[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 56 (Tuesday, May 9, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E678-E679]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRIBUTE TO MIKE CAUSEY, COLUMNIST, ``FEDERAL DIARY'' THE WASHINGTON 
                                  POST

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 9, 2000

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask the House to join me in 
honoring Mike Causey, the venerable Washington Post columnist who wrote 
his last Federal Diary column for the Washington Post today. Most 
Members of the House have been unable to get through a year, and 
certainly an appropriations period, without consulting Causey. Federal 
Diary provided an always reliable place where anyone could be 
knowledgeably and quickly informed of all one often needed to know 
about federal sector matters. Especially for those of us ``inside the 
beltway,'' a phrase coined by Mike Causey, his column was an 
indispensable resource. We welcome Mike's successor, Stephen Barr, and 
trust he will continue to make the Federal Diary a congressional habit 
as it has been for many others as well.
  I ask the House to join me in honoring Mike Causey's 36 years of 
giving the Congress and the region the ``real deal'' on the federal 
sector ``inside the beltway,'' and I submit for the

[[Page E679]]

Record his final column and Bob Levey's tribute, Hat's Off to a Top 
Colleague: Mike Causey.

                [From the Washington Post, May 8, 2000]

                Hats Off to a Top Colleague: Mike Causey

                             (By Bob Levey)

       Today, his column appears in the Metro section. There won't 
     be another. Mike Causey, longtime perpetrator of The Post's 
     Federal Diary, is done.
       My pal, my fellow scribe, my listening post, my wailing 
     wall, is leaving a perch I thought he'd occupy forever. He is 
     going to try columnizing in the high-tech world. The geeks 
     had better get ready for a whirlwind.
       You don't produce six careful, newsy columns a week for 
     more than three decades without knowing how to hammer. This 
     fellow may be a grandfather, but he can get it done like no 
     youngster I've ever seen.
       And he can get it done with surpassing accuracy and touch.
       When your constituency is federal employees, someone always 
     knows more than you about every topic. If you fumble the 
     provisions of the latest federal retirement bill, thousands 
     will point it out. Fumble often enough, and the gang will 
     stop reading you.
       But Mike fumbled less than most, and he built a 
     constituency better than any. I say that because the 
     sincerest form of flattery has been visited upon me for 
     nearly 20 years.
       People mistake me for Causey (even though he isn't very 
     gray, and he underweighs me by 50 pounds). They've accused 
     Mike of being Levey, too. I'm sure he grinned and bore it, 
     with his usual wry comment about how immortal newspapering 
     makes you.
       How hard is it to be such a prolific columnist for so many 
     years? Mike said it best many years ago, as I waltzed into 
     the office at the spry hour of 7 a.m., only to discover him 
     already hard at it.
       ``If being a columnist is such an easy job,'' said Mike, 
     ``why are we the only ones here?''
       The Big Boss, executive editor Leonard Downie Jr., had this 
     to say about Causey--and his output--when I asked him for 
     comment:
       ``Mike Causey, of course, does not exist. Mike Causey is a 
     pseudonym for a composite group of Washington Post reporters 
     and researchers--1,342 at last count--with several dozen 
     working together at any one time to produce all those 
     columns.''
       Len said that ``a marketing research firm'' had been 
     engaged to develop ``the many male models we use to represent 
     Mike Causey at interviews, press conferences, lunches, 
     dinners and other appearances. Each is tan, fit and speaks 
     with a subtle nasal accent.''
       Editorial writer Bob Asher and Metro editor Walter Douglas, 
     who began as copy boys with Mike back near the Civil War, 
     remember him as being very efficient, and a bit of a scamp.
       Walter remembers the way Mike would answer the newsroom 
     phone. Most copy boys did it formally and decorously. Causey 
     would flip a toggle switch and announce, ``Newsroom, Mike.'' 
     ``A bit unorthodox, but it got the job done,'' Walter said.
       Bob Asher said Causey was a legend for running every copy 
     boy errand route through the cafeteria. As for Causey's 
     current office--a notorious six-foot-high collection of 
     junk--``there's wildlife in there,'' Bob said.
       Having sat in the next office for all this time, I can deny 
     that rumor. Wildlife wouldn't survive--not
       Of course, Mike always claimed that he knew where 
     everything was. Since he never missed a deadline, it must 
     have been true.
       Of course, the Disastrous Causey Office led to moments of 
     great merriment.
       When Ben Bradlee was executive editor, he would wheel a 
     huge trash can up to the lip of Causey's office door once a 
     year.
       ``In two days,'' he'd bark.
       And it would be done.
       Although it would need to be done again in less than a 
     week.
       How bad was the crud? For years, Causey and I used 
     computers that were linked somehow. If one broke, the other 
     would have to be disconnected so the ``bad'' one could be 
     worked on.
       When mine broke one day, technicians tried to reach 
     Causey's terminal to disable it. Like a bunch of disappointed 
     explorers on the Amazon, they gave up after a few minutes.
       Mike Causey invented the phrase ``Inside the Beltway.'' He 
     and a Post photographer were the first civilians to 
     circumnavigate the Capital Beltway. He covered the first 
     Beatles concert in Washington--as a bodyguard to ``a more 
     experienced (and fragile) reporter,'' as he put it in his 
     official Post biography.
       What Mike didn't say, there or anywhere else, was that he 
     became an institution.
       ``In the mornings, federal employees have their coffee and 
     Causey at their desks,'' said Bob Asher.
       Indeed they did--thousands of them, across thousands of 
     days. The guy is the Cal Ripken Jr. of journalism--even if he 
     failed a tryout with the Cleveland Indians as a young man.
       Mike even contributed to my wardrobe. One year, my wife 
     stole a favorite Causey expression and turned it into a 
     birthday T-shirt.
       The front says: ANYONE CAN BE A DAILY COLUMNIST.
       The back says: FOR THREE WEEKS.
       Whenever Mike and I would pass in the halls all these 
     years, he'd say to me, in his joking, conspiratorial way: 
     ``I'll cover for you.''
       From now on, I'll return the favor, Mr. C. Well done! 
     You'll be missed in a big way.

