Jim Costa Interview
Item
Title
Jim Costa Interview
Description
Jim Costa was born in the Central Valley and has been in public service for many decades. His grandparents were immigrants from the islands of the Azores, arriving in the beginning of the 20th century. Having served in the California State Assembly and State Senate, Jim Costa is now serving in the US Congress, one of a handful of Portuguese-Americans that have served at the national level.
Creator
Costa, Jim
Borges, Diniz
Relation
Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute
Identifier
SCUAD_pbbi_00012
Date
01-22-2020
extracted text
Jim Costa: Ah, Manuel James Costa. Actually, Manuel James Cardoza Costa,
but everywhere else it's James Costa.
Diniz Borges: And were you named after anyone?
Jim Costa: My father and -- Mom was 37, Dad was 41 and in those days that
was rather old for a couple to be having a child. There were
unfortunately two miscarriages between my sister and I, who's 14 years
older. And because they were surprised and so happy -- and the nun at
Saint Agnes said, “Well, Lina,” she says, “you know, have you thought
about a name?” She said, “Not really.” “Well, what's your husband's
name?” and said, “Manuel.”
Diniz Borges: So when and where were you born?
Jim Costa: Fresno, California, April 13th, 1952.
Diniz Borges: When did -Jim Costa: -- I'm in denial about my age.
Diniz Borges: When did the family immigrate to the United States?
Jim Costa: My grandfather on my father's side came in 1897 and my
grandfather on my mother's side came in 1904. And it was not unusual,
what he did is worked here and got established and then thought he wanted
to marry a nice Azorean girl and so he went back to the Azores and met my
grandmother Georgina. And she was mellow and brought his young bride who
was 15-and-a half, I think, at the time, to the new country. And we have
an oral history. I should share it with you someday when Aval [assumed
spelling] was still alive that was done by niece Roberta when she was
getting her communications major at UCSF. And as a class project, she did
an hour-interview with her grandmother and, well, her great-grandmother.
And she said it was typical of all Georgina she said Aval when did you
come to this country. Well Roberta it was October 17th, we left Terceira
in the evening it was I think a British ship, a White Star. And we were
in steerage and I got sick and we landed in Boston and then you go the
whole journey and it's really a wonderful and she comes alive again.
Candace Egan: I'm going to do a little fix and I hope you will forgive me
but you have one little hair. Actually, two little hairs. Did that do it?
Unknown: Yeah. Yeah, that's much better.
Unknown: Thank you.
Jim Costa: Some hairspray.
Diniz Borges: OK. We [inaudible]?
Candace Egan: Yeah, we're good.
Diniz Borges: OK, so why did your family leave the Azores?
Jim Costa: Well, like many of the Azorean families and a lot of Europeans
at the turn of the 20th century, times were difficult in European
countries. And in the Azores, Portugal was in a situation where the -the islands of the Azores, the Madeira Islands and other -- other
colonies were really at a disadvantage in terms of having opportunities.
There was nothing but primary schools in the Azores and there was a
limitation of jobs available. I mean there were two dominant industries
in the Azores, fishing and dairy and families kind of did one or the
other. And our family didn't fish, so we were in into cows and milking.
And, you know, like a lot of immigrant families, one brother came across
and was able to establish kind of a foothold and, you know, and then
other family members followed. And, you know, it was a strive to have a
better life for themselves and for their children. And I think America
has been a beacon of light for immigrants throughout the world and those
who came from the Azores were -- were no exception. They wanted -- you
had, you know, strong families and a hard-working people who strived to
have a better life. And America has always, I think, stood out around the
world as being a land of opportunity for immigrants past and immigrants
present. And I think that's so important and -- and such a critical part
of the American story. We call it the American Dream, the dream of
immigrants from throughout the world and my family like so
many other families are a reflection of that. Realizing that immigrant
dream, the American Dream.
Diniz Borges: Where did the family settle and -Candace Egan: I can hear all your paper moving.
Diniz Borges: OK. So sorry. No paper moving. Where -- where did the
family settle and why there?
Jim Costa: Well, like a lot of immigrant groups, they settled in certain
parts of the country and part of that was a reflection of what jobs they
could -- they could perform, what skill sets they had. And at the turnof-the-century, a lot of the Azoreans settled in the San Joaquin Valley
and down in Norwalk and Cerritos, who were engaged in dairies. Those who
were engaged, engaged in fishing, settled in places like San Diego and
San Pedro. And so because of the large number of dairies that existed
here in those days, that was a skill set that many of the Azoreans had
had when they came here. And so we tell the story, I believe it's
accurate. My grandfather with a friend they had, he and his brother
milking cows in Hanford, California. And he was tending cattle up in the
pastures, the [inaudible] up in Terceira. And they were in the village,
the [inaudible], a small village in, on the island of Terceira. And he
had this desire, this dream to come to America to join his brother to
have a better opportunity. And the story in our family is that he got up
that morning like he got up every morning, but had not told his parents
but his friend had -- his friend and, and had figured out some plan to
get on the ship that was leaving the Azores to go to America. And he said
goodbye to his mother. He told my sister and others that he did not
embrace her or look in her eye because he didn't want to create
suspicion. And he didn't, he did the same with his father because he
certainly feared that if they knew that what he was planning that they
would prevent him from leaving. And instead of going up to tending the
cattle, he and his friend went to the harbor and got on the ship. I
think, like many immigrants--many Azoreans, certainly--they all hoped
that you know that they would come here and be successful and then be
able to go back. But like a lot of them, my grandfather never came back,
never ever saw his parents again. Four of my grandparents were nonEnglish-speaking, which was not unusual. Three of them were illiterate
for the rest of their lives as were their parents. They were poor people.
So there was no ability to communicate once they left with the exception
of word-of-mouth for someone who was going or coming. And I just think
that that generation demonstrated such incredible risk-taking. I mean, we
think today how people, you know, move so easily. But it wasn't like my
grandfather, you know, looked at his iPhone and Googled up Hanford,
California and so, well, gee, what's it like to be in Hanford,
California? Or what are the job opportunities? He had an address where
his brother was milking cows and that was his compass to get to Hanford,
California to that address. And they landed on the East Coast and they
took trains to Fresno and so goes the story that he was in Fresno and, of
course his brother didn't know when he was arriving. And he sat around
the train station in Fresno and finally got someone to understand that
Hanford, this address he had was where he wanted to go. And they pointed
him out in that direction and he walked from Fresno to Hanford. And then
found some Portuguese people and they go, oh, yeah, they [inaudible] this
there. They took him there and they had a brief reunion
and he started milking cows that afternoon.
