[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14060]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DAVID K. RAMEY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. KEN CALVERT

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 28, 2016

  Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives is, in my 
opinion, the greatest legislative body in the history of the world. A 
large portion of the credit for that is due to the thousands of staff 
members who dedicate the better part of their adult lives to working 
within the halls of this democratic institution. For the past 24 years, 
I have been incredibly fortunate to have benefitted from the talented 
services of David Kirk Ramey.
  Dave's tenure in the House dates back to before I was elected (when 
the Cold War existed and the Internet didn't), when he worked for my 
good friend and mentor, former Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA). Dave 
served Rep. Lewis from February 1985 through December 1992 as a Foreign 
Policy and Defense Analyst in the House Republican Conference, Policy 
Committee, and Research Committee. Months after being hired by Lewis, 
Dave welcomed to the Research Committee staff his good friend Flint 
Lewis (no relation to the Congressman). Alongside Jack Pitney, Guy 
Hicks, Kelly Cook Marcavage, Brenda Benjamin Reese, Todd Hauptli, Jim 
O'Malley, Frank Gregorsky, Paul Ritacco, Lee Raudonis, Ed Slevin and 
others, Dave served for eight years in the House Republican Leadership.
  According to former Staff Director Bob Okun, who hired Dave and under 
whom Dave worked during most of those years, Dave ``. . . distinguished 
himself as a top notch researcher and writer on Capitol Hill in the 
1980s which served him so well through his thirty plus years on the 
Hill.'' Dave wrote for the 1988 Republican Platform Committee which was 
co-chaired by Rep. Lewis. Congressman Lewis told me that he has ``. . . 
always been very proud of the quality of our personal staff. One of the 
greatest among them has been David Ramey. To our knowledge, the only 
mistake Dave ever made was to leave our staff and to go and work for my 
buddy Ken Calvert.''
  After I was first elected in November of 1992, Dave was one of the 
first staff members I brought on board as my Legislative Director. My 
first Chief of Staff, Ed Slevin, said ``Without a doubt, Dave is one of 
the best and the brightest. He was a great renaissance man for the 
Congressman.'' In 1997, Dave became my Chief of Staff when Ed left the 
Hill. Throughout his time in my office, Dave has demonstrated a 
tremendous gift for analyzing policies and finding solutions to complex 
legislative challenges. Many things have changed over Dave's 32 years 
in the House, but his sense of punctuality and neatness were always a 
constant.
  He has also mentored a great number of staff members and interns who 
have served in my office, sharing with them the tremendous knowledge he 
possesses about our government, Capitol Hill, history and life in 
general. I believe it's fair to say nobody who spent time working in 
our office left without bearing the imprint of Dave's wonderful 
leadership. Some of the staff's favorite Daveisms include: ``Ounce for 
ounce, testosterone is more dangerous than plutonium,'' ``If you want 
one thing, ask for two,'' ``cc's are free,'' ``What gets scheduled, 
gets done,'' ``A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little 
minds,'' ``Don't go to law school,'' and the all-time favorite, ``The 
six most important words in the English language are: `I am sorry. I 
was wrong.'''
  In addition to working in my office, Dave has served as the CRAP 
Master, the head of the California Republican Administrative Personnel 
group (CRAPs), as well as Co-Chairman of the bipartisan California 
State Society. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 
1984 with a B.A. in International Relations and in 2010 received his 
Master of Arts with Highest Distinction from the Naval War College in 
National Security and Strategic Studies. When Dave steps down on 
October 31st to become a principal at Kadesh and Associates, it will 
mark the departure of the last staff member in my office who has served 
me since I was sworn into office in 1993. (The amount of file space 
that we will reclaim is practically unfathomable.) Dave's immeasurable 
contributions to my office, the constituents I have represented in 
Riverside and Orange Counties, and to our country are something for 
which we should all be very grateful. Personally, I have and will 
continue to value my friendship with Dave and wish him and his wife 
Jenny, their daughter Maddie and son Ben the very best and brightest 
future.

                          ____________________