The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“HONORING BOB BRAUER” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1573-E1574 on July 28, 2006.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HONORING BOB BRAUER
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HON. BARBARA LEE
of california
in the house of representatives
Friday, July 28, 2006
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary life and work of Robert Brauer of Berkeley, CA. A visionary and courageous public servant, Bob has dedicated his life to serving his community and his country. Bob's unwavering commitment to social justice has inspired me and many others to dedicate our lives to this struggle, and has impacted the lives of countless others in California's 9th Congressional District and across our country. This month Bob
``retires'' after a lifetime of working for the advancement of a more just and equitable society for us all, and today I join our entire community in saluting him for his public exemplary service.
Bob's dedication to public service has been evident since he was a young adult. After graduating in 1960 from the University of California, Berkeley, where he met his wife Penny, Bob was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. He was stationed in El Paso, TX, in the Strategic Air Command, and served there until 1963 when he left the Air Force as a Captain.
Upon completion of his service in the Air Force, Bob and his family, which by then included his wife, a son, and two young daughters, returned to Berkeley, CA, where he began a new job as an Assistant Personnel
Officer at Wells Fargo Bank, where he was an integral part of Wells Fargo's participation in the industry-wide effort in California to integrate women and minorities into parts of the workforce in which they were dramatically underrepresented.
Following that job, Bob became the Skills Bank Director for the Bay Area Urban League, a role in which he was responsible for creating job opportunities for and placing minorities in jobs that had historically been inaccessible to them. During this time, Bob was also very active in civic and political affairs, serving in leadership positions in a number of local organizations, and with his wife Penny, he was very active in local political campaigns. Bob was appointed to the Recreation and Parks Commission by then-Berkeley City Council member Ron Dellums, and around that time he was also named as President of the Catholic Interracial Council of the Diocese of Oakland. He and his wife continued their activism in the farm workers' and civil rights struggles, the anti-Vietnam War movement and other local issues related to the ongoing fight for social justice.
In 1969, Bob became the Regional Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCC), Department of Labor, and soon became the OFCC Assistant Director in Washington, DC. In this role he helped to develop the national plan to integrate the construction trades, as well as the Philadelphia Plan's goals and timetables for women and minorities. Bob and his family, which by that time had grown considerably, moved to Bethesda, MD.
In 1971, the Secretary of Labor nominated Bob and the American Political Science Association (APSA) selected him to be an APSA Congressional Fellow, and he spent the next year working in the office of his friend, the newly elected Congressman Ron Dellums of California's then 7th District. At the end of his fellowship he left the Department of Labor and joined Mr. Dellums' staff.
This marked the beginning of what would become more than two decades of distinguished service to California's now-9th Congressional District and to our country. Bob would serve as Special Counsel to Congressman Dellums and for the House District of Columbia Committee during Mr. Dellums chairmanship. In 1993, Bob became a Senior Professional Staff Member on the House Armed Services Committee when Mr. Dellums became the HASC Chairman.
Bob was an integral part not only of the personal office and Committee staffs, but he played a major role in supporting Mr. Dellums' many policy initiatives during those years. At the DC Committee, Bob helped implement bold initiatives to use the Committee as a vehicle for promulgating solutions to some of the District's, and the Nation's, most important urban problems: mass transportation, pension reform, health care and infant mortality and education reform, among others. Among his most notable activities were his work on the investigation of the U.S. Intelligence Community undertaken by the Pike Select Committee, the successful authorization of the 50-foot federal channel dredging project at the Port of Oakland, and the construction of the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland. Bob was also centrally involved in the drafting and passage of Mr. Dellums' incredibly important anti-apartheid bill in the House of Representatives in the 1980s, a bill which became law over the veto of then-President Reagan. Throughout his time in Washington, Bob was also actively involved in international human rights issues, traveling as a peace observer several times to wartorn countries in Central America in the 1970s and 1980s, at the risk of his own life. On the HASC staff he played a significant role in maintaining Mr. Dellums' excellent working relationships with both sides of the aisle and assisting Mr. Dellums to accomplish one of the House's most exemplary chairmanships.
I met Bob during his early years in Congressman Dellums' personal office. I was then an intern for Congressman Dellums. I will never forget the way he supported and guided me, and helped me to not only become engaged in politics and policy, but also to become an effective advocate for social justice. For over 30 years, Bob has been a willing mentor, an advisor, a teacher and a friend, and serving the 9th Congressional District and our country alongside him has been and continues to be a great honor.
Bob worked for Congressman Dellums until the end of 1996. In 1997, Bob became Special Assistant to the President of California State University, Hayward, where he played a crucial role in the sizeable structural improvements, enrollment increases, and expansion of that campus into a leading institution in our state. During that time he has also continued to serve our community in numerous other roles, such as a volunteer Board member of the Chabot Observatory and Science Center, where he was responsible for raising close to $60 million to build a new facility in Oakland.
Bob recently retired from the renamed CSU East Bay, and today I would like to add my voice to the countless others that are expressing their congratulations and their gratitude to this extraordinary individual for his tireless work and ceaseless advocacy for social justice and equality of opportunity in the United States and around the world. On behalf of California's 9th Congressional District, I am humbled to honor Bob Brauer for his extraordinary service to our community, and to wish him the very best as he begins the next chapter in his life of conviction, character, and integrity.
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