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Summarized by Kent Larsen
LDS Congressman Profiled
Palmdale CA Antelope Valley Press 1May00 N2
By Michael Bitton: Valley Press Staff Writer
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Antelope Valley Press ran a profile of
Congressman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), an LDS Church member that
represents the Santa Clarita area. Telling about a typical work-day for
the busy Congressman, the Press' Bitton gives an insight into McKeon
and the issues that are important to him.
McKeon keeps a group from the Antelope Valley Board of Trade waiting
for Lunch with him at the Capitol Club while he shows up for floor
votes in the House. He eventually makes the meeting, but misses lunch,
managing just to touch on the group's favorite issue, making sure the
final assembly of a Air Force fighter stays in Palmdale.
Bitton notes that McKeon's beautiful personal secretary, who gets her
boss takeout food for lunch, manages to cause a commotion just crossing
the street, but McKeon himself is oblivious to this. Bitton then
manages to talk with McKeon in his office, noting the LDS trappings,
including his leather-bound set of LDS scriptures, a snapshot of McKeon
and his wife with LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.
McKeon sports a Franklin-Covey day planner, which is covered in a
leather case made by a saddle maker he knows, which leaves the
impression of a rodeo prop. McKeon says, "I once had a campaign
director who told me to get rid of it. I won the election and got rid
of her."
McKeon also is proud of his framed Friberg print of George Washington
praying at Valley Forge, and notes that he knows Friberg, showing-off a
snapshot of Friberg with the McKeon's in front of the original
painting, which hangs in Friberg's Salt Lake City home.
Currently, McKeon is working on keeping the fighter assembly in
Palmdale, and on getting money for roads and other infrastructure that
his region needs.
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