Diniz Borges: You grew up on the dairy farm in [inaudible]. How would you
say this experience molded you into the man you eventually became? And
did you work on the farms as a child or as a teenager?
Jim Costa: It had such -- I think a significant impact on my growing up
as a person. And, you know, it's families and so typical of the
Portuguese communities, especially in California but in our Valley. It
was all about family coming together striving to do better and this is a
land you could succeed in. And so with my grandfather with his two sons,
my Uncle John and my dad, you know, struggling through the Depression,
losing their dairy, going to LaGrande for a couple years, working for
others, put their cows out in pasture. My mom and my aunt, my grandmother
working in canneries to try to save up enough money to have a new -- a
new beginning. And they moved to Fresno out in the Kearney Park area in
1942, again working for other people but there was a small dairy barn.
They brought their cows there, what they had left, and reestablished
their dairy. And then in the late ’40s were able to buy, save up enough
money to buy land there where we presently farm today. But as a kid, you
know, my transition from my closeness with my mother and, of course, my
aunt and uncles, you know, the families were all together. And my cousins
and starting to work at 8, 9, 10 years of age. And with every year
taking on more complex skills as I got older. And by the time I was 12 or
13 I think I was doing everything that the three full-time employees that
we had and that my dad and my uncle working and cousins. Because when
there was more work that, you know, the permanent employees could not
fulfill, then the family all chipped in and we all did parts. And so
throughout the spring, summer and fall we all worked on the farm. And it
was those -- that's really how my father and I became more than father
and son but best friends. And by my mid-teens my Uncle John who ran the
dairy and my dad who ran the ranch discovered I could learn how to milk
cows according to the John Costa school of cow milking and so I was
accepted into the barn. And so by the time I was in my mid-teens, I was
doing everything that every -- all the -- that required on our
diversified farm of 600 acres with 500 cows. And, you know, both working
in the barn and working, we grew alfalfa and corn to feed our dairy herd
and we grew cotton, sugar, beets and beans. And dad and my uncle, our
parents have passed on, but what I'm very proud of is that it's all
still in the family. We've divided the property and we're all farming it.
It's a different kind of farm than our grandfather and my dad and my
uncle started. The dairy was sold 40 years ago and it's all permanent
crops. And my primary source of income is my almond orchards. But my
cousin Kenny grows wine grapes and walnuts and prunes. And my cousin
Janelle and her husband grow currants and walnuts. And so, you know, it's
the story of the immigrant farmer that is so I think typical from so many
of the Azoreans who chose to come to the Valley with really nothing more
than the clothes on their back and a strong work ethic and willing to do
their best. And certainly my grandparents and my parents reflect that
dream.
Diniz Borges: Ultimately your parents were born here, how important to
your parents was it that you were raised with a strong Portuguese
identity?
Jim Costa: Very important and it's interesting because it was a sense of
two thoughts. You come to America and it was clear that they -- that this
was their home and they wanted to be good Americans. They wanted to
assimilate. Because you know one of the challenges of every immigrant
group is to be accepted. And every immigrant group that has come to
America, it's not been easy. And there has been, you know, discrimination
and there has been roadblocks and barriers put on every immigrant that
has come to this country. And the Portuguese, the Azoreans, were no
exception. They had to be able to overcome those challenges. So that was
important but at the same time never forgetting your history and your
culture and your language because that was the essence of the
communities. And so, you know, whether it be the -- and there were
different means under which the Azoreans tried to keep and maintain their
culture and their traditions. Obviously, the language, although by the
time you got to the second and third generation it became more difficult
because English was spoken at home. My sister speaks conversational
Portuguese but she -- primarily because she spent a lot of time with our
grandparents and she's 14 years older than I. By the time I came around,
two of our grandparents had passed on and one passed shortly thereafter.
And the one grandparent that I got to -- became very close to, she spoke
English. So but the culture maintained its strength, I think, and
character by so many of the Portuguese organizations. And they were
fraternal and [inaudible] organizations that exist still today. They are
clubs like the Cabrillo Club. And it's interesting because, you know,
from my perspective the organizations served two purposes. One was to
maintain the culture and the language and the music and the foods and
all of those things of what it meant to be Portuguese, to be Azorean. But
it also those organizations all felt that they had a civic responsibility
as Americans of Portuguese descent. So the Cabrillo Club, for example, in
Fresno over the last 50 years has raised over $1 million for charity
organizations for, you know, the American Heart Association, for the
disability school here in Fresno, for diabetes and Alzheimer's. They have
an annual auction that they would do every year to raise money for that
and a lot of their social events would be centered around fundraising for
the club that would go for civic purposes because they knew that that was
a part of being good Americans. And, like a lot of other ethnic clubs, by
the way, it's not just the Portuguese or the Azoreans, there's the Italo
club from the Italian-Americans, there's the Armenian organizations,
there's many, many different kinds of ethnic organizations here in our
Valley and throughout the country that have followed that pattern. And
the fraternal organizations turned out, you know, be also means to
provide insurance, life insurance policies for the Portuguese that were
very humble and poor and that took on a new meaning as they matured. So
it's really remarkable. And then, in more recent years, I think there's
been an attempt to maintain the culture and the language through the
education systems. All of that's been more difficult. But where there's
significant clusters in the case of the Portuguese here in the Valley.
They tried to create Portuguese classes in some of the schools where
there's enough critical mass. And then we see efforts that I'm very proud
to have been a part of here at Fresno State as well as at Stanislaus
State to provide language classes and to develop relationships with the
Azores. The efforts when I was in the state legislature to create a
sister state relationship between California and the Azores, you know,
made sense for a lot of reasons. Probably 600,000-700,000 people in
California can trace some ancestry back to the Azores. And because of the
not -- the situation of the semi-autonomous region where Portugal doesn't
really have states, they have a national and municipal government. The
autonomous region of the Azores and the Madeira Islands are the closest
they have to a state. And so with the concentration of Azoreans here in
California, the sister state relationship between the autonomous region
of the Azores in California just made sense. And we've tried to expand
upon that and most recently we've created a sister university
relationship between the University of the Azores and Fresno State which
I'm very proud of.
Diniz Borges: After graduating from high school from San Joaquin Memorial
you went to Fresno State where you received your bachelor's degree in
political science.
Jim Costa: Yes.
Diniz Borges: Why political science?
