House Journal: Page 100: Friday, January 15, 1999

	Opportunity for Iowans - all Iowans, no matter what their background, their 

economic status, or their special circumstances - to thrive.
I am confident this is what the Vilsack-Pederson administration will bring to Iowa: 
A government of optimism in a land of opportunity. And add one other thing: 
Commitment, because optimism without commitment won't get the job done.
It is my most fervent hope that in this state of opportunity, the government of 
optimism will rebuild our hopes, rekindle our dreams, reinvigorate our lives. But you 
can't solve problems if you can't see them. You can't help people if you don't know 
them.
So I am pledging today to do volunteer service somewhere in our state each week, 
and I challenge others to do the same. I plan to help school children with their reading, 
to serve meals at a homeless shelter, to help a neighborhood clean-up project, or any 
other task that will help me learn about the problems and the people working to solve 
them throughout this great state. I know there are many needs, but I know also that 
Iowa has many willing hands.
I come here this morning, a small-town Iowan who has always loved Iowa, a 
businesswoman who chose to stay in Iowa, a mother, grandmother, and aunt who 
wants her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews to have opportunities in Iowa - 
I come here this morning to ask just one thing of you.
Please join us.
Please join us in this government of optimism in this lovely, rich land blessed by 
God and nurtured by our ancestors. Please join us in this government of optimism in 
this great state of opportunity. Together, we can create the Iowa of our dreams.
Thank you.
The Mount Pleasant High School chorus performed "The Battle 
Hymn of the Republic."
The oath of office was administered to Governor-elect Thomas J. 
Vilsack by Chief Justice Arthur A. McGiverin, assisted by Mrs. 
Christie Vilsack.
President Kramer presented Governor Thomas J. Vilsack, who 
delivered the following inaugural address:
Governors Fulton, Ray and Branstad, Lieutenant Governors Pederson, Corning and 
Zimmerman, Chief Justice McGiverin and distinguished members of the court and 
judiciary, honorable members of the General Assembly - past and present, executive 
counsel members and ladies and gentlemen:
Today is a day of passages in the State of Iowa, as we inaugurate a new 
administration and look forward to the dawning of a new millennium.

© 1999 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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