judge vandergriff was a personal friend of mine. when i first was given part of arlington in the redistricting process in 1992, he agreed to be my co-chairman for my campaign. he was just an absolute gentleman and helped in every way possible. one of the most unique things about judge vandergriff is that in his entire political career which spanned from 1951 until 2007 he never held a political fundraising event for himself. he did actually accept political contributions, obviously, but he never solicited and he never held an organized political event that he himself organized on his behalf. i thought that was astounding in the modern mittcal era for as successful as politically as he was without having to go out and do the numerous fundraisers that most of us have to do. we are going to miss judge vandergriff. he's got a list of accomplishments a mile long. he was mayor of arlington from 1951 until 1967. during his tenure as mayor, he was able to get the general motors assembly plant located in arlington. he helped get the texas ra