|
| Constituents say Lantos leaves a better Coastside By Lewis Rutherfurd--[ lewis@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 1:11 PM PST Friends and constituents say U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos was a truly unique congressman, a man with a reverence for freedom and human rights forged in the crucible of war and holocaust. The 14-term member of the House of Representatives died Monday in Bethesda, Md., from complications of throat cancer. He was 80. A Hungarian Jew who was 16 when the Nazis occupied his country, Lantos lost his mother and other family members to the camps and was the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in Congress. He leaves a legacy of blunt and vigorous advocacy for the disenfranchised - that includes a 2006 arrest outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington while protesting killings in Darfur and recent demands that the Turkish killing of Armenians in World War I be considered an act of genocide. Lantos was an independent voice. While a staunch supporter of Israel and an early proponent of the Iraq war, he provoked the ire of the Bush administration as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee for his blunt assessments of Turkish crimes. And he railed against administration acts to weaken environmental protections. In his adopted San Mateo home, Lantos made friends in the environmentalist movement. "He was one of those people who would really spend time talking to environmental groups," said Zoe Kersteen-Tucker, former head of the Coastside Land Trust, who met Lantos during his pivotal work on the Devil's Slide Tunnel. "You felt that he was really listening to you," said Kersteen-Tucker. "That's the kind of elected official he was. He's just been a true friend to the coast for many years." Born in 1928, Thomas Peter Lantos was the son of professors in Budapest. After fighting the Nazis as a teen, he was captured and sent to forced labor. He escaped twice and eventually made his way to the Bay Area as a student. He married his childhood love, Annette Tillemann, after the war. Lantos taught economics at San Francisco State University for 30 years, before his election to Congress in 1980. The Devil's Slide Tunnel is a part of his local contribution, and one for which he was recognized with a recent motion to name the travel artery is his honor. But Lantos leaves behind a lot more on the coast. "Tom, as we all know, was mainly interested in human rights and foreign affaires," said Audrey Rust, executive director of the Peninsula Open Space Trust. "But he was deeply concerned with the land and environmental issues as well." In the 1990s Lantos worked to secure the transfer of the Phleger Estate, near Woodside, to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the nation's largest urban national park and the region's biggest land preservation agency, said Rust. In 2003 he turned his attention to Rancho Corral De Tierra, more than 5,000 acres of pristine mountains and ridge tops above the Midcoast. Even well into his 70s, Lantos was interested in more than the sound of his own voice. "He toured that property in a helicopter with us," said Rust. "And on all the little ranch roads. "We all had to get dressed in real jumpsuits and helmets," said Rust of the U.S. Coast Guard flight. "He looked like an astronaut. We'll miss him very much." Officials with the GGNRA said Lantos marked an era in preservation. "He was a significant voice in taking the vision of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and extending it down to San Mateo," said spokesman Rich Weideman. Lantos led efforts to include Pacifica holdings like Sweeney Ridge and Mori Point in the park as well. "He meant a lot to us here in the park," said Weideman. "We couldn't have asked for a better friend. It's the end of an era for us." Lantos was also a staunch opponent of offshore oil drilling along the California coast. "I didn't agree with all his policies," said Rob Caughlan, a founding member of the Surfrider Foundation who worked for President Jimmy Carter in the Environmental Protection Agency. "I thought he could be too hawkish at times. But he was a good and competent congressman for San Mateo. And he was good on environmental issues." Lantos is survived by his wife of 50 years, Annette - two daughters, 17 grandchildren and two great grandchildren. An outpouring of praise and remembrances from all points of the political map, and from national leaders, continues in the days after his death. Flags in the district are at half-staff, but plans for formal ceremonies have not yet been announced. "Congressman Lantos loved his adopted country and was unafraid to criticize its shortcomings when needed," wrote Art Pulaski of the California Labor Federation in a release. "He exhorted us to place more importance on human lives and cautioned us against excess." He noted that Lantos fought to protect California workers and raise the minimum wage as well. Wiedeman noted that Lantos had just helped secure the first $1.9 million federal appropriation for transfer of the Corral De Tierra lands - which came in the last weeks of his life. "His vision will continue as that property continues to transfer over the next 10 years," he added. |