Walking dejectedly back to the first day of work in 2005, we noticed that the flags in town are flying at half-mast in honor of Sacramento's Democratic congressman Robert Matsui. Matsui, who had served in Congress continuously since 1978 (and who won reelection in November with 70.8% of the vote), died on New Year's Day from complications of an AIDS-like lymphomic cancer which destroyed his immune system.

Matsui, who had been imprisoned with his family in a Japanese internment camp at the age of five months, is best-known for his work in seeking redress for the Japanese internment program (Quicktime video of Matsui's speech in support of the 1988 Japanese-American Redress Act), but was also the third-ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, the Democratic whip-at-large, and the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Matsui, who was chairing the subcommittee of Ways and Means that handles Social Security, in what would be one of his last public statements, had sharply criticized Bush's privatization plans.

Matsui was one of only five Asian-American Congressmen. Schwartzenegger must now call a special election to fill Matsui's seat; Sacramento insiders believe that his wife, Doris Okuda Matsui, who served in the Clinton administration, may run.

It's a hard day for Democrats of color -- not just this, but also see Gothamist on Shirley Chisholm's death.

picture from washingtonlife.com