[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 23 (Wednesday, February 13, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S693]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO SPENCER STOKES

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a special 
class of people who are critical to the success of any U.S. Senator.
  During the recent Super Bowl game, one advertisement stood out among 
all the others. It was an advertisement based on a tribute taken from 
the great American Paul Harvey. It was entitled ``So God Made a 
Farmer.'' While I respect and admire farmers greatly, especially those 
I know from Utah, I am also certain that my colleagues in this Chamber 
will agree that when it comes to this institution, we can rightly 
change that statement ever so slightly to say, ``So God Made a Chief of 
Staff.''
  My first chief of staff Spencer Stokes is returning to Utah. He is 
also returning to his family and to private life after 2 extraordinary 
years serving me in my office. I offer this in tribute to him and to 
all great chiefs of staff who labor here on Capitol Hill.
  When God looked down on the Senate, He realized that Senators alone 
could never keep things running and He said, I need a caretaker. So God 
made a chief of staff. He needed someone whose first thought in the 
morning and last thought at night would be about helping and serving a 
Senator; who would rise before dawn and organize the day, set the 
strategy, deal with the thick and thin of things, and steer the Senator 
away from bad meetings, bad policy, and bad people; someone who would 
work all day in and out of the office, would skip holidays, birthdays, 
and parties in pursuit of their service, who would stay past midnight 
waiting for a vote, and then be willing to get up at the crack of dawn 
the next morning to do it all again. So God made a chief of staff.
  He needed someone with thick skin, strong will, and at the same time 
a soft touch; strong enough to herd cats, yet gentle enough to comfort 
a grieving constituent or staff member; someone to call BS, tame the 
cantankerous bureaucracy of government, creatively solve problems big 
and small, and patiently listen to a hostile constituent with an axe to 
grind, and then tell that same constituent to come back again real 
soon--and mean it. So God made a chief of staff.
  God said, I need someone who can shape a staff, shine shoes, horse 
trade for furniture and office space, navigate a litany of ethics and 
rules requirements, and play the role of cruise director for countless 
constituent tours of Washington, DC; someone who will put in a full 40 
hours by Tuesday at noon, and then put in another 72 hours on top of 
that by the end of the week. So God made a chief of staff.
  He had to have someone willing to sprint at double speed to stay 
ahead of a news story, and yet stop on a dime and pivot to help the 
real people of this country, no matter the consequences, no matter the 
circumstances, and regardless of what the press might be doing at the 
moment. He needed someone who, when the Senator becomes surrounded by 
``yes'' men is willing to say humbly yet firmly and resolutely, ``No, 
sir.'' So God made a chief of staff.
  He said, I need somebody strong enough to catch arrows, take heat, 
endure withering criticism, and patiently listen to angry voices; 
somebody who is just fine with little prominence, praise, prestige, or 
perks, and who above all is fiercely loyal and forever has the 
Senator's back. So God made a chief of staff.
  I am fairly certain that when God looked down on a newly elected 
Senator from Utah during the final months of 2010, He knew that any old 
chief of staff wouldn't do. So, in my case, he actually chose a 
farmer--a turkey farmer, to be specific--from Bothwell, UT, named 
Spencer Stokes.
  Spencer has been a truly outstanding chief of staff. Doing the heavy 
lifting and providing the Herculean effort required to set up an office 
and build a staff from scratch proved to be Spencer's forte. It proved 
to be easy for him--or at least he made it look easy. He has an eye for 
detail like no other, though we occasionally need to remind him to 
``zoom out.'' Straight chairs in the conference room, straight desks, 
and even straight ties all set the stage for straight talk about issues 
and policy and serving constituents.
  Spencer's love of Utah and its people is unequaled. As a first order 
of business, he set out to make my office something of an embassy for 
my State. So when you walk into our office, you are actually walking 
quite literally into Utah. From the art on the walls to the naming of 
the conference rooms, from our legendary JELL-O Wednesday to the staff 
reading of the smalltown Utah newspapers each week--everything leads to 
an experience in our office, and everything in our office is an 
experience of Utah.
  Spencer will long be remembered and appreciated for his handwritten 
notes, the best night tour in DC--a true story--bringing people 
together, confetti cannons, Utah fry sauce, lots of laughter, and a 
tireless commitment to make bad things good and good things even 
better.
  From Spencer's perspective, there are no small players in this great 
institution that is the Senate. He did not just preach that philosophy, 
he lived it every single day he was here. As a testament to that, we 
noted that when we asked him to provide a list of all the people he 
wanted invited to his farewell party, at the top of Spencer's list 
there were people who were not necessarily of high status. No, the top 
of the list was reserved for the people who really make this place go: 
cashiers and cooks, security personnel, guides and junior staff from 
nearly every corner of this building.
  I salute Spencer Stokes for his service to this Nation, to this 
institution, and to the people of Utah. I salute Spencer for his 
service to me and my family. I will forever be thankful that God made a 
chief of staff and especially thankful for a particularly extraordinary 
chief of staff, Spencer Stokes.

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