Jim Costa: Well, that's an interesting question. You know, I thought
about going to law school. I also thought about going back and working on
our family's farm. Obviously, you didn't need a political science degree
to go back and work on the farm. And while there was a pre-law major at
the time, I was most interested in current events and public policy and
American history in particular. I'm kind of a student U.S. history but
world history. And that all kind of came together. I was interested in
that and, between my junior and senior year, I, you know, my sister and I
think that if we had any modicum of success -- and my sister's been very,
very successful. She's created a scholarship at San Joaquin Memorial in
our mother's name for young girls who are at 14 years of age and would do
well in a school like San Joaquin Memorial but would not have the money
to be able to go there. We now have four Lina Costa scholars. But I'm
very proud of my sister's efforts there. The notion to give back and to
make a difference our parents -- really, I think, from an early age
really impressed upon us to do. And so, which is interesting because Dad
had to quit school as a sixth grader and work the rest of his life and,
you know, his parents were non-English speaking and illiterate, so for
them a sixth-grade education seemed pretty good. Different times. My
mother had to quit as a freshman at Lemoore High School. She was very
frustrated about that -- did not -- she thought education was so
important. And so her two children -- her two children she had dreams
and aspirations for. And where they came from, we're not too certain but
my sister and I talk about this frequently. And that's what my sister was
the first in our family, I believe, to go to university and graduate here
at Fresno State. I came later. And between my junior and senior year here
at Fresno State, she said, “Jim,” she says, “I've heard about this
internship program in Washington D.C. with our local congresspeople. And
would you be interested in doing that, you know, for the summer?” Well,
my summers are all spent working out on our family farm. Yeah, Mom, I
mean when, you know, your sister has just moved to the East Coast, her
husband's got a job there and you could visit there, we could come and
visit you and you could spend the summer in Washington D.C. Would you
like to do that? I said, “Mom that -- yeah, I think that would be
terrific.” And she says, “Well, we know this.” You know, typical Lina
Costa. “We know this young man, he's Portuguese and he works for our
local congressman, Congressman B. F. Sisk and he's from Dos Palos. His
name is Tony Coelho. And his uncle has organized all the dairy folks
here Joe Branko [check spelling] and Joe's a friend of our family. And we
could call Joe and see if he would call his nephew who's working for
Congressman Coelho and see if there's a possibility that you could be an
intern for the congressman.” I said, “Well, Mom, that sounds really
neat.” So mom calls Joe Branko and Joe Branko called Tony Coelho and the
long and short of it I went to Washington D.C. to spend the summer of
1973, which was a very dramatic time in our nation's history. It was when
the Watergate hearings were taking place. And I not only worked in the
congressman's office as an intern but that was how my relationship with
Tony Coelho started. And, you know, it was really incredible to read the
Washington Post every morning with Woodward and Bernstein and to see the
Senate Watergate hearings with Sam Ervin and Howard Baker and all of the
cast of characters. To see Dean, Mitchell and Haldeman testify live
before the Ervin committee. And to go to a couple of White House
receptions, too. They have an audience there as a backdrop. You're kind
of like a potted plant with about 600 other people but, you know, waving
the flags of a visiting country. And I saw the Shah of Iran as he met
with President Nixon on the south lawn and also Prime Minister Tanaka of
Japan. And, of course, President Nixon at the time was under a great deal
of pressure because of what had taken place during Watergate that
eventually led the next year to his resignation. But I came back to
California with a stronger sense of the importance of public policy in
America and the intersection between the public policy and politics. And
that if you wanted to get something done, there were so many different
ways you could help people and that's always been my passion. Politics
drive me crazy like a lot of people and certainly I don't really like the
fundraising part of this job. But there are elements that you have to do
to be successful in any job. But my passion was really helping people. I
could see where Congressman Sisk could make a difference, where Congress
-- what later became Congressman Tony Coelho would be able to make a
difference. And I thought, maybe this is something I can be good at and
so to be good at it you have to get political experience. And so I came
back to finish my last year at Fresno State. I got involved in a
campaign. And that person, John Krebs, was a county supervisor and
running for Congress and I started as a volunteer and worked my way into
a full-time position the last six months of the campaign, and John Krebs
was successful. And then I wanted to go back to Washington and so he
offered me an opportunity and I did that for a couple years. And then I
thought, well you know, I, you know, wasn't able to do the kind of things
I wanted to do because of, you know, a number of challenges. I had not
been a legislative staff person and that's kind of one of the skill sets
you need there, although I was learning it. My writing skills then
weren't so good. They've gotten a lot better. And so I thought, well,
maybe I'll come home and farm and -- but I met a lot of people involved
in Valley politics during the Krebs campaign for over a year and that
year-and-a-half I worked in Washington. And you develop networking and I
think that's important for all students, graduates if they want to pursue
careers in health care or education or in law or in agriculture.
Developing relationships is really a key to success, I think, and this
university does such a terrific job in allowing you that opportunity to
establish relationships. So one of my dear friends was working for the
state senator here, George Zenovich. His name was Rick Lehman and I had
worked with him in the Krebs campaign and he decided to run for the state
legislature. So I said, “Rick, I'm coming home.” I said, “What can I do
to help out?” He says, “You want to run my campaign?” I went, “OK.” So I
was working on the farm, I ran his campaign, we got lucky twice. He won.
He said, “Do you want to be my Chief of Staff?” So that matriculated
there. And then, in 1978, Ken Maddy decided to run for governor. Ken was
a terrific guy. We have the Maddy Institute here at Fresno State as a
result of efforts with Chuck [inaudible] and myself and others. And that
seat was vacant, I was 25 years old, I needed a job. Not really, that
wasn't the reason I ran, but I was obviously very motivated and had
developed a good set of political skill sets. And we thought we would
have a good shot to win that state assembly seat. And Rick helped me and
a lot of other friends. By this time I had developed a strong group of
relations both here in the Valley and in Sacramento. And we ran twice,
got lucky, won both races in the primary and the general and was elected
perhaps the youngest person ever to the state legislature, at least at
that time. And I had the honor and privilege to help people and succeed
in so many different areas that I can point to today, whether it's in our
Valley counties, in areas of health care, in transportation, in water, in
agriculture. And so I've been so lucky I've been able to help people
which is my passion and, you know, to live my dream.
Diniz Borges: Of all that you have accomplished professionally from
working on the campaign all the way up to U.S. Congress what are you most
proud of?
Jim Costa: Oh, my gosh. I've been so fortunate, having served in the
California legislature for 24 years, in the State Assembly and in the
State Senate. Being the chairman of the Democratic Caucus in the
Assembly. Sharing the Senate Ag and the Water Committee in the State
Senate. Becoming president of the National Conference of State
Legislatures, representing all 50 state legislatures in the country.
