ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190077
SECTION: NATL/ITNL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Dallas Morning News
Democratic Rep. Kika de la Garza of Texas, past chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, on Monday became the seventh member of the Texas delegation to announce that he will not seek re-election.
De la Garza, 68, said he wants to spend his last year in office working on a balanced-budget bill and does not want to be distracted from that effort by campaigning for the 15th District seat he has held for 31 years.
Only the dean of the Texas congressional delegation - Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez, a Democrat from San Antonio - has served longer than de la Garza. Gonzalez has served 34 years.
``Helping people is in my blood, and this will never change,'' de la Garza told supporters at the Mission Chamber of Commerce in South Texas. ``There are many more things I would like to do, and I want to do them while I am in good health and young enough.''
In January, de la Garza lost the chairmanship of Agruculture, one of the House's largest committees, when Republicans took control.
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