Congresswoman Gwen Moore takes oath at ceremonial swearing-in

U.S. Rep.-elect Gwen Moore won't be sworn in officially as a member of Congress until Tuesday, but as far as she's concerned, Sunday's symbolic ceremony before nearly 1,000 backers was her big day. U.S. Rep.-elect Gwen Moore (center) celebrates with her sister Jacqueline Allen (left) and Vel Phillips after taking the oath Sunday. "This is the true investiture here; not on the 4th," she told the standing-room-only audience that crammed into a ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee hotel, 333 W. Kilbourn Ave., to see Moore recite the oath of Congress to state Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler as her sister Jacqueline Allen of Milwaukee held a Bible that had belonged to their deceased mother. Dignitaries who spoke included Gov. Jim Doyle, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, former Wisconsin Secretary of State Vel Phillips and Common Council President Willie Hines Jr. Moore, a Democratic state senator from Milwaukee, defeated Republican lawyer Gerald H. Boyle in November's election by a landslide to capture the 4th Congressional District seat and become Wisconsin's first African-American congresswoman. Moore served in the state Legislature for 12 years. Speakers repeatedly referred to Moore's victory as "historic." "Louis Butler swearing in Gwen Moore. It's about time," Doyle said. Butler also is African-American. Barrett called Moore "an effective advocate" for the causes in which she believes. "Washington, D.C., will never be the same," he said. [more]