And then later on getting elected to Congress. But what I'm most proud
about -- and I've had some incredible experiences throughout the
country and throughout the world in terms of my ability to serve and the
opportunities that has presented itself. But I look at it as a lifetime
work and so there are so many efforts that I can point to besides being a
strong advocate for the people of this Valley, besides being a problem
solver, and besides being a person that has developed bridges bringing
people together to get things done. So that lifetime of work of 24 years
in the state legislature, now going on 16 years in Congress, has resulted
in the following, not in the order of priority because I'm proud of all
of these efforts. But in transportation, providing the funding for Fresno
County for over 40 years, raising $4 million to match state and federal
funding to create a transportation system here that with the fifth
largest city in California has the lowest commute time of 12 minutes.
There's nowhere you can’t get between the Fresno and Clovis area in that
time. And the efforts to improve intercity rail from one train going
south and one train going north in the ’80s to today we have 16 daily
trains, eight going north, eight going south, six that go to Sacramento.
With the $60 million to revitalize downtown Fresno by opening up the
Fulton Mall two years ago. Or today the construction activity that you
see on Highway 99 on the fifth and sixth lane between Avenue 12 and
Avenue 17 are the construction of high-speed rail. But [inaudible] you
move from transportation and you go in the area of water, the
authorization to raise San Luis Reservoir. The new success two years ago
of the spillway [inaudible]. Lake McClure on New Exchequer Dam adding
58,000 acre-feet of additional water. Or the efforts with Del [inaudible]
Water District on reuse of water that's added 54,000 acre-feet of water.
The efforts to try to bring together the state and the federal water
projects to try to get us past these intramural battles that have taken
place historically on water which is so essential to life, I mean where
water flows food grows. And food in our Valley is a national security
issue. So my efforts as a third-generation farmer, which I remind people,
you know, because that's my primary source of income as the chairman of
the Senate Ag and Water Committee in Sacramento and today the thirdranking member on the House Ag Committee. The efforts to promote the
trade agreements that we just reached last month. The new trade
agreements between the U.S. and Mexico and Canada. Forty-four percent of
California agriculture is dependent upon trade. The efforts on
reauthorization of now three farm bills since I've been in Congress,
which provide a lot of tools that provide support for California
agriculture and agriculture around the country, I'm very proud of. You
move from transportation to water to agriculture. The efforts for our
veterans, $224 million for the veterans' hospital, a new imaging center
and a cath lab. A veterans' home in which I got both the state and the
federal funding between my transition when I was in Sacramento and now in
Washington, $167 million for 300 units at the California veterans' home
on California Avenue that has provided housing area support but we're not
doing enough for homelessness and veterans who are homeless. Today we
announced federal legislation to build a medical school here in the
Valley working with Assembly member Adam Gray and our Valley delegation
on a bipartisan basis along with Congressman Cox and Congressman
Josh Harder. A full-fledged medical school. We have a deficiency of
doctors here, and nurses. And so when I say it's a life of public service
and it's a work that I continue to engage in at every level, people think
I'm -- you know, but this is what I do. This is the hard work of what
being I think a good, effective representative is all about. It's
getting things done, working with people, solving problems and that's
really my passion, you know. I tell my staff, ‘No problem is too big or
too small as long as it has merit.” And that can be, you know, a senior
citizen trying to get their Medicare adjusted because they're not
getting their payment or a veteran who's lost their medals and would like
to retrieve them or is in a dispute with the Veterans Administration on a
disability that they have and they want it addressed. Our focusing on,
you know, the communities that have water quality problems and need clean
drinking water and getting then a grant from the EPA. So when I say no
problem is too big or too small, it can involve an individual or a group
of constituents or a city or a county or, you know, taking initiative
with Presidential Joe Castro on developing a sister university
relationship with the University of the Azores and Fresno State or with
Fresno State and PA University in Punjab with the significant Sikh Indian
community that we have here. These are the kinds of things I do all the
time and that's -- that's what I'm -- so it's a hard question to answer
to you, what am I so proud of. I'm proud of 40 years of being able to
help people and make a difference.
Candace Egan: We have five minutes.
Diniz Borges: OK. Going back to our -- to the cultural question and the
component of Portuguese. I know that you've been to the Azores. What was
that experience like for you and how have these trips that you've taken
to the Azores, whether family or professionally, how have they affected
you personally and also in your professional life?
Jim Costa: Well it's been deeply personal. The first time I went I was 19
years old. I was a freshman at Fresno State. And my parents and my aunt
and uncle had been talking about years about the old country and they had
never been to the old country. And they had these visions, you know, of
what the old country must be like based on their parents and others who
would come and tell stories and, of course, people would have, you know,
pictures, movies and -- and slides and stuff. And so and it was a lot of
my parents' generation that had finally achieved some economic success
and had -- were in a situation where they could actually go back because
their parents never went back. And so finally my parents went back and I
went with them with my cousin and we spent three weeks there. And it was
such an eye-opening experience for me. It happened to coincide with a
very important novel that was a sort of an autobiography of the author
who wrote the book Roots, who traced his ancestry all the way back to
Africa. And they made a television series out of that very important
book. And for me going back to the Azores was kind of tracing my roots
because, for the first time, I got to see these villages that I had heard
our grandparents had come from. And meet cousins, although they be it
second and third cousins for the most part that I knew we had there and
to see how their life was. And then always the question in my mind -- and
of course I've been fortunate to first visit in 1970 but in the ’80s and
in the ’90s and you know every decade now for five decades and seeing the
significant progress and improvements that the Azores have been able to
[inaudible]. Because, frankly, in 1970 when I first went, much of the
islands looked like they did I was told 100 years ago. There were still
five of the villages on the island of Terceira that had no electricity
and ox carts were very common in hauling milk. And so I got a real
glimpse of what it must've been like for my grandparents how -- how they
lived. And of course it's much different today. It's very modern, it's
like in a European country with all the amenities that we've all grown
accustomed to. But every visit over the last, the dozen or so visits I've
made both as a part of my official role and as a part of my personal
travel, the central question has always come back to me, “What would my
life have been like if it were not for the incredible courage of my
grandparents to be real risk takers?” I mean, we think about how, you
know, our country has been so fortunate to have so many risk takers and
my grandparents were a part of those risk takers. I don't know if my -sometimes they say risk-taking skips a generation. My parents were
wonderful. My mother probably. I wonder if my father would've been
willing to take that kind of a risk that his father took. Maybe.
