[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S12630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO KATHY LACEY

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Kathy Lacey, my deputy legislative director, who I regret will retire 
at the end of December after serving California for 27 years as a staff 
member in the U.S. Senate.
  Kathy came to Washington, DC 27 years ago having studied at Vassar 
College and after graduate work at the University of Southern 
California. Her graduate work at USC was in Asian studies and Chinese 
language. She knew other friends who had used their studies by going to 
work for the Federal Government and she thought she would find similar 
opportunities. Instead, former Senator Alan Cranston hired Kathy and 
she went to work using her love and knowledge of California.
  When Kathy describes her service in the U.S. Senate to younger staff 
just starting their careers, she says that her effort was always on 
behalf of the people of California. Her work ranged from trying to 
assist farmers with export of their crops, to helping cities get their 
funds to build sewage treatment plants, to fixing levees or to 
analyzing the science of radioactive waste, pests, and pesticides, or 
endangered species.
  But what gives Kathy the most satisfaction is the work which she has 
done, both with me and with Alan Cranston, to protect California's 
special places. Legislation she has worked on over her 27-year career 
has protected almost 12 million acres of wilderness in California. More 
than half of that acreage was part of the Desert Protection Act. I 
could not have successfully gotten that bill passed without Kathy's 
knowledge and continuous work.
  But Kathy was also involved in the creation of the Santa Monica 
Mountains National Recreation Area, establishment of Channel Island 
National Park, expansion of Redwood National Park, protection of 
Mineral King through its addition to Sequoia National Park, 
establishment of the Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area, 
preservation of the Tuolumne River, enactment of the Smith River bill 
which protected watersheds and old growth in the Six Rivers National 
Forest, and designation of almost all of the wilderness in California 
including the 1.8-million-acre California wilderness bill.
  Kathy grew up in Pasadena. Her parents had come to California as 
teenagers. Her mother and brother still live there. Because Kathy chose 
to come to Washington, DC, and work for California, she has made a 
lasting contribution to her State.
  Kathy plans to leave the Congress and have new adventures with her 
husband, Cal, who has also recently retired. On behalf of everyone in 
California, I thank Kathy for her professional spirit which was 
important to me from my first days in the U.S. Senate and I thank her 
for her dedicated example which has proved so significant to 
California.

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