[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 116 (Thursday, July 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9598-S9599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO DORIS G. PETERCHEFF

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I wish to honor a respected 
Kentuckian, Mrs. Doris G. Petercheff, for the many contributions she 
has made to raise the political discourse in the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky.
  Doris has spent a lifetime advising and working for candidates and 
elected officials she believes in. She is respected for the sound 
judgment she offers and the solid reputation she has established. I 
have known Doris for many years and am glad to call her my friend.
  On Thursday, July 5, 2007, the Somerset Commonwealth Journal 
published an article highlighting Doris's many years of service to 
Kentucky. I ask unanimous consent that the full article be printed in 
the Record and that the entire Senate join me in honoring this 
Kentuckian.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

         [From the Somerset Commonwealth Journal, July 5, 2007]

                 A Lifetime Devoted to the American Way

                   (By Bill Mardis, Editor Emeritus)

       ``It's been a great ride!''
       ``That's how Doris G. Petercheff sums up her life in the 
     political arena. In reality, her life has been molded by 
     politics.
       ``I can't remember when politics was not discussed in my 
     home,'' said Petercheff. ``Quite frankly, it still is,'' she 
     added.
       ``Petercheff, owner of One Acorn and Associates, a 
     political consulting firm, is slowed by health problems, but 
     her telephone still rings with questions about how to manage 
     a political campaign.
       ``I interpret politics as people,'' said Petercheff. 
     ``That's one of the things we've forgotten--people. I love 
     people. God gave me a talent in politics . . . to help 
     people. I never had a doubt that the Lord provided me a way 
     to work for Congressman (Tim Lee) Carter so I could help 
     people.'' She was 5th District office manager for Carter for 
     18 years.
       ``Petercheff was reared in a political atmosphere. Her 
     grandfather, Jacob N. Mayfield, owned and operated a country 
     story in the Acorn community.
       ``Grandpa was a great patriot. He always displayed a large 
     American flag at the store,'' Petercheff recalls.
       ``I thought that flag was so beautiful,'' she said. ``I 
     went up to Grandpa and said, `Grandpa, what is that (flag)?' 
     And he pulled me on his lap and told me what the flag was and 
     how important it was.
       ``That was my first love of politics and my country,'' she 
     remembers. ``I was probably 3 or 4 years old at the time.''
       Mayfield was a magistrate for many years. Petercheff 
     pointed out that those were the days before state courts were 
     reorganized and magistrates performed many official duties 
     such as marriages, signing birth certificates and other legal 
     functions.
       ``Everybody came to the store. We were (the same as) 
     Somerset at that time. We sold

[[Page S9599]]