But certainly I wonder -- well I don't wonder, I know my life would have
been much different if my grandparents had not chose to take that risk
and come to -- to the New World, to America to have a better life for
themselves and for their children. And guess what? They did. And so in
2004 when I announced to run for the United States Congress, I decided to
have my kickoff for my election at the Hanford train station that my
grandfather and grandmother got off of when they arrived in this country
in 1904. In 2004, 100 years later, I announced that I was going to run
for the United States Congress, uh, because I wanted to continue to serve
and help people and try to make a difference. And I said at the time...
but everywhere else it's James Costa.
Diniz Borges: And were you named after anyone?
Jim Costa: My father and -- Mom was 37, Dad was 41 and in those days that
was rather old for a couple to be having a child. There were
unfortunately two miscarriages between my sister and I, who's 14 years
older. And because they were surprised and so happy -- and the nun at
Saint Agnes said, “Well, Lina,” she says, “you know, have you thought
about a name?” She said, “Not really.” “Well, what's your husband's
name?” and said, “Manuel.”
Diniz Borges: So when and where were you born?
Jim Costa: Fresno, California, April 13th, 1952.
Diniz Borges: When did -Jim Costa: -- I'm in denial about my age.
Diniz Borges: When did the family immigrate to the United States?
Jim Costa: My grandfather on my father's side came in 1897 and my
grandfather on my mother's side came in 1904. And it was not unusual,
what he did is worked here and got established and then thought he wanted
to marry a nice Azorean girl and so he went back to the Azores and met my
grandmother Georgina. And she was mellow and brought his young bride who
was 15-and-a half, I think, at the time, to the new country. And we have
an oral history. I should share it with you someday when Aval [assumed
spelling] was still alive that was done by niece Roberta when she was
getting her communications major at UCSF. And as a class project, she did
an hour-interview with her grandmother and, well, her great-grandmother.
And she said it was typical of all Georgina she said Aval when did you
come to this country. Well Roberta it was October 17th, we left Terceira
in the evening it was I think a British ship, a White Star. And we were
in steerage and I got sick and we landed in Boston and then you go the
whole journey and it's really a wonderful and she comes alive again.
Candace Egan: I'm going to do a little fix and I hope you will forgive me
but you have one little hair. Actually, two little hairs. Did that do it?
Unknown: Yeah. Yeah, that's much better.
Unknown: Thank you.
Jim Costa: Some hairspray.
Diniz Borges: OK. We [inaudible]?
Candace Egan: Yeah, we're good.
Diniz Borges: OK, so why did your family leave the Azores?
Jim Costa: Well, like many of the Azorean families and a lot of Europeans
at the turn of the 20th century, times were difficult in European
countries. And in the Azores, Portugal was in a situation where the -the islands of the Azores, the Madeira Islands and other -- other
colonies were really at a disadvantage in terms of having opportunities.
There was nothing but primary schools in the Azores and there was a
limitation of jobs available. I mean there were two dominant industries
in the Azores, fishing and dairy and families kind of did one or the
other. And our family didn't fish, so we were in into cows and milking.
And, you know, like a lot of immigrant families, one brother came across
and was able to establish kind of a foothold and, you know, and then
other family members followed. And, you know, it was a strive to have a
better life for themselves and for their children. And I think America
has been a beacon of light for immigrants throughout the world and those
who came from the Azores were -- were no exception. They wanted -- you
had, you know, strong families and a hard-working people who strived to
have a better life. And America has always, I think, stood out around the
world as being a land of opportunity for immigrants past and immigrants
present. And I think that's so important and -- and such a critical part
of the American story. We call it the American Dream, the dream of
immigrants from throughout the world and my family like so
many other families are a reflection of that. Realizing that immigrant
dream, the American Dream.
Diniz Borges: Where did the family settle and -Candace Egan: I can hear all your paper moving.
Diniz Borges: OK. So sorry. No paper moving. Where -- where did the
family settle and why there?
Jim Costa: Well, like a lot of immigrant groups, they settled in certain
parts of the country and part of that was a reflection of what jobs they
could -- they could perform, what skill sets they had. And at the turnof-the-century, a lot of the Azoreans settled in the San Joaquin Valley
and down in Norwalk and Cerritos, who were engaged in dairies. Those who
were engaged, engaged in fishing, settled in places like San Diego and
San Pedro. And so because of the large number of dairies that existed
here in those days, that was a skill set that many of the Azoreans had
had when they came here. And so we tell the story, I believe it's
accurate. My grandfather with a friend they had, he and his brother
milking cows in Hanford, California. And he was tending cattle up in the
pastures, the [inaudible] up in Terceira. And they were in the village,
the [inaudible], a small village in, on the island of Terceira. And he
had this desire, this dream to come to America to join his brother to
have a better opportunity. And the story in our family is that he got up
that morning like he got up every morning, but had not told his parents
but his friend had -- his friend and, and had figured out some plan to
get on the ship that was leaving the Azores to go to America. And he said
goodbye to his mother. He told my sister and others that he did not
embrace her or look in her eye because he didn't want to create
suspicion. And he didn't, he did the same with his father because he
certainly feared that if they knew that what he was planning that they
would prevent him from leaving. And instead of going up to tending the
cattle, he and his friend went to the harbor and got on the ship. I
think, like many immigrants--many Azoreans, certainly--they all hoped
that you know that they would come here and be successful and then be
able to go back. But like a lot of them, my grandfather never came back,
never ever saw his parents again. Four of my grandparents were nonEnglish-speaking, which was not unusual. Three of them were illiterate
for the rest of their lives as were their parents. They were poor people.
So there was no ability to communicate once they left with the exception
of word-of-mouth for someone who was going or coming. And I just think
that that generation demonstrated such incredible risk-taking. I mean, we
think today how people, you know, move so easily. But it wasn't like my
grandfather, you know, looked at his iPhone and Googled up Hanford,
California and so, well, gee, what's it like to be in Hanford,
California? Or what are the job opportunities? He had an address where
his brother was milking cows and that was his compass to get to Hanford,
California to that address. And they landed on the East Coast and they
took trains to Fresno and so goes the story that he was in Fresno and, of
course his brother didn't know when he was arriving. And he sat around
the train station in Fresno and finally got someone to understand that
Hanford, this address he had was where he wanted to go. And they pointed
him out in that direction and he walked from Fresno to Hanford. And then
found some Portuguese people and they go, oh, yeah, they [inaudible] this
there. They took him there and they had a brief reunion
and he started milking cows that afternoon.
Diniz Borges: You grew up on the dairy farm in [inaudible]. How would you
say this experience molded you into the man you eventually became? And
did you work on the farms as a child or as a teenager?
