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1) Sen. Sanborn's "journal statement"  by Admin003 on September 13, 2006 
Senator Sanborn's statement is as follows:

You know, when I first came into the House of Representatives, I had the distinct honor of serving with Frank Fitzgerald. I came in at a special election and Frank was one of the people who took the time to kind of educate me as to the process. I always appreciated Frank for that. But a generation before, my father served in the Michigan Legislature with John Fitzgerald, and I had an opportunity to speak with Mrs.Fitzgerald about that.

It was an honor for me to serve with Frank. I know it was an honor for my father to serve with John. I offer my condolences and I'm well aware of the history as so many of us are of the four generations of Fitzgeralds who have committed their lives to public service. It was an honor to serve with your family.

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2) Sen. Sikkema's "journal statement"  by Admin003 on September 13, 2006 
Senator Sikkema's statement is as follows:

Mr.President, as you mentioned this is a memorial resolution for a former member of this body, John W. Fitzgerald, who recently passed away. But rather than make this a somber occasion, I'd like to take an opportunity with his wife seated beside me, Mrs.Fitzgerald, to turn this into a celebration of a remarkable man who had a remarkable career and a remarkable family.

John W. Fitzgerald served in this body, I think, for three terms starting in 1958, and I remind the members, as Mrs.Fitzgerald reminded me, that at that time you had a two-year term as a Senator. She said you were campaigning all of the time. Prior to being in the Senate, he served as legal counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. She mentioned to me that when he served as legal counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, I think, at the time the majority party was Republicans, and they had one secretary for the entire caucus. Now there's a way to save some money.

But this gentleman who was, as I mentioned, a State Senator and at that time there was a group of Republican Senators called the Young Turks. He was a member of the Young Turks, kind of upsetting the status quo. After serving in the State Senate, John Fitzgerald got elected to the Court of Appeals, and then eventually to the Michigan Supreme Court--I think my memory serves me correctly--in 1974.

He just had a remarkable career. He was, I think, one of the founders and one of the original professors and might have been on the board of Cooley Law School. He served this state with distinction and honor and great ability.

I have to mention really the entire pedigree of this Fitzgerald family. He was the father of a former colleague of a number of ours, Frank Fitzgerald. In fact, Frank got elected the same year I did in the House, and, of course, we recognized his untimely passing about a year and a half ago. If I'm right about this, and Mrs.Fitzgerald you need to correct me, but Frank, obviously, John's son, served in the House. John was a former Senator and former Supreme Court Justice. John's father, Frank's grandfather, was a Governor and I believe that John's grandfather and Frank's great-grandfather was a State Representative. Just a remarkable family in the history of this state that has served as I mentioned. All member of that family served this state with great distinction and honor.

John, himself, and I met several times. He was a very, I guess the word is kind of an unassuming, quiet man. Now, maybe in 1958, he had a different demeanor if he was a member of the Young Turks here in the Senate. When I met him after Frank was elected, I met him a couple of times. He was just a very unassuming man and talking to him, aside from his command of Michigan history, you really wouldn't know about his service to the state because he never really talked about it and never really bragged about it. But this state is better off because of his service not just to this body, but because of his service in the judiciary and the service of his entire family.

I have to tell you one anecdote. When I got elected with Frank in 1986, I was getting to know Frank and we were chatting about things. Frank said his father told him, "You know, now you just got elected to the State House and you think the biggest problem you're going to have as a Republican in the House is going to be with Democrats. That's not true. The biggest problem you're going to have as a Republican in the House is with the Republicans in the Senate." There's a lot of truth to that.

We are honored to have you with us and we're really honored to be able to take a few minutes this morning to recognize the contributions of your husband and the contributions of your son as well. Thank you very much.

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3) Good idea.  by MCP-001 on February 1, 2005 
Now expand this bill to include the onboard data recorders that the Big 2.5 place on new vehicles without telling the consumer.

After all, there no difference between a piece of software, that I didn't install telling someone something I don't want them to know, and someone installing a piece of hardware (guess who paying for that), which in effect does the same thing.
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