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| Remembering Joe Skeen |
December 13, 2004 |
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Dear Friends,
In the flurry of last minute action in the Congress last week, we got one thing done and one thing almost done that escaped most of the headlines.
The thing we got done was honoring Joe Skeen by naming the Roswell Federal Building for him. Joe had some wonderful devoted staff, some of whom worked with him since that first write-in campaign that sent him to Congress. They were the ones, with Mary Skeen, who suggested naming this building as a way to honor him. So, we set out to make it happen.
It`s hard sometimes even to get little important things done in the Congress. We got the bill passed easily in the House. Thanks to the efforts of Senator Domenici and his good staff, they were able to untangle the end of session ball of yarn and get it passed in the Senate.
I was glad about that. Joe was a wonderful guy. He had a great sense of humor and never forgot where he came from. It occurred to me recently that, whenever someone suggested that I talk to Joe about some matter or another, I would always wait to see him on the floor of the House. I call lots of people on the phone, but Joe was an in-person kind of guy. The kind of person you want to talk to over the fence, at the post office, or chat with at the place you know he`s always going to be for coffee. And I would kind of look forward to catching up with him in a way that a quick phone call couldn`t satisfy. He was that way at home and the same person in Washington. We could use more people like Joe.
The thing we almost got done was the Ojito Wilderness Act. The Act will designate some wilderness in Sandoval County that was recommended for Wilderness designation when Manuel Lujan was Secretary of the Interior. It also will join the now separate pieces of Zia Pueblo. We passed the bill in the House and our Senators worked out some water language in the Senate. But it got passed in the Senate in the last hours bundled together with some other more controversial legislation.
In January, we will reintroduce the bill and try to get it passed early in the next Congress.
Good to be home,
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