[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 23285-23286]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THANKING MY CONGRESSIONAL STAFF

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. GEORGE W. GEKAS

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 19, 2002

  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, the end of a congressional career brings 
about many emotions. Over the last twenty years I have happily spent 
representing the fine people of the 17th Congressional District of 
Pennsylvania I have had the pleasure of working with thousands of 
constituents, local, state and federal officials, and many former and 
current distinguished members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 
the U.S. Senate. To all of them I say, thanks for working with me 
towards a better America.
  And, of course, every Member of Congress works with many, many 
competent staff, from the staff in their own personal offices to the 
Committee and Subcommittee staff and the leadership and floor staff. It 
has often been said that without staff where would this institution be? 
And I concur with that statement, for without the many fine staff with 
whom I have had good fortune to work, I and other Members of Congress 
of the United States would be far worse off. While I cannot mention all 
the fine staff who have worked with me over the years, let me at least 
mention the current personal and subcommittee staffers who have 
endeavored to achieve our common goals and to whom I give my hearty 
thanks and wish them well in their future careers.
  In my Harrisburg district office, Arlene Eckels, my long-time 
personal secretary who has worked for me since the early days in the 
Pennsylvania State Senate and to whom I wish a happy and much deserved 
retirement; Tom Templeton, my hardworking district director, who so 
ably kept my entire district staff working smoothly; Suzanne Stoll, an 
old friend and superb caseworker; Paul Giannaris, whose ability to 
handle INS problems has made him invaluable; and Tim Vollrath, a 
recently returned former employee whose military and veterans help has 
been superb. In our Lebanon Office, Reg Nyman has been the voice of 
Lebanon for these many years, and his excellent knowledge and service 
will be missed. And in our Elizabethtown office, Susan Melendez has 
kept our Lancaster County constituents well served by her kind and 
efficient manner. Over the last twenty years my district office staff 
has handled hundreds of thousands of phone calls and constituent 
casework requests. A superb record by a superb staff.
  My Washington office staff have proven themselves time and time 
again, regularly going beyond the call of duty. (The tally of my 
hundreds of legislative measures, nearly 30 Public Laws, thousands of 
office meetings and countless committee and other initiatives over the 
years speaks truth to that assertion.) First, on my personal staff, 
Patrick Sheehan, my Counsel and Legislative Director, has been a 
dynamic and intelligent thinker and leader, who offered sage advice on 
immigration, military and veterans affairs; Greg Herman, my Senior 
Legislative Counsel kept pace with my many Judiciary and legislative 
demands especially bankruptcy reform and appropriations (as I would 
expect from a Palmyra, PA native); Becky Smith, my office manager and 
health legislative assistant, kept my schedule and personal affairs 
humming along smoothly and ably managed my most favorite of projects, 
the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus of which I was founder and 
Co-Chairman; David Greineder, who did a multitude of duties as my 
talented systems manager, legislative correspondent and Legislative 
Assistant covering education and labor issues; Bill Tighe, another LC 
and Legislative Assistant whose insights into the Agriculture and 
Natural Resources needs of Pennsylvania and the district were more than 
invaluable, they were accurate; Mike Shields, my recent press secretary 
extraordinaire, who did an excellent job under difficult situations; 
and, of course, Alan Cagnoli, my long time Chief of Staff from Hershey, 
PA, a superb leader of the office and jack-of-all-trades who kept the 
office running and productive no matter what the crisis.
  My Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims, 
of which I was Chairman, was ably staffed by George Fishman, Lora Ries, 
Art Arthur, Cynthia Blackston and Emily Sanders, as well as Brian

[[Page 23286]]

Zimmer of the Full Committee staff. They handled the extremely 
important legislation necessitated by the new domestic and 
international threats we now face. Their assistance to me during the 
challenges of this year is impossible to measure. The House of 
Representatives has much to look forward to with their continued work.
  And last but not least, is the Subcommittee on Commercial and 
Administrative Law, of which I was a member this last Congress but on 
which I served as Chairman from 1994-2000. On this subcommittee we 
dealt with the hundreds of regulatory reform issues developed by the 
Republican Majority through the Contract With America and following 
initiatives. My major Bankruptcy Reform measure began with me in this 
subcommittee; Administrative Law Judges; Legal Services Reform; the 
Federal Agency Compliance Act; The Regulatory Fair Warning Act; 
Executive Orders; Internet Tax reform; the Federal Arbitration Act; 
Interstate Compacts; the Independent Counsel Act; and many, many other 
topics. While bankruptcy reform took center stage, there was no end to 
the amount of topics and work my staff and I pursued. For this I thank 
them, the current and former staffers of the subcommittee, for all 
their exceptional work: Chief Counsel Ray Smietanka, who has worked 
with me as a chief committee counsel since I came to the 98th Congress 
in 1983; Susan-Jensen Conklin, whose superb work on bankruptcy reform 
got us where we are today; Rob Tracci, formerly of the Subcommittee, 
was an invaluable source of assistance; and all the other members of 
the CAL staff who have helped this Member of Congress over the many 
productive years. I thank them all for their work to the Nation and me.
  To all I have mentioned, and those who I have regrettably not, please 
accept my sincere thanks for making my tenure in the United States 
House of Representatives a productive and pleasant one. Any current 
Member of Congress or Committee would be well served by the high-
quality staff with whom it has been my pleasure to work over these many 
years.

                          ____________________