[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 139 (Tuesday, October 1, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1886-E1887]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR MATTHEW FLETCHER

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. WILLIAM F. CLINGER, JR.

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 30, 1996

  Mr. CLINGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to share with my colleagues the 
remarks I made at a memorial service for Matt Fletcher who passed away 
on August 31, 1996.
  Matt Fletcher was a friend of mine--oh, he also worked for me--but 
that was secondary to the fact that he was my friend and I mourn his 
too early loss, with all of you, as we come together this afternoon to 
celebrate his life.
  As an employee, Matt was a highly intelligent, incredibly 
hardworking, and extremely skillfull staff member. But more 
importantly, as a human being he was an engaging companion who was 
solicitous, generous, and above all loyal to all of his friends, and 
they were legion.
  I first met Matt in 1987 when he came on board as the sole 
professional staff member on the old Energy, Environment and Natural

[[Page E1887]]

Resources Subcommittee which was chaired by the late Mike Synar of 
Oklahoma--another friend of mine gone too soon--and on which I served 
as the very green Ranking Republican. I shall be forever grateful to 
Matt for so ably carrying out the thankless job of keeping me from 
making a complete fool of myself time and time again.
  He also had another unenviable task as minority staff director which 
was to keep our friends in the majority from being too outrageous in 
their committee reports, criticizing what they viewed as the sins or 
omissions of the Reagan-Bush administrations. Matt was our equivalent 
of Hans Brinker or whoever it was who kept his thumb in the hole in the 
dike, to keep the flood waters at bay, and he would jawbone endlessly 
with the majority to tone down the inflammatory rhetoric in the 
committee reports.
  In 1989, Frank Horton, my predecessor as ranking member on the 
Government Operations Committee and normally a very nice man, did a 
terrible thing to me. He lured Matt away from me and made him deputy 
staff director. But my loss--and it was enormous--was the committee's 
gain because Matt quickly became as indispensable to Frank and Staff 
Director Don Upson as he had been to me. Matt's extraordinary ability 
to master very complex and difficult issues always amazed me when we 
were dealing only with energy, environment and natural resources 
issues. In his new capacity, and later as minority staff director after 
Don Upson left, he expanded his expertise to the entire range of the 
committee's jurisdiction, which in essence meant every activity of the 
Federal Government.
  In 1992, I became the ranking Republican on the full committee--a 
post I achieved largely because during the 12 Reagan-Bush years when 
all we Republicans in the committee could do was try to defend the 
administration, I was too dumb to get off the committee. Thus, as 
others above me in seniority jumped ship to get on supposedly more 
prestigious committees, I kept moving up until, lo and behold I was at 
the top of the ladder and I very quickly hired Matt as staff director 
to resume his previous role of keeping me from making a complete fool 
of myself.

  Matt Fletcher took his job very seriously but he never even took 
himself seriously. He had a wry and mischievous sense of humor and an 
appreciation that we humans are all a little ridiculous and the world a 
trifle mad.
  He was also a prankster which he coupled with a flair for the 
dramatic which emerged from time to time often during the Christmas 
season when Matt and his beloved dogs, Bear and Lupee, would hit the 
road as Santa Claus and two ersatz reindeer. Matt in full Santa Claus 
red suit, shiny belt and black boots, wire framed glasses and stuffed 
belly. Bear and Lupee with phoney antlers strapped to their heads. In 
Lupee's case it was especially hard to suspend disbelief that a spotted 
dalmatian with floppy antlers was a reindeer.
  Any rate this motley entourage roamed the congressional halls 
offering gifts to all. Unfortunately, the gifts were usually withered 
apples from Frank Horton's district that had been lying around his 
office for months. But as we all know it's not the value of the gift 
but the thought that counts unless one is a Neiman Marcus freak.
  At Halloween time, Matt would put on his eerily lifelike latex rubber 
Richard Milhaus Nixon mask and roam the hall throwing candy into 
offices and flashing the famous Nixon victory sign.
  It is important to note that while Matt Fletcher was a terrific 
employee he was also a wonderful boss. He took a real and personal 
interest in the lives and careers of all of the members of the 
committee staff. He went to great lengths to make every staff member 
feel truly appreciated. He made sure that good works were recognized by 
writing personal notes commending individual staffers for their 
contributions. Matt built a terrific team of first-class professionals 
and created an atmosphere of comaradery and mutual respect by 
constantly reinforcing each staffer's worth and value to the committee.
  The tragedy, of course, is that the scourge of AIDS so cruelly cut 
short such a promising life and brilliant career. When Matt said 
goodbye to friends and colleagues on the Hill just 2 years ago in one 
of the most profoundly moving farewell speeches any of us, I'm sure, 
have ever heard, he made it clear that his only regret was not that he 
would never have the title or the power and prestige of majority staff 
director but rather that he would no longer be in the arena engaged in 
the debate on the central issues of our time. Matt's world was not the 
world of power but the world of ideas.
  Matt has left us in person but he has also left us a rich legacy to 
remember him by. He was a man who--even though he was with us for only 
a brief shining moment in the long sweep of time, truly made a 
difference. Here was a man who strove for and in large measure achieved 
excellence in everything he did. And here was a man who taught us that 
the true worth of any human being is measured finally by the caring, 
the concern, the love that he bears for his fellow human beings.

                          ____________________