[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3958-3959]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            TRIBUTE TO THE LATE CONGRESSMAN CHARLIE NORWOOD

  Mr. COBURN. Madam President, I want to take a few minutes first to 
talk about someone who was a very dear friend whom I think was 
emblematic of what our forefathers thought about when they thought 
about a U.S. Congressman. His name was Charlie Norwood. He died 
yesterday. Charlie was a ``tell it like it is'' guy. His motivations 
were always altruistic. They were never self-centered.
  He had never been in politics. He was a dentist, and he got fed up. 
He came here and had a tremendous impact in terms of his voice of 
common sense, reason, and compassion. The House of Representatives is 
going to miss that voice, but more important, the American people are 
going to miss one of the few voices of common sense that we have in 
Congress today. He leaves a wife, Gloria, and two sons, all supportive 
of his sacrifice to serve here.
  There are a lot of stories told about Charlie. I won't go into that. 
He was always fun to be around. He was always invigorating. And he 
never quit believing in this wonderful thing we call the American 
dream.
  He fought hard for what he thought was right on immigration. He 
recognized that if we build a wall, it is not to keep people in; that 
the opportunities here are so great, what has been created by our 
Founders and grew through the years is so tremendous, that we ought to 
continue to take advantage of it.
  What I really liked about him was that he was a true citizen 
legislator. He abandoned his practice and his easy life and came to do 
the hard work of representing the people of Georgia with common sense 
and down-home, plain family values. He will be sorely missed. But he 
leaves a legacy, a legacy to everybody who is out there today who 
thinks we need to change the Congress of the United States. The legacy 
he leaves is this: If you are willing to sacrifice and get into the 
fray, you can come here and make a difference. That is what he proved. 
His life was not that

[[Page 3959]]

of a career politician--although that is a wonderful service, and we 
have dedicated people throughout both Houses of Congress who have 
dedicated their lives to public service. But he brought a freshness and 
he brought ideas because his experience was what everybody else in the 
country was experiencing, not what is experienced among the political 
elite in this country.
  The challenge that Charlie leaves for all of us who are not in 
Congress, who do not like things the way they are, is to actually get 
involved. That legacy will live on for a long time--I know in his 
district in Georgia, and also through the State of Georgia--but also 
for those of us who will continue to remember him and the sacrifices he 
made.

                          ____________________