[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5497]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


        TRIBUTE TO JOHN FEEHERY, PETE JEFFRIES AND PAIGE RALSTON

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. J. DENNIS HASTERT

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Sunday, March 20, 2005

  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to wish farewell to three 
members of my press office who are moving on to other careers after 
distinguished service on Capitol Hill. My press secretary John Feehery, 
communications director Pete Jeffries, and deputy press secretary Paige 
Ralston have been the core of my press team for my entire tenure as 
Speaker, and I would like to take this moment to recognize their 
contributions to my office.
  As my chief spokesman, John helped me articulate the positive effects 
of important reforms we passed concerning Medicare, tax policy, and the 
organization of intelligence community, just to name a few. I depended 
on John for advice on how best to get my message across on a wide range 
of issues and the events of the day.
  Pete crafted a strategy for communicating our goals and 
accomplishments to other Members and to the rest of America. He could 
take a step back and tie broader themes together to create an overall 
message with which Americans could identify. Pete worked with other 
press secretaries to coordinate our message to make it more powerful, 
and as a result the Republican majority has had great success in recent 
years.
  A good message is only useful if people are listening, and that's 
where Paige came in. As my point person for arranging interviews with 
the press, she helped me reach out to different audiences in different 
ways to effectively explain our agenda. She has a keen sense for 
connecting the particular message I wanted to convey with the best 
venue for conveying it.
  I have learned that in this legislative body, effective communication 
is crucial for turning good ideas into good policy. For the past 6 
years, John, Pete and Paige formed a team of advisors who helped me 
convey our hopeful message to the rest of America. Though they will be 
missed greatly, I wish them all the best in the next stage of their 
lives.

                          ____________________