     everything you couldn't grow,'' Petercheff remembers. She 
     said Ky. 1675, extending from Ky. 80 to Mt. Victory, was in 
     those days the main route from Crab Orchard to Sublimity 
     Springs, at that time a well-known health resort near Mt. 
     Victory.
       ``Stagecoaches passed by here (on the way to Sublimity 
     Springs),'' she recalled.
       ``We went to Somerset on `Burden Road,' '' laughed 
     Petercheff. ``It was really (through) Burdine Valley, but we 
     called it `Burden Valley.' ''
       Petercheff is from a strong Republican family. Both her 
     Grandpa Mayfield and Grandpa John Cottongim, a deputy sheriff 
     from 1911 to 1916, were dyed-in-the-wool Republicans.
       As a professional consultant, Petercheff would cross the 
     political divide.
       ``One of my proudest times was working with (Democrat) 
     Wallace Wilkinson in 1987,'' Petercheff said. She was 
     organizational coordinator during Wilkinson's successful 
     campaign for governor, working with the now nationally famous 
     James Carville.
       ``Democrats are a different breed,'' she remarked. ``They 
     are more open . . . a physically touchy, feelie kind . . . 
     they don't flout their affluence.
       ``I am a conservative . . . a fiscal conservative, not a 
     social conservative,'' Petercheff said. ``I loved matching my 
     brains against those big consultants. It's amazing how those 
     big national consultants (are often off base).''
       ``The key to success in politics, Petercheff said, is to 
     ``get organized, make a plan and then work your plan that's 
     how you win.''
       ``On the other hand, Petercheff believes politics must be 
     enjoyed.
       ``I've told clients, `Politics is fun. If it's not fun, we 
     won't do it.' ''
       But an office seeker must be dedicated to the cause. 
     ``Campaigns are hard work,'' she assures.
       If Petercheff has a political hero, it's the late 
     Congressman Carter.
       ``Tim Lee . . . he was a country doctor. His first interest 
     and first desire was to help individual people. If Tim Lee 
     ran across a need for which he couldn't find an answer, he 
     would dig down in his pocket and come up with the money. And 
     you didn't have to vote for him to get help.
       ``Tim Lee was the ultimate politician,'' she said. ``He 
     knew how to (handle) things politically to get people to do 
     what they should do.''
       ``Petercheff recalls that she started working for Carter in 
     1964 ``. . . when women were not involved in politics . . . 
     maybe they stuffed envelopes.''
       ``But Petercheff never took a back seat. Few people have a 
     more impressive profile of services.
       ``Among her positions as a volunteer, Petercheff served as 
     chair of the Mayfield precinct for 30 years; secretary of the 
     Pulaski County Young Republicans Club for four years; 
     treasurer in 1970 for the State Young Republican Federation; 
     chair in 1971 of 5th District Young Republicans; and 
     secretary from 1972 to 1976 for the Pulaski County Republican 
     Executive Committee.
       ``Also, in 1969 she served as president of the Pulaski 
     County Republican Women's Club; from 1976 to 1978 she was 
     chair of the 5th District Republican Party; from 1972 to 1978 
     she was a member, state-at-large, Republican State Central 
     Committee; in 1966 she was campaign chair for the U.S. 
     Senator John Sherman Cooper and Tim Lee Carter; and served as 
     campaign chair for now-Congressman Hal Rogers for state Young 
     Republican chairman.
       Also, she was campaign coordinator for Rogers in his quest 
     for Pulaski County attorney; Pulaski County campaign and 
     headquarters secretary during Louie Nunn's successful 
     campaign for governor; 5th District coordinator for Tom 
     Emberton for governor; and state organizational coordinator 
     for Huda Jones's campaign for secretary of state.
       ``Also, state campaign primary coordinator for Gerald Ford 
     for president of the United States; state campaign manager 
     for Hal Rogers for lieutenant governor; 5th District campaign 
     coordinator for Ronald Reagan, (Senior) George Bush, Mitch 
     McConnell and Rogers; 5th District coordinator for Jim 
     Bunning for governor; and 5th District campaign manager for 
     Hal Rogers for Congress in 1980, 1982 and 1984.
       ``Petercheff has served in some position in every state, 
     district and local election since 1962. She started One Acorn 
     and Associates in 1984 with several stockholders. In April 
     1986, she became the sole owner and operator of One Acorn. 
     Her list of clients is like a ``who's who'' in local, state 
     and national politics.
       ``Like many Pulaski Countians, to make a living, 
     Petercheff's family--her father, Thomas O. Cottongim, and her 
     mother, Mary Iva Mayfield Cottongim--left their home in Acorn 
     in 1941 and moved to Indianapolis. She went to high school in 
     the Indiana city and married her high school sweetheart, 
     Jimmy Petercheff, now deceased.
       ``She and Jimmy returned to Pulaski County in 1959 and took 
     over operation of the family's general store, originally 
     known as J.N. Mayfield Mercantile and later Acorn Mercantile.
       ``They closed the store in 1967. ``I had gone to work for 
     Dr. Carter and we had to hire somebody to run the store,'' 
     Petercheff said.
       ``Doris and Jimmy have four sons, 11 grandchildren and six 
     great-grandchildren. She admits to encouraging her children 
     to be politically active.
       ``The Petercheff house at 4845 Highway 1675 at Acorn has a 
     large ``P'' on the chimney, apparently for identification. 
     But it's not needed. Doris Petercheff is a household name in 
     Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky and the nation.
       ``As she so eloquently said: ``It's been a great ride!''

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