[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13813-13814]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



       TRIBUTE TO RON LASCH ON HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE HOUSE OF 
                            REPRESENTATIVES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I wish to rise tonight to pay tribute to a 
very good friend, Ron Lasch. I came as a staff Member to this body more 
years than I would like to think ago, and Ron was always a friend, 
whether I was a staffer, whether I was a Member of Congress, whether I 
worked at the White House or here on the Hill.
  For many years and many decades, in fact, Ron Lasch watched virtually 
every debate, every vote on this floor more than probably any other 
American, in fact. His retirement, his surprise retirement this week 
did catch a

[[Page 13814]]

lot of us surprised because Ron Lasch was a good friend. He was a 
confidante, a member of the staff that would sit in the back that 
really did know everything. Yet, he did not tell everything unless he 
was asked.
  We would ask him about amendments. Today, as an example, I chaired a 
hearing on our nuclear labs and the security that has been lapsing at 
them out West, a hearing that literally took 8 or 9 hours today. Lo and 
behold, as we had a number of votes on the floor, a number of us came 
to find out what the order of the amendments were, what precisely they 
did.
  Ron Lasch was always one that could tell us. He had sat here during 
the debate. He knew what was going on. His word was his bond. You could 
rely on Ron Lasch to get the right information. It was a little trouble 
today sitting in the back trying to figure out which amendments were 
coming up and precisely what they did. It took a little extra time.
  We miss Ron. We miss him already, not 24 hours after he announced his 
retirement.
  As we would sit with him in the back, he had great patience. We would 
sit with him sometimes for 20, 30 minutes talking about things going on 
on this House floor, and continually Members would be coming asking 
him, what is going on, what time are we going to get out, what 
amendments are coming up? And always he had the same patience with 
virtually every one of us.
  As we tried to work our will on this House floor, on parliamentary 
procedures, how to instruct conferees, how to have a re-vote, he had 
invaluable advice, as he knew all the rules. He made sure that he could 
train us, as well.
  He had a wealth of information. At the end of every session he and I 
always had a little special thing. He had a little crystal ball, and I 
hope that he leaves that in the cloakroom, as he would make his 
prediction as to when we would get out of session, maybe what time, 
what day. Usually we were all wrong and he was always right.
  As I look at the folks that have gone before him, the great folks 
here, the Billy Pitts, former Speakers, J.J. Cullen, he ranks with all 
of them. He knew what was going on. We are going to miss him.
  When Jim Ford left this place, I think it was Roll Call or the Hill 
asked him about his thoughts. They said, You know, Jim, for all the 
years that you have been here, you could write a book, and based on the 
book sales you could probably go to the Bahamas. And Jim Ford's 
response was, no, I could buy the Bahamas if I wrote that book.
  Well, Ron Lasch could probably do more than that. He loved this 
place. He had great respect for the institution. We will miss him, and 
I know the staff, Peggy and Jim and Tim and Jay, Joelle, Martha, all of 
us here will miss his wisdom, his insight, his hard work, his loyalty, 
and just him.
  I yield to my friend, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young).
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding 
to me. I can only echo what the gentleman has said about Ron. Ron Lasch 
was my friend. As the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) has said, 
when I first arrived here 28 years ago, he was one of the first people 
who greeted me.
  I learned to enjoy, and not only enjoy but respect, his wisdom when 
it came to votes. He was one who could always say, this is the right 
thing for you, if you would like to see your way to vote that way. More 
than that, when I went through some trials and tribulations physically, 
he was one that watched out, with Joelle and Peggy, watched out for me 
and my health when I would get a little bit excited, and that happened 
quite often. He always was a great adviser and a good friend, and told 
me when I should in fact back down and go away for a while and come 
back when I had cooled off, and do what is correct.
  He is not really gone, he is just retired. He will still be around, I 
am confident, and give us a little bit of advice whenever we will ask 
for it. He will always be part of my career in this great House of 
ours, this House of the people.
  It is rare when we have an individual who is hired to work for a 
large body such as ourselves that stays stable and maintains the 
decorum and maintains the wisdom that is necessary to go forth with the 
job and to advise those that are elected.
  We hired him, as we hire the Chaplain and other Members of this House 
who have served for us, but he became more than just a hired person, he 
became part of us. As the gentleman from Michigan has said, he is a 
person we will miss. I am sure there will be some who will replace him 
some day, but not too soon.
  Ron, again, may I say, has been a great asset to this House. More 
than that, he has been to me an asset for my career.
  Ron, congratulations on your career. We will miss you, as the 
gentleman from Michigan has said, but in our hearts you will always be 
with us.
  Mr. UPTON. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I just want to note that 
there are a number of Members tonight that would have liked to have 
paid tribute. Because of the particular hour that it is, I just want to 
recognize them and recognize that their statements will appear. The 
gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass), the gentleman from Arizona 
(Mr. Kolbe), the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp), and the gentleman 
from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers) all from the bottom of their hearts have 
nothing but good things to say about our friend, Ron Lasch.
  We hope we see him, and we hope that he has some type of privilege so 
we see him in the weeks ahead, so we can pay our firmest respects for 
all of his hard work and great service to this country.

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