Electing Officers Of The House Of Representatives

Floor Speech

ELECTING OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES -- (House of Representatives - February 06, 2007)

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Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I, too, wish to offer my congratulations to those who have done so well, Mr. Speaker, Karen Haas and Mr. Jay Eagen in their duties and responsibilities to all of us as Members of this body.

I am a little bit interested in some of the convenient memory that is taking
place here. I happen to recall, Mr. Speaker, that in 1995 we had a CAO appointed; and, of course, I was a member of the bipartisan group that was selected by this body to hire Mr. Eagen. I was one of the ones that interviewed him, as well as others, and was one of the ones that decided to put him in the capacity that he is in.

So I just wanted to say to my friends on the other side that we hired Mr. Eagen to clean up a mess that was not created by those who were in power. It was created by the gentleman who took the office in 1995.

I would want us to be careful about how we recall the history of this, because that is the way all of this developed, and I was on that group that helped to clean it up with the hiring of Mr. Eagen. He has done a professional job. I want to thank him for that.

I, too, have met with Mr. Beard; and I have known Mrs. Lorraine Miller for a long, long time. I think she is an excellent choice. I think she is going to do great work for this institution, and I join with those who see this as a history-making and I think marble-ceiling-shattering appointment.

But when I met with Mr. Beard I said to him that I recognized his professional background. But I also said to him that I had one wish of him, that he carry out his duties and responsibilities in a professional manner. But I said to him when I spoke with him that this is my first elected job. I have been director or manager of something all of my life before coming here.

And one of the things I learned as a manager is that you have to try to balance efficiency and effectiveness. And in order to do the work of this body, I want all of those people who assume positions to be efficient. But I also would like to see the work done be effective. And to do so, we have to, I think, recognize the individual worth that exists in every human being. There are a lot of people working in and around this building who we sometimes don't see, but they come under the purview of the Chief Administrative Officer. So I asked Mr. Beard to remember, as he carried out his duties and responsibilities, that we must always work to balance out efficiency and effectiveness. So I think they will make good additions to the work here in this body, and I want to thank them for being willing to serve and thank the Speaker for making this appointment.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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