Jim Costa: It had such -- I think a significant impact on my growing up
as a person. And, you know, it's families and so typical of the
Portuguese communities, especially in California but in our Valley. It
was all about family coming together striving to do better and this is a
land you could succeed in. And so with my grandfather with his two sons,
my Uncle John and my dad, you know, struggling through the Depression,
losing their dairy, going to LaGrande for a couple years, working for
others, put their cows out in pasture. My mom and my aunt, my grandmother
working in canneries to try to save up enough money to have a new -- a
new beginning. And they moved to Fresno out in the Kearney Park area in
1942, again working for other people but there was a small dairy barn.
They brought their cows there, what they had left, and reestablished
their dairy. And then in the late ’40s were able to buy, save up enough
money to buy land there where we presently farm today. But as a kid, you
know, my transition from my closeness with my mother and, of course, my
aunt and uncles, you know, the families were all together. And my cousins
and starting to work at 8, 9, 10 years of age. And with every year
taking on more complex skills as I got older. And by the time I was 12 or
13 I think I was doing everything that the three full-time employees that
we had and that my dad and my uncle working and cousins. Because when
there was more work that, you know, the permanent employees could not
fulfill, then the family all chipped in and we all did parts. And so
throughout the spring, summer and fall we all worked on the farm. And it
was those -- that's really how my father and I became more than father
and son but best friends. And by my mid-teens my Uncle John who ran the
dairy and my dad who ran the ranch discovered I could learn how to milk
cows according to the John Costa school of cow milking and so I was
accepted into the barn. And so by the time I was in my mid-teens, I was
doing everything that every -- all the -- that required on our
diversified farm of 600 acres with 500 cows. And, you know, both working
in the barn and working, we grew alfalfa and corn to feed our dairy herd
and we grew cotton, sugar, beets and beans. And dad and my uncle, our
parents have passed on, but what I'm very proud of is that it's all
still in the family. We've divided the property and we're all farming it.
It's a different kind of farm than our grandfather and my dad and my
uncle started. The dairy was sold 40 years ago and it's all permanent
crops. And my primary source of income is my almond orchards. But my
cousin Kenny grows wine grapes and walnuts and prunes. And my cousin
Janelle and her husband grow currants and walnuts. And so, you know, it's
the story of the immigrant farmer that is so I think typical from so many
of the Azoreans who chose to come to the Valley with really nothing more
than the clothes on their back and a strong work ethic and willing to do
their best. And certainly my grandparents and my parents reflect that
dream.
Diniz Borges: Ultimately your parents were born here, how important to
your parents was it that you were raised with a strong Portuguese
identity?
Jim Costa: Very important and it's interesting because it was a sense of
two thoughts. You come to America and it was clear that they -- that this
was their home and they wanted to be good Americans. They wanted to
assimilate. Because you know one of the challenges of every immigrant
group is to be accepted. And every immigrant group that has come to
America, it's not been easy. And there has been, you know, discrimination
and there has been roadblocks and barriers put on every immigrant that
has come to this country. And the Portuguese, the Azoreans, were no
exception. They had to be able to overcome those challenges. So that was
important but at the same time never forgetting your history and your
culture and your language because that was the essence of the
communities. And so, you know, whether it be the -- and there were
different means under which the Azoreans tried to keep and maintain their
culture and their traditions. Obviously, the language, although by the
time you got to the second and third generation it became more difficult
because English was spoken at home. My sister speaks conversational
Portuguese but she -- primarily because she spent a lot of time with our
grandparents and she's 14 years older than I. By the time I came around,
two of our grandparents had passed on and one passed shortly thereafter.
And the one grandparent that I got to -- became very close to, she spoke
English. So but the culture maintained its strength, I think, and
character by so many of the Portuguese organizations. And they were
fraternal and [inaudible] organizations that exist still today. They are
clubs like the Cabrillo Club. And it's interesting because, you know,
from my perspective the organizations served two purposes. One was to
maintain the culture and the language and the music and the foods and
all of those things of what it meant to be Portuguese, to be Azorean. But
it also those organizations all felt that they had a civic responsibility
as Americans of Portuguese descent. So the Cabrillo Club, for example, in
Fresno over the last 50 years has raised over $1 million for charity
organizations for, you know, the American Heart Association, for the
disability school here in Fresno, for diabetes and Alzheimer's. They have
an annual auction that they would do every year to raise money for that
and a lot of their social events would be centered around fundraising for
the club that would go for civic purposes because they knew that that was
a part of being good Americans. And, like a lot of other ethnic clubs, by
the way, it's not just the Portuguese or the Azoreans, there's the Italo
club from the Italian-Americans, there's the Armenian organizations,
there's many, many different kinds of ethnic organizations here in our
Valley and throughout the country that have followed that pattern. And
the fraternal organizations turned out, you know, be also means to
provide insurance, life insurance policies for the Portuguese that were
very humble and poor and that took on a new meaning as they matured. So
it's really remarkable. And then, in more recent years, I think there's
been an attempt to maintain the culture and the language through the
education systems. All of that's been more difficult. But where there's
significant clusters in the case of the Portuguese here in the Valley.
They tried to create Portuguese classes in some of the schools where
there's enough critical mass. And then we see efforts that I'm very proud
to have been a part of here at Fresno State as well as at Stanislaus
State to provide language classes and to develop relationships with the
Azores. The efforts when I was in the state legislature to create a
sister state relationship between California and the Azores, you know,
made sense for a lot of reasons. Probably 600,000-700,000 people in
California can trace some ancestry back to the Azores. And because of the
not -- the situation of the semi-autonomous region where Portugal doesn't
really have states, they have a national and municipal government. The
autonomous region of the Azores and the Madeira Islands are the closest
they have to a state. And so with the concentration of Azoreans here in
California, the sister state relationship between the autonomous region
of the Azores in California just made sense. And we've tried to expand
upon that and most recently we've created a sister university
relationship between the University of the Azores and Fresno State which
I'm very proud of.
Diniz Borges: After graduating from high school from San Joaquin Memorial
you went to Fresno State where you received your bachelor's degree in
political science.
Jim Costa: Yes.
Diniz Borges: Why political science?
