9/1/05

United States Congressman John D. Dingell, who has served the people of Michigan for 50 years, is the 2005 recipient of the State Bar Frank J. Kelley Public Service Award. This award recognizes extraordinary governmental service by a member of the Bar. He will receive the award at the Bar's 70th Annual Meeting and will be honored with other State Bar of Michigan award winners at a Distinguished Service Awards Luncheon on Friday, September 23 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing.

Representative Dingell has authored numerous pieces of federal legislation that have impacted nearly every facet of American public policy. He has devoted his career to the needs of working families by focusing on expanding access to affordable, quality legal services and healthcare, protecting American jobs, guarding taxpayers' wallets by holding government bureaucrats and contractors accountable, and protecting consumers from unsafe products, unfair practices and corporate abuses. He is also a well-known advocate for senior citizens, a staunch supporter of civil liberties and an ardent defender of the Constitution.

Over the last five decades, Congressman Dingell has written some of the best-known laws protecting our health and our environment. One notable example is the 1990 Clean Air Act, which is credited with cleaning up the air we breathe, while preserving American competitiveness. His recent accomplishments include authoring the Do Not Call legislation and taking the lead in getting it passed as well as co-authoring and helping to get anti-spam and broadcast decency legislation passed. An avid conservationist and outdoorsman, Congressman Dingell successfully passed legislation to create North America's first international wildlife refuge, protecting thousands of acres of natural habitat in Southeast Michigan and Canada.

Before his election as a member of Michigan's Congressional Delegation, he worked as a Congressional employee, then as a forest ranger and a prosecuting attorney for Wayne County. He served in the US Army during World War II and began his career on Capitol Hill in 1955. December 13, 2005 will mark Congressman Dingell's 50th anniversary in the US House.