[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17016]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO PHILLIP JAMES CLINE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KEVIN McCARTHY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 12, 2012

  Mr. McCARTHY of California. Mr. Speaker, alongside my colleague, 
Congressman Devin Nunes, we rise today to honor Phillip James Cline, 
District Attorney of Tulare County, on the occasion of his retirement.
  Mr. Cline is a Tulare County native, having graduated from Exeter 
Union High School, College of the Sequoias, California State University 
Fresno, and San Joaquin College of Law. He also served in the United 
States Air Force as a Staff Sergeant.
  After joining the bar and working briefly in private practice, Mr. 
Cline joined the District Attorney's Office in 1978. He served as a 
prosecutor for more than 30 years, specializing in homicide cases and 
winning numerous high-profile death penalty cases.
  In 1992, Mr. Cline began serving as District Attorney. Re-elected 
three times, he initiated programs to address workers' compensation and 
automobile insurance fraud, domestic violence, major narcotics, sexual 
assault and child abuse, welfare fraud, auto theft, gang violence and 
child abduction, among others. He created the state's first Rural Crime 
Program, designed to protect the agricultural industry, and developed 
other programs addressing consumer fraud, career criminal prosecution, 
victim's services, elder abuse prosecution and the safe neighborhoods 
program. Mr. Cline and his staff also implemented programs designed to 
strike at the root causes of crime. These included a program to reduce 
teen pregnancy, which received statewide recognition, as well as a 
Veterans' Court to address the needs of combat veterans.
  Mr. Cline is a member of many professional and philanthropic 
organizations. He is past president of the Tulare County Bar 
Association and is an active member of the California and National 
District Attorney's Associations. He is the only District Attorney ever 
elected president of the Tulare County Police Chiefs' Association. Mr. 
Cline has also served on the boards of the HEART after-school program 
and the Tulare County Library Foundation, among others. He has been 
active in Pro Youth Walk Run, the Justice Run and the annual Victims of 
Homicide Memorial Quilt Ceremony.
  Please join Congressman Nunes and me in congratulating Mr. Phillip 
James Cline on his retirement from his position as District Attorney of 
Tulare County.

                          ____________________