[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8431]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            KATHRYN LEHMAN: A BEHIND-THE-SCENES PROFESSIONAL

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, several years ago, I went to a ribbon-
cutting on a new road and the road had taken many, many years to build, 
yet all the politicians who participated in the ribbon-cutting were 
newly-elected. But in great political fashion, we all stood up there 
and took the bows for it. That is the rules of the game.
  Another part about that is you do not see the staff up there cutting 
the ribbon, taking the bows, getting the applause. Kathryn Lehman is 
one of those staff members who has not been in the forefront of the 
limelight and yet, should. She has worked for every significant 
Republican leader in this House of Representatives for the last 10 
years or more. Every critical decision of this House, every major piece 
of legislation was worked on on a team in which she was a staff member, 
anything from the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Henry Hyde) to the 
Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, and, most recently, our conference 
Chair, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce). The legislation that we 
moved all had the invisible fingerprint of Kathryn Lehman.
  I, as vice chairman of the Republican Conference, have had a chance 
to work with her. I can tell my colleagues she is intelligent, she is 
well versed, she is in the background, and she is a pro. One thing I 
will say, though, that is also significant about her, she works hard 
and, at times, when she has that rare opportunity to play and relax, 
she plays hard. I remember one occasion with her, getting the chance to 
see her shoot skeet. We were with some people who were pretty hotshot 
skeet shooters, and I looked over there and she was shooting a 28 
gauge, which means you have to shoot a clay pigeon practically with a 
BB gun. It is impossible to do. I think out of 25 she hit 24 of them, 
and maybe I bumped her on that 25th.
  But she is kind of a true renaissance person of today, somebody who 
knows how to enjoy life, get out and relax and mix and mingle with 
different types of people; yet, when it comes time to work, she is a 
hard-core, very straightforward professional.
  We will miss her, Democrats and Republicans alike. She has been an 
institutionalist, somebody who has made this place better because of 
her presence.
  Kathryn, we wish you the best. Have fun over across the street or 
whatever street you are going to be on.

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