[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 29, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E769-E770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TRIBUTE TO MS. AURELIA PUCINSKI, CLERK OF THE COOK COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. WILLIAM O. LIPINSKI

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 29, 1997

  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I would like to pay tribute to an 
outstanding public official and close personal friend of mine on a very 
special occasion, her 50th birthday.
  Ms. Aurelia Pucinski, clerk of the Cook County, Illinois Circuit 
Court, celebrated her

[[Page E770]]

birthday recently with a surprise party thrown by her friends and 
colleagues, as well as her husband, Jim Keithley, and their three 
children, Rebecca, Annie, and Jimmy.
  Clerk Pucinski has been one of the most popular elected officials in 
Cook County since her election as a delegate to the 1980 Democratic 
National Convention. She is currently in her third term as clerk where 
she administers the world's largest unified trial court system, which 
handles more than 18 million cases each year.
  She has literally guided the clerk's office into the 21st century 
with improved computer systems and other technological advancements to 
make the office more efficient and more responsive to the needs of law 
enforcement officers and attorneys and all citizens.
  She has saved tens of millions of dollars for taxpayers during her 
tenure by reducing staff and overtime, through interest earned on 
investments and deposits, and returned unclaimed bond money. Clerk 
Pucinski is also the first county official to institute a code of 
ethics and internal ethics board.
  A testament to Clerk Pucinski's integrity can be found in the fact 
that during her first campaign for office in 1988, she proposed a 40-
point plan to improve the office. She has implemented all those 
promises.
  Clerk Pucinski is an outstanding public official, but perhaps more 
important, she is an outstanding human being and a wonderful wife, 
mother, and daughter. I have known her for more than 20 years, when I 
served on the Chicago City Council with her father, Alderman Roman 
Pucinski, a revered and respected public official who was a huge 
influence on his daughter. She remains devoted to her father as well as 
all of her family members, despite the demands and responsibilities of 
her office.
  Mr. Speaker, I wish my dear friend, Aurelia Pucinski, a happy 
birthday and of course, many, many more.

                          ____________________