Jim Costa: Well, that's an interesting question. You know, I thought
about going to law school. I also thought about going back and working on
our family's farm. Obviously, you didn't need a political science degree
to go back and work on the farm. And while there was a pre-law major at
the time, I was most interested in current events and public policy and
American history in particular. I'm kind of a student U.S. history but
world history. And that all kind of came together. I was interested in
that and, between my junior and senior year, I, you know, my sister and I
think that if we had any modicum of success -- and my sister's been very,
very successful. She's created a scholarship at San Joaquin Memorial in
our mother's name for young girls who are at 14 years of age and would do
well in a school like San Joaquin Memorial but would not have the money
to be able to go there. We now have four Lina Costa scholars. But I'm
very proud of my sister's efforts there. The notion to give back and to
make a difference our parents -- really, I think, from an early age
really impressed upon us to do. And so, which is interesting because Dad
had to quit school as a sixth grader and work the rest of his life and,
you know, his parents were non-English speaking and illiterate, so for
them a sixth-grade education seemed pretty good. Different times. My
mother had to quit as a freshman at Lemoore High School. She was very
frustrated about that -- did not -- she thought education was so
important. And so her two children -- her two children she had dreams
and aspirations for. And where they came from, we're not too certain but
my sister and I talk about this frequently. And that's what my sister was
the first in our family, I believe, to go to university and graduate here
at Fresno State. I came later. And between my junior and senior year here
at Fresno State, she said, “Jim,” she says, “I've heard about this
internship program in Washington D.C. with our local congresspeople. And
would you be interested in doing that, you know, for the summer?” Well,
my summers are all spent working out on our family farm. Yeah, Mom, I
mean when, you know, your sister has just moved to the East Coast, her
husband's got a job there and you could visit there, we could come and
visit you and you could spend the summer in Washington D.C. Would you
like to do that? I said, “Mom that -- yeah, I think that would be
terrific.” And she says, “Well, we know this.” You know, typical Lina
Costa. “We know this young man, he's Portuguese and he works for our
local congressman, Congressman B. F. Sisk and he's from Dos Palos. His
name is Tony Coelho. And his uncle has organized all the dairy folks
here Joe Branko [check spelling] and Joe's a friend of our family. And we
could call Joe and see if he would call his nephew who's working for
Congressman Coelho and see if there's a possibility that you could be an
intern for the congressman.” I said, “Well, Mom, that sounds really
neat.” So mom calls Joe Branko and Joe Branko called Tony Coelho and the
long and short of it I went to Washington D.C. to spend the summer of
1973, which was a very dramatic time in our nation's history. It was when
the Watergate hearings were taking place. And I not only worked in the
congressman's office as an intern but that was how my relationship with
Tony Coelho started. And, you know, it was really incredible to read the
Washington Post every morning with Woodward and Bernstein and to see the
Senate Watergate hearings with Sam Ervin and Howard Baker and all of the
cast of characters. To see Dean, Mitchell and Haldeman testify live
before the Ervin committee. And to go to a couple of White House
receptions, too. They have an audience there as a backdrop. You're kind
of like a potted plant with about 600 other people but, you know, waving
the flags of a visiting country. And I saw the Shah of Iran as he met
with President Nixon on the south lawn and also Prime Minister Tanaka of
Japan. And, of course, President Nixon at the time was under a great deal
of pressure because of what had taken place during Watergate that
eventually led the next year to his resignation. But I came back to
California with a stronger sense of the importance of public policy in
America and the intersection between the public policy and politics. And
that if you wanted to get something done, there were so many different
ways you could help people and that's always been my passion. Politics
drive me crazy like a lot of people and certainly I don't really like the
fundraising part of this job. But there are elements that you have to do
to be successful in any job. But my passion was really helping people. I
could see where Congressman Sisk could make a difference, where Congress
-- what later became Congressman Tony Coelho would be able to make a
difference. And I thought, maybe this is something I can be good at and
so to be good at it you have to get political experience. And so I came
back to finish my last year at Fresno State. I got involved in a
campaign. And that person, John Krebs, was a county supervisor and
running for Congress and I started as a volunteer and worked my way into
a full-time position the last six months of the campaign, and John Krebs
was successful. And then I wanted to go back to Washington and so he
offered me an opportunity and I did that for a couple years. And then I
thought, well you know, I, you know, wasn't able to do the kind of things
I wanted to do because of, you know, a number of challenges. I had not
been a legislative staff person and that's kind of one of the skill sets
you need there, although I was learning it. My writing skills then
weren't so good. They've gotten a lot better. And so I thought, well,
maybe I'll come home and farm and -- but I met a lot of people involved
in Valley politics during the Krebs campaign for over a year and that
year-and-a-half I worked in Washington. And you develop networking and I
think that's important for all students, graduates if they want to pursue
careers in health care or education or in law or in agriculture.
Developing relationships is really a key to success, I think, and this
university does such a terrific job in allowing you that opportunity to
establish relationships. So one of my dear friends was working for the
state senator here, George Zenovich. His name was Rick Lehman and I had
worked with him in the Krebs campaign and he decided to run for the state
legislature. So I said, “Rick, I'm coming home.” I said, “What can I do
to help out?” He says, “You want to run my campaign?” I went, “OK.” So I
was working on the farm, I ran his campaign, we got lucky twice. He won.
He said, “Do you want to be my Chief of Staff?” So that matriculated
there. And then, in 1978, Ken Maddy decided to run for governor. Ken was
a terrific guy. We have the Maddy Institute here at Fresno State as a
result of efforts with Chuck [inaudible] and myself and others. And that
seat was vacant, I was 25 years old, I needed a job. Not really, that
wasn't the reason I ran, but I was obviously very motivated and had
developed a good set of political skill sets. And we thought we would
have a good shot to win that state assembly seat. And Rick helped me and
a lot of other friends. By this time I had developed a strong group of
relations both here in the Valley and in Sacramento. And we ran twice,
got lucky, won both races in the primary and the general and was elected
perhaps the youngest person ever to the state legislature, at least at
that time. And I had the honor and privilege to help people and succeed
in so many different areas that I can point to today, whether it's in our
Valley counties, in areas of health care, in transportation, in water, in
agriculture. And so I've been so lucky I've been able to help people
which is my passion and, you know, to live my dream.
Diniz Borges: Of all that you have accomplished professionally from
working on the campaign all the way up to U.S. Congress what are you most
proud of?
Jim Costa: Oh, my gosh. I've been so fortunate, having served in the
California legislature for 24 years, in the State Assembly and in the
State Senate. Being the chairman of the Democratic Caucus in the
Assembly. Sharing the Senate Ag and the Water Committee in the State
Senate. Becoming president of the National Conference of State
Legislatures, representing all 50 state legislatures in the country.
And then later on getting elected to Congress. But what I'm most proud
about -- and I've had some incredible experiences throughout the
country and throughout the world in terms of my ability to serve and the
opportunities that has presented itself. But I look at it as a lifetime
work and so there are so many efforts that I can point to besides being a
strong advocate for the people of this Valley, besides being a problem
solver, and besides being a person that has developed bridges bringing
people together to get things done. So that lifetime of work of 24 years
in the state legislature, now going on 16 years in Congress, has resulted
in the following, not in the order of priority because I'm proud of all
of these efforts. But in transportation, providing the funding for Fresno
County for over 40 years, raising $4 million to match state and federal
funding to create a transportation system here that with the fifth
largest city in California has the lowest commute time of 12 minutes.
