[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 107 (Thursday, June 22, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         RECOGNIZING STEVE KAWA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 22, 2017

  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Steve Kawa for his 25 years 
of service to the city and county of San Francisco. Steve Kawa is no 
ordinary staff member. He is an exceptional public servant who has 
served three mayors of San Francisco in a wide variety of positions.
  Most San Franciscans have never heard Kawa's name--and he prefers it 
that way--but they have certainly felt the impact of his work. He 
helped guide the City through the aftermath of 9/11 and the Great 
Recession. He played a key role in achieving marriage equality and 
universal health care access, and he oversaw unprecedented investments 
in affordable housing and infrastructure projects. His bosses have 
called him a cautious, shrewd negotiator, a driving force behind policy 
decisions and one of the best Chiefs of Staff a mayor could have. His 
effectiveness and style have also earned him nicknames such as the 
enforcer, the shadow mayor, the sphinx and the man behind the curtain.
  Steve Kawa was born in Dracut, Massachusetts as the fifth son out of 
six children of Edward and Janet Kawa and grew up in a Polish-Irish 
American Catholic family. Mrs. Kawa was a school bus driver. Mr. Kawa 
was a construction worker. Steve credits his mother with his interest 
in politics. She loved the Kennedys and was fascinated with the 
Watergate hearings. Steve grew up watching the hearings on TV and says 
the inner workings of government mesmerized him.
  Steve was the first member of his family to attend a four-year 
college and graduate from Merrimack College with a bachelor's degree in 
political science in 1983. To pay for school he worked four jobs as a 
bartender at the Polish American Veterans Club, as a dishwasher in a 
nursing home, as a florist's delivery man and as a security guard 
working the night shift. While attending law school at Suffolk 
University, he served as a legislative aide in Boston's State House at 
night. He graduated in 1989.
  Two years later at the age of 30, Steve traveled to San Francisco for 
the first time and decided to make it his home. Within a month he found 
his first job working as a legislative aide to Supervisor Tom Hsieh. In 
November 1995, Willie Brown was elected Mayor and hired Steve as 
liaison to the Board of Supervisors. He promoted him to Director of 
Legislative Affairs and then Acting Director of the Mayor's Budget 
Office and then Deputy Chief of Staff. The next mayor, Gavin Newsom, 
hired Steve as his Chief of Staff in 2003. In 2011, Mayor Ed Lee did 
the same and Steve remained Chief of Staff until he recently decided to 
retire from his career at city hall.
  Steve is the ultimate public servant. He is still mesmerized with the 
inner workings of government, just as he was when he was watching the 
Watergate hearings with his mother. He recently told the San Francisco 
Chronicle, ``There is so much cynicism about government and politics, 
and when I'm here I don't see the cynicism. I just see people working 
really hard for other people.'' There is no question that Steve is one 
of the hardest working people working for others.
  Wherever his well-deserved retirement will take Steve Kawa, I am 
confident he will be effective and hope he will have more time to spend 
with his husband Dan Henkle and their two children Michael and 
Katherine.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the House of Representatives to rise with me to 
recognize an exemplary public servant who would rather stay out of the 
limelight and get things done. Steve Kawa's absence at San Francisco 
City Hall will be deeply felt, but his contributions will remain part 
of the fabric of our beloved city by the bay.

                          ____________________