[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 136 (Friday, October 2, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1879-E1880]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MARILYN A. ELROD

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. IKE SKELTON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 2, 1998

  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I want to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues the contributions of a great public servant, Marilyn Elrod, 
on the occasion of her retirement from the staff of the House of 
Representatives. On August 31st, after more than 29 years on the Hill, 
Marilyn retired from her position as the minority staff director of the 
House National Security Committee. She will be greatly missed.
  Marilyn, a native of Indiana, started her tenure on the Hill working 
for Representative Allard Lowenstein in June of 1969 after doing 
graduate work at American University. In November of 1970, Ronald V. 
Dellums of California was elected to Congress and before beginning his 
first term in the 91st Congress, Ron hired Marilyn as a military 
caseworker and legislative aide. From there she moved up to become the 
Legislative Director for Mr. Dellums, a position she held until 1983.
  In 1983, Ron Dellums assumed the chair of the Military Installations 
and Facilities Subcommittee of the then Armed Services Committee. He 
quickly had Ms. Elrod appointed to the staff of the Subcommittee where 
she worked for the next six years. There, she helped him shift the 
focus of the Subcommittee toward quality of life issues for military 
personnel. Increased attention to housing, child development centers, 
and bringing installations into line with Environmental Protection 
Agency guidelines were all part of the new emphasis in military 
construction funding. Appropriately, this focus continues today.
  Marilyn was assigned to be Mr. Dellums' staff person on the Research 
and Development Subcommittee in 1989 when he became chair of that 
Subcommittee. There she was a leader in the effort to have the 
Subcommittee make policy decisions about the military and economic 
viability of future weapon systems early in the process--during the 
research and development phase--rather than in the procurement phase 
where such decisions had so often been made in the past. Earlier 
scrutiny where a wasteful or ineffective program could be stopped or 
realigned means greater savings to the taxpayer. In the same vein, she 
worked with Mr. Dellums to lead the fight against the wastefulness of 
``concurrent'' research, development and procurement.
  After ten years as Mr. Dellums' most trusted committee staff person, 
she made a bit of history. Ron Dellums was chosen by the Democratic 
Caucus to Chair the House Armed Serviced Committee--the first African 
American ever to do so--in January of 1993, and he immediately tapped 
Marilyn to be the first female staff director in the history of the 
Congress' four defense committees. He often told his colleagues how 
proud he was to have Marilyn with him to ``break the glass ceiling.'' 
Two years later, Marilyn continued as staff director to the minority of 
the National Security Committee when the Republican party took control 
of the House. For the past several months, I have been proud to have 
her stay on as my staff director subsequent to the retirement of my 
good friend and colleague Ron Dellums. Though she was eligible to leave 
when Mr. Dellums did, I consider it a personal favor that she stayed on 
and helped ease the transition to a new staff director with her 
valuable advice and by sharing the benefit of her institutional memory.

  As my colleagues and I know, having a staff person who is able to 
develop expertise quickly and thoroughly on a range of issues is 
extremely valuable. Ron Dellums knew that when Marilyn briefed him on 
any subject, he was getting the information and advice he needed to 
make competent legislative and political decisions. During her twelve 
years in his personal office, she was always the defense expert, but 
also became exceptionally knowledgeable on a variety of other subjects, 
especially health care legislation.
  But being an expert is not enough. Working with elected officials, a 
staff person has to have the confidence and capability to take the 
policy initiatives of the Representatives and work them without 
straying from the electoral mandate. Marilyn, though fully capable in 
her own right, never crossed the line by supplanting the rights of the 
Members to make the decisions.
  Marilyn Elrod was able to carve out a most impressive career on 
Capitol Hill. She started out on the bottom rung of the ladder as an 
entry-level administrative staff person in 1969 and, with all of the 
downward pressures that women have as they rise through an institution, 
advanced to become the staff director of the House Armed Services 
Committee. Being the first to accomplish such an achievement, she has 
set an example for others to emulate.
  When staff director of the Armed Services Committee and minority 
staff director of the National Security Committee, Marilyn displayed 
her incredible strength as an administrator and her mastery of the 
legislative process. She brought a management style to the Committee 
which was a combination of openness, fairness and consultation. It is 
part of the Dellums-Elrod legacy that a progressive, liberal ascended 
to be the head of the Armed Services Committee and led it with 
intelligence, vision and fairness. They rose to the

[[Page E1880]]

occasion and discharged their leadership responsibilities to the 
institution.
  Marilyn Elrod is a person who understands the right and 
responsibility of an American to thoroughly investigate government 
policy and, using her influence as a staff person, would always try to 
craft the best legislative product. She did it with a sense of humor, a 
sense of duty and above all, a sense of patriotism. She is a dedicated 
American in the finest tradition, and this institution will greatly 
miss her.

                          ____________________