46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003

EXPRESSING THE CONDOLENCE OF THE SENATE UPON THE PASSING OF HAROLD JOSEPH "DOC" WEILER.

WHEREAS, Harold Joseph "Doc" Weiler, one of the state's best-known and longest-working lobbyists, died at the age of eighty-six; and

WHEREAS, Doc Weiler was born in Burlington, Wisconsin, earned a bachelor's degree from St. Mary's college in Minnesota and received a law degree from Marquette university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and

WHEREAS, he served as a United States navy pilot in World War II and returned to Burlington to practice law for sixteen years; and

WHEREAS, he moved to New Mexico in 1960 and became executive director of the association for commerce and industry, where he remained for seventeen years; and

WHEREAS, Doc then began working as a lobbyist and was registered as the lobbyist for Phelps Dodge and Ruidoso Downs; and

WHEREAS, at the capitol, he was described as possessing a voice that a Shakespearean actor or radio evangelist would covet; and

WHEREAS, Doc helped get the personal property tax on inventory held for retail repealed, crusaded for worker's compensation reform, helped to defeat mandatory collective bargaining for public employees, and helped to pass the In-Plant Training Act, the Pollution Control Revenue Bond Act, the industrial revenue bond acts, seat belt legislation and unemployment compensation reform; and

WHEREAS, of the role of the lobbyist, Doc said, "I think we serve an extremely useful purpose as a resource", and, regarding his personal approach, observed, "What I attempt to do and always have done is to express good, concrete reasons why a bill should be adopted or amended or killed based on information"; and

WHEREAS, Ernie Mills, Albuquerque journalist, said, "He represented all the good things we look at in a lobbyist: honesty, integrity and credibility"; and

WHEREAS, he was known as Santa Fe's great legislative compromiser and saw bills as people instead of as legal writing, believing legislation was alive because it affected lives;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that condolences be expressed on the passing of Harold Joseph "Doc" Weiler, one of the state's best-known lobbyists, and that Doc be recognized for his many years of service to the state of New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to Doc's wife, Lena Weiler.