[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 25, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S2553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   U.S. REPRESENTATIVE STEVEN SCHIFF

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, Senator Bingaman and I are on the floor 
of the Senate today in a sense to report bad news to the Senate about a 
wonderful New Mexican.
  Late this morning, in my home city in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. 
Representative Steve Schiff, 51 years of age, died as a result of a 
lingering cancer. We both felt we ought to share a few thoughts with 
the Senate and with our people.
  So I would just like to say to the Senate that you know when you meet 
different people in political life certain things stand out about 
them. Steve Schiff used to almost brag about the fact that he came from 
Chicago, that he was a Jewish boy from Chicago who came to New Mexico. 
Some would not want to talk about being from Chicago if they were 
representing New Mexicans, but somehow or another he kind of thought he 
would like to tell them that, so he told it to them so often, they 
never cared. He served as a district attorney and probably was the best 
prosecutor we have had in terms of getting his job done.

  As I was coming over, I told Senator Bingaman I was voting one day in 
a precinct of my home in Albuquerque and I saw two elderly women behind 
me checking off whom they would vote for. One said to the other, ``Vote 
for Steve Schiff.'' And the other lady, probably about 75 said, 
``Why?'' She said, ``Because he was a great district attorney and he 
did his job well there. He'll do it well in Washington.'' That said to 
me that people really understand when you have a real public servant.
  In behalf of my wife Nancy and myself, I guess I want to say that we 
have been very lucky because we got to know Steve Schiff. We are very 
fortunate because we got to know a public servant who just exemplified 
what we would think a public servant should be. He was of the highest 
integrity, he had a deep and fundamental decency, and, yes, he had an 
acute and open mind. He was very, very bright.
  New Mexico and the rest of this Nation have lost a wonderful public 
servant. He was the best of political leaders. And I lost a good 
friend. He was of my party, but he had great bipartisan support. He was 
always around to listen and always gave great advice.
  Today on the Senate floor I extend, on behalf of my wife and myself, 
our condolences to his many close friends, to his wife and their two 
wonderful children, and I look forward to seeing all of them when we 
attend his wake. But here today in the Senate, I just want to say, 
``Thank you, Steve. Thanks for what you were, thanks for what you left 
us to understand and remember about you, and may more people try to be 
like Steve Schiff, a real, decent, honest public servant.''
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I join my colleague, Senator Domenici, 
in expressing our grief at the loss of Steve Schiff. He is someone I 
became friends with when we--he and I--were both young lawyers in New 
Mexico, beginning our legal careers. Of course, when he became district 
attorney for Bernalillo County, I had the good fortune to be attorney 
general and worked with him very closely on many issues in those jobs.
  Steve did have the respect of the people he represented because of 
the good, hard, nonpolitical work that he did for them, first as 
district attorney and later as U.S. Representative. He was not partisan 
in his approach to his job. He was quick to reach across party lines. I 
can remember many phone calls from Steve where he would call and say, 
``I have a bill that we have been able to pass in the House, and I need 
your help in the Senate.'' And I can remember many phone calls I made 
to him, asking for his help with legislation that I was pursuing as 
well.
  Steve was a person who kept clearly in mind the commitment and the 
job that he was sent here to do for the people of our State. He had 
great respect in our State and here in the Congress as well. His family 
deserves our condolences. We certainly send those to his wife and 
children.
  The State of New Mexico has lost a tremendous public servant. Senator 
Domenici put it well by pointing out he was, first and foremost, a 
public servant in the very best sense of that term. He did not see 
himself as a politician who was trying to put a good face on the job he 
was doing. Instead, he saw himself as a mechanic, working in the 
machine and in the engine of Government to do the right thing for the 
people of New Mexico and for the country.
  Steve was a good friend to many of us and a great contributor to our 
State and to the Nation. I join Senator Domenici in expressing our 
grief and our condolences to his family.
  I yield the floor.

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