                                  ____
                                  

                [From the Washington Post, May 8, 2000]

             Today's the Day Diary Columnist Turns the Page

                            (By Mike Causey)

       Well, there comes a time, and this is it.
       This is my last Federal Diary column for The Washington 
     Post.
       I leave this job pretty much as I entered it: still 
     suspicious of the statistics that powerful organizations pump 
     out. For example:
       The usually reliable Washington Post--my longtime home--
     says I produced 11,287 bylines. It seems like more than that. 
     But who's counting?
       Also, The Post says I've been here for 36 years--as 
     messenger, copy boy, reporter and columnist. They got the job 
     titles right. But 36 years? It seems like only yesterday. 
     Honest.
       So, how to sum up?
       The most-asked question (other than, ``Did a real barber 
     cut your hair?'') has been this: How could you produce six 
     columns a week, year after year, without going nuts?
       The answer is simple: For several years I did the Federal 
     Diary column seven days a week. When they gave me Saturdays 
     off, it removed all the pressure. Almost all.
       Secondly, it was part of the job description.
       Finally, I loved every minute of it. Honest.
       Being here for nearly four decades has been an incredible 
     and enriching experience. You can't imagine.
       Over the years--in the line of duty--I have been shot at, 
     gassed, tossed off a building. I covered the first Beatles 
     concert and got to be one of the first people to circle the 
     Capital Beltway. I was once run out of a small town in 
     Western Maryland by a mob that, now that I think about it, 
     had good reason to speed my departure from its fair 
     community.
       Being a newspaper reporter means never having to grow up. I 
     got to see how things work, or are supposed to, or don't. The 
     events and machines and tours were fascinating. The people--
     almost without exception--were wonderful.
       Reporters get to meet lots of VIPs. But for most of us 
     ``beat'' reporters, the best part is the so-called ordinary 
     people who, more often than not, are extraordinary. Just 
     quieter than VIPs. The reason they are so good is simple: 
     It's part of their job description. They say (by, the way, in 
     all these years I have never discovered who ``they'' are) 
     that reporters are only as good as their sources. True, up to 
     a point. Sources are critical. But the real secret weapon for 
     a successful reporter has two parts:
       * The people (as in colleagues) you work with.
       * The people (as in readers) you work for.
       It is that simple, and that complicated.
       Working with several generations of Washington Post types 
     has been an education. Trust me on that one.
       Reporters get the glory. But they only look good if they 
     have great editors, researchers and backup. And reporters 
     wouldn't last a minute, and you would never read their award-
     winning words, if it weren't for the people who do the real 
     work. Like sell and process ads, make sure folks get billed 
     and paid--so we can get paid--and produce and deliver the 
     paper. For 25 cents you get, every day, the equivalent of a 
     book printed overnight. Not a bad deal.
       Working with, and writing about, federal employees and 
     military personnel has been a treat. If there are more 
     dedicated people in this country, I have yet to meet them. I 
     have known lots of people who would die for this country, and 
     several who did. Few bankers, columnists, lawyers or CEOs can 
     make that claim.
       Bureaucrats--and I don't have to say this anymore--are 
     indeed beautiful. And don't you forget it.
       I could go on, but I hope you get the idea. Besides, time 
     and space--as always--are limited.
       So has this been fun? And rewarding? Short answer: You bet!
       But this isn't a wake. Or even a goodbye. More in the order 
     of see-you-later. I hope.
       Next stop for me is the brave new world of the Internet. 
     I'll be at 1825 I St. NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C. 20006. 
     Stay in touch.
       I'm leaving here, but The Post will always be home. Always.
       This column has been around since the 1930s. It's been on 
     loan to me for a long time. My successor, Stephen Barr, is an 
     old friend. He's a Texan and a Vietnam vet, and he knows the 
     beat. Best of all, he's a very nice guy.
       I hope Steve has as much fun as I did. Remember, he's had 
     nearly half a century to prepare for his first column, which 
     will begin Sunday. But he will have only one day to write his 
     second column. So a little help and encouragement from you 
     would be nice.
       Thanks.
       Mike.





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