22632]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO REPRESENTATIVE SHERWOOD BOEHLERT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I also want to rise to extol the virtues of 
Sherry Boehlert. I worked very hard on trying to write something out 
here. It took me a while to get this together. I am not quite as glib 
as the distinguished other gentleman from New York who spoke earlier, 
and I had to think long and hard about really good things to say about 
Sherry as well. But I would just like to start by saying a few things.
  One, he is I think the most affable person in the House of 
Representatives. There are a lot of us here, but he always did things 
with goodwill, with a good sense of humor. I am not remotely surprised 
that he didn't make enemies when he spoke or he took opposite 
positions, because he didn't do that with a vindictiveness, and he 
usually did it with facts behind what he was saying. So for that he 
deserves tremendous credit.
  He has been an incredible advocate for centrist Republican positions. 
He and I have worked together on a variety of those issues, going to 
the highest levels in this House, sometimes to extend funding in 
certain circumstances, other times to fight legislation which was 
coming forward, and for that I will be eternally grateful.
  He also is an environmentalist extraordinaire. He probably excels in 
that field as much as anybody in the House of Representatives, 
Republican or Democrat. He is knowledgeable. He had tremendous staff 
support. He carried out his convictions on the floor. He articulated 
the issues well.
  I don't know of a single issue involving the environment in which 
probably 25 or 30 of us did not go to Sherry and say exactly what do 
you think about

[[Page 22632]]

this, and usually we voted the way he was thinking because of his 
extraordinary knowledge.
  Now, I am saying nice things about him, but I should point out some 
downside. He is a Yankee fan. I don't know how that happens. I think 
people become Yankee fans because they are winners, and that is the 
reason he is a Yankee fan instead of a Mets fan or something of that 
nature. But he is there, and we will have to forgive him that.
  He comes from a region of New York State, up around Utica. He lives 
in New Hartford, New York, which happens to be an area in which I spent 
4 years going to Hamilton College. He and I graduated in the same year 
from different colleges; he, from Utica College, which we realized soon 
when we came down here together on the floor of the House of 
Representatives. But he has been my agent, telling me about Hamilton 
College all these years, and I appreciate that a great deal.
  He also dedicated a science building there, as the head of the 
Science Committee recently, to great acclaim by the people at Hamilton 
and has a warm spot in his heart for that.
  Moves significantly. He has a good part of his family, of his 
children, have now moved to Rehobeth Beach, Delaware, and he and 
Marianne are hopefully going to spend more time in the southern part of 
Delaware, which I consider to be very important. It is a beautiful 
spot. Everybody here should consider that, as a matter of fact, as part 
of their future. I hope that Sherry will come there often and spend 
time there and we can enjoy his company at that spot.
  I can't tell you how fair he has been. If you go to Sherry with 
something, he will describe it to you, go back and forth, and, if he is 
with you, he is going to be on your side and he is the single greatest 
advocate you can possibly have.
  There are many, many other things he has achieved, particularly as 
head of the Science Committee, dealing with the American 
Competitiveness Initiative, which he was slightly ahead of the 
President in terms of that area. In nanotechnology, he was a force in 
making sure that we have proper regulation in that area. The same thing 
is true of cybersecurity. He has been concerned about NASA all these 
years.
  He has just done a wonderful job of representing the mid-part of New 
York State, an exceptional job over all of these years he has been in 
the Congress of the United States.
  But I think far beyond that, for those of us who had a chance to know 
Sherry and to work with him, to know his family, to know Marianne, to 
know what they stand for and how they are, he has the warmest embrace 
he could possibly have from all of us. He is an exceptional human 
being. And I am sure, since he is in good health and that he will be in 
Washington from time to time, that we will hear from him on a variety 
of issues. And I look forward to that moment, being able to hear from 
Sherry as to what he is thinking, as to what is going on, keeping us 
informed on the outside and keeping us informed on the inside as to 
what we should be doing in minding our P's and Q's.
  To a wonderful Member of the Congress of the United States, to a 
wonderful individual in the United States, I pay all the acclaim 
possible to my good friend Sherry Boehlert.

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