[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 13206-13207]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO ANNE WALL

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I want to take a few minutes to thank a 
remarkable person on my staff who is moving to a new job. Anne Wall of 
Chicago is one of my most trusted staff members. She has been my Senate 
floor director for more than two years. A few C-SPAN viewers may 
recognize Anne as a regular on the floor of the Senate. Those of us who 
worked closely with her on both sides of the aisle know she is one of 
the smartest, hardest working, and most gracious members of the Senate 
community. No matter how early in the morning or late at night, Anne 
Wall is always there with a smile and a good answer. If an agreement 
needs to be worked out, Anne is there to offer a fair and constructive 
solution.
  Next week Anne Wall starts an exciting new chapter in her life. My 
loss is the gain of a former Senator from Illinois, President Barack 
Obama. Anne is going to the White House to work as a Special Assistant 
to the President. I am going to miss working with her, as everyone on 
my staff will. Fortunately, we are going to see her often on Capitol 
Hill in her new job, representing the President of the United States.
  A little about her background will explain how Anne came to the 
Senate. Anne grew up in Palos Heights, in the south suburbs of Chicago. 
She is a first-generation suburbanite. Her dad Michael and mom Liz both 
grew up on the South Side of Chicago, which means that Anne has the 
South Side in her blood. In Chicago that is noteworthy.
  However, when Anne was a kid, her family did something that was 
considered heretical. They had, as South Siders, season tickets to the 
Chicago Cubs. That made the Walls something of an anomaly among South 
Siders, and it probably helps explain why Anne is able to work so well 
across the aisle here in the Senate.
  Politics was not discussed much in the Wall home, but Anne developed 
her own interest in politics at a very early age, at every level. In 
the eighth grade she became the first girl ever elected class president 
at St. Alexander Grade School. That same year, Anne Wall became the 
first girl in her town to serve as ``Mayor for a Day'' of Palos 
Heights. She won that honor on the strength of an essay she wrote.
  Anne attended high school at one of the most remarkable South Side 
institutions, Mother McAuley--a terrific Catholic girls school which 
usually fields one of the best volleyball teams in the State. Anne went 
to the school run by the Sisters of Mercy, where she was elected 
president of the student council. It was in that South Side Chicago 
high school that Anne Wall started to go astray. While her colleagues 
and friends in high school were reading Rolling Stone, Anne Wall was 
reading Roll Call. Anne read Roll Call, not for its accounts of 
partisan fights, but because she wanted to know how government works. 
She wanted to understand the rules and the mechanics of Capitol Hill. 
As her mom said, ``Who does that?''
  I will tell you who: Anne did; someone who wanted to serve her Nation 
and understand how the government can be a force for good.
  She earned a bachelor's degree from Miami of Ohio College, and went 
on to DePaul University Law School, where she was chosen to serve on 
the Law Review. In her final year at law school, Anne worked as an 
intern in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago. After law school, she 
clerked for two distinguished jurists, Cook County Circuit Court Judge 
Allen Goldberg and Cook County Circuit Court Judge Lynn Egan, before 
signing on as associate counsel at a prestigious Chicago law firm and 
making a few bucks. But that wasn't where her heart was.
  In 2006, Anne Wall decided to leave the world of private law and its 
comfortable compensation to come to Capitol Hill. She saved up money 
because she knew she was going to take a pretty significant pay cut. 
Our office had the good luck and good sense to hire Anne, but we 
started her off at the bottom of the staff ladder. She started writing 
constituent letters and answering e-mails. She said whenever she 
questioned this career move from a prestigious law firm to answering 
letters in the office of a Senator, she would look at another lawyer 
hired at the same time and also writing letters and say: And he went to 
Harvard.
  The people of Illinois were fortunate to have talented people such as 
Anne working for them. She quickly discovered the glamor of staff life 
on Capitol Hill, however. Anne's first apartment in Washington, the 
only one she could afford on the meager salary which I paid her, 
unfortunately was infested with vermin, the roof leaked, and one night 
it fell in. But she didn't want her mom to worry so she told her she 
was living in a wonderful place on Capitol Hill.
  After 1 year, we promoted Anne to serve as my office counsel. She 
quickly learned the ins and outs of the Senate ethics rules, and I 
brought her on to counsel me on close calls on ethics decisions. Her 
counsel was always valuable and her answer was always ``no.'' I

[[Page 13207]]

knew that and expected it and I am glad she steered me on the right 
path so many times.
  In 2008 I asked her to work for me on the Senate floor and once again 
she excelled. In January of 2009 she became my floor director here in 
the Senate. As my right hand on the floor, Anne Hall helped help steer 
the majority whip operation and the entire Senate through historic 
changes: health care reform, Wall Street reform, and a long list of 
other historic endeavors.
  Whatever the task, whatever the challenge, Anne Wall has always 
brought good humor, intelligence, and integrity to the task. When Anne 
was not winning elections or reading Roll Call in high school, she 
played tennis. It was one of the things she loved to do. She was ranked 
as one of the top high school players in the State, but not being able 
to play tennis regularly is another one of the sacrifices Anne made to 
work in the Senate. The job takes too much time. I hate to tell Anne, 
but she won't be able to pick up her tennis racquet again in the new 
job she is taking in the White House.
  These are challenging times for America's families and businesses and 
we need bright, dedicated people giving it their all to get us through 
to a brighter day. Fortunately, America is up to that challenge, and so 
is Anne Wall. I am wishing her the best of luck.
  When Anne Wall left Chicago, her law firm promised they would take 
her back in a heartbeat if she didn't like it in Washington. They kept 
her office vacant for months, hoping she would return. No such luck. We 
feel the same way in the Durbin office about losing Anne. She is always 
welcome to rejoin our staff. There will always be a place for her, but 
we are not holding her job for her. My new floor director is a person 
who has been Anne's right-hand person for the last 2\1/2\ years, Reema 
Dodin. Reema is equally dedicated to this Nation and the Senate, and I 
know she will do an outstanding job.
  In closing, I want to thank Anne personally for all the fine and 
tireless work she has given the Senate. She helped us make history. We 
hope she will enjoy reading about this floor tribute in Roll Call.

                          ____________________