There's nowhere you can’t get between the Fresno and Clovis area in that
time. And the efforts to improve intercity rail from one train going
south and one train going north in the ’80s to today we have 16 daily
trains, eight going north, eight going south, six that go to Sacramento.
With the $60 million to revitalize downtown Fresno by opening up the
Fulton Mall two years ago. Or today the construction activity that you
see on Highway 99 on the fifth and sixth lane between Avenue 12 and
Avenue 17 are the construction of high-speed rail. But [inaudible] you
move from transportation and you go in the area of water, the
authorization to raise San Luis Reservoir. The new success two years ago
of the spillway [inaudible]. Lake McClure on New Exchequer Dam adding
58,000 acre-feet of additional water. Or the efforts with Del [inaudible]
Water District on reuse of water that's added 54,000 acre-feet of water.
The efforts to try to bring together the state and the federal water
projects to try to get us past these intramural battles that have taken
place historically on water which is so essential to life, I mean where
water flows food grows. And food in our Valley is a national security
issue. So my efforts as a third-generation farmer, which I remind people,
you know, because that's my primary source of income as the chairman of
the Senate Ag and Water Committee in Sacramento and today the thirdranking member on the House Ag Committee. The efforts to promote the
trade agreements that we just reached last month. The new trade
agreements between the U.S. and Mexico and Canada. Forty-four percent of
California agriculture is dependent upon trade. The efforts on
reauthorization of now three farm bills since I've been in Congress,
which provide a lot of tools that provide support for California
agriculture and agriculture around the country, I'm very proud of. You
move from transportation to water to agriculture. The efforts for our
veterans, $224 million for the veterans' hospital, a new imaging center
and a cath lab. A veterans' home in which I got both the state and the
federal funding between my transition when I was in Sacramento and now in
Washington, $167 million for 300 units at the California veterans' home
on California Avenue that has provided housing area support but we're not
doing enough for homelessness and veterans who are homeless. Today we
announced federal legislation to build a medical school here in the
Valley working with Assembly member Adam Gray and our Valley delegation
on a bipartisan basis along with Congressman Cox and Congressman
Josh Harder. A full-fledged medical school. We have a deficiency of
doctors here, and nurses. And so when I say it's a life of public service
and it's a work that I continue to engage in at every level, people think
I'm -- you know, but this is what I do. This is the hard work of what
being I think a good, effective representative is all about. It's
getting things done, working with people, solving problems and that's
really my passion, you know. I tell my staff, ‘No problem is too big or
too small as long as it has merit.” And that can be, you know, a senior
citizen trying to get their Medicare adjusted because they're not
getting their payment or a veteran who's lost their medals and would like
to retrieve them or is in a dispute with the Veterans Administration on a
disability that they have and they want it addressed. Our focusing on,
you know, the communities that have water quality problems and need clean
drinking water and getting then a grant from the EPA. So when I say no
problem is too big or too small, it can involve an individual or a group
of constituents or a city or a county or, you know, taking initiative
with Presidential Joe Castro on developing a sister university
relationship with the University of the Azores and Fresno State or with
Fresno State and PA University in Punjab with the significant Sikh Indian
community that we have here. These are the kinds of things I do all the
time and that's -- that's what I'm -- so it's a hard question to answer
to you, what am I so proud of. I'm proud of 40 years of being able to
help people and make a difference.
Candace Egan: We have five minutes.
Diniz Borges: OK. Going back to our -- to the cultural question and the
component of Portuguese. I know that you've been to the Azores. What was
that experience like for you and how have these trips that you've taken
to the Azores, whether family or professionally, how have they affected
you personally and also in your professional life?
Jim Costa: Well it's been deeply personal. The first time I went I was 19
years old. I was a freshman at Fresno State. And my parents and my aunt
and uncle had been talking about years about the old country and they had
never been to the old country. And they had these visions, you know, of
what the old country must be like based on their parents and others who
would come and tell stories and, of course, people would have, you know,
pictures, movies and -- and slides and stuff. And so and it was a lot of
my parents' generation that had finally achieved some economic success
and had -- were in a situation where they could actually go back because
their parents never went back. And so finally my parents went back and I
went with them with my cousin and we spent three weeks there. And it was
such an eye-opening experience for me. It happened to coincide with a
very important novel that was a sort of an autobiography of the author
who wrote the book Roots, who traced his ancestry all the way back to
Africa. And they made a television series out of that very important
book. And for me going back to the Azores was kind of tracing my roots
because, for the first time, I got to see these villages that I had heard
our grandparents had come from. And meet cousins, although they be it
second and third cousins for the most part that I knew we had there and
to see how their life was. And then always the question in my mind -- and
of course I've been fortunate to first visit in 1970 but in the ’80s and
in the ’90s and you know every decade now for five decades and seeing the
significant progress and improvements that the Azores have been able to
[inaudible]. Because, frankly, in 1970 when I first went, much of the
islands looked like they did I was told 100 years ago. There were still
five of the villages on the island of Terceira that had no electricity
and ox carts were very common in hauling milk. And so I got a real
glimpse of what it must've been like for my grandparents how -- how they
lived. And of course it's much different today. It's very modern, it's
like in a European country with all the amenities that we've all grown
accustomed to. But every visit over the last, the dozen or so visits I've
made both as a part of my official role and as a part of my personal
travel, the central question has always come back to me, “What would my
life have been like if it were not for the incredible courage of my
grandparents to be real risk takers?” I mean, we think about how, you
know, our country has been so fortunate to have so many risk takers and
my grandparents were a part of those risk takers. I don't know if my -sometimes they say risk-taking skips a generation. My parents were
wonderful. My mother probably. I wonder if my father would've been
willing to take that kind of a risk that his father took. Maybe.
But certainly I wonder -- well I don't wonder, I know my life would have
been much different if my grandparents had not chose to take that risk
and come to -- to the New World, to America to have a better life for
themselves and for their children. And guess what? They did. And so in
2004 when I announced to run for the United States Congress, I decided to
have my kickoff for my election at the Hanford train station that my
grandfather and grandmother got off of when they arrived in this country
in 1904. In 2004, 100 years later, I announced that I was going to run
for the United States Congress, uh, because I wanted to continue to serve
and help people and try to make a difference. And I said at the time...