House Journal: Page 1928: Wednesday, April 26, 2000
And my Republican friends and your great staff. Representative Rants, you've done
a great job of sharing with the minority and with me information about our schedules,
our agenda. And how this place is run. You've not yet entrusted me with that pocket
rocket deal you carry around but you've shared with me what's on it and I sure
appreciate that.
Mr. Speaker, you've been a good leader of this chamber. You've kept us in line when
we needed kept in line. You run this place in an appropriate manner at all times, and I
respect you for the work that you've done and the leadership you've provided for your
caucus. I do lust after your gavel. I wouldn't mind having your CD collection, either.
Thank you for the work that you've given to us. And everyone else in the chamber. I've
really noticed this year that the clerks, the Doormen, the Chief Clerk and all of your
staff, the Pages, the people at the telephone desk, everybody in this building. I've had a
lot of guests visit this year, and I think that all of the staff that work for us have gone
overboard to make people that visit here feel comfortable when they come here. And
that's really important to me that people leave here when they've visited, feeling good
about the experience and all the people that work in this chamber; the clerks on the
floor and everyone else, I think has contributed to making Iowans feel good about this
place.
My views about the General Assembly are different than the views of a lot of
people. A lot of you might disagree with me but I think this chamber is a place for
civilized combat. We really resolve differences that in other parts of the world people
fight violently about. Yet we have a system that allows us to come to resolution here.
As we're going about that process we get as angry with one another as seems possible
yet we don't hit one another. I've often told my members that you don't have to make
friends here. You've got friends at home. You've got a task to do here. But the
miraculous part about serving here is that in spite of all that civilized combat we do
become friends. We become good friends and they are friendships most of us will never
forget. So I've mentioned some of the names. You know we're going to be losing people
that we've served with a long time that are going to go do a lot of things that are a lot
more fun next January than we'll be doing, those of us that come back. Gary Blodgett,
Minnette Doderer, Jim Drees - Jim isn't even here is he? Where is Jim? Well that
rascal. I wasn't here when he gave his going away speech either so we're even. He
didn't share with you that I didn't have a heater in that old truck either when I went
out to visit him that first day. Sandy Greiner and Danny Holmes. Jack Holveck, David
Lord, Mona Martin, Norm Mundie, Roger Thomas, Rosemary Thomson, Jerry Welter
and Keith Weigel. The best to all of you. And I know that come January you'll kind of
wish you were here, but probably that you're where you are instead of being here.
Finally, I've got to share with you, and I've asked if it was all right, and it is all
right to share with you. In 1966, I don't know where you were but I was in junior high
at Monroe High School. It doesn't exist anymore. It's a PCM now. And the junior high
was on the second floor, the high school was on the third floor. My homeroom teacher
that year was a lady, I was in eighth grade, it was a lady named Agnes Tepley. And in
eighth grade then, I expect many of you had a similar experience, there was a
mandated course you had to take called Iowa Government. I recall a little red
pamphlet-type book. It was an undersized book about the quarter of the size of most
other books. I don't have a clue what was in that Iowa Government book, but I
remember the book, and I remember one other thing from that class. It's that my junior
high teacher named Agnes Tepley in 1966 had a hero in the Iowa Legislature. You
guessed it - Minnette Doderer. Minnette, Agnes said to watch this woman, she told
© 2000 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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