House Journal: Page 1519: Friday, April 12, 2002
Doors. "Keep your eyes on the road, and your hands upon the wheel." You do that, and
it’ll all turn out fine.
Ladies and Gentlemen, as you look around this room, it’s obvious that this place
takes its toll. It takes its toll on our health, both mental and physical. It takes a toll on
our marriages and families. It takes a toll on our business and professional lives. It’s
time to repair that wear and tear. It's time to return home. Thank you all, it’s been an
honor to serve with each and every one of you.
REMARKS BY SPEAKER SIEGRIST
Speaker Siegrist offered the following remarks:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the House: I chose to speak from here (the Majority
Leader’s desk) instead of the Speaker’s chair, which I obviously could have done. First
off, I’m not sure if I’ll get through this. When you have "Darth" Millage breaking down
and stoic Carroll, I’m a little worried about myself. But I chose to speak from here,
even though I’ve been deeply honored being Speaker of this House, because this is
where I’ve gotten my fondest memories of the Iowa House - the years as Majority
Leader and also the years as just a regular member of the House, running around,
finding the good candy, of course, and being on the floor. I’ve been deeply honored to be
Speaker, but this is where I always felt best. The Speaker’s Well sits up there pretty
high, yet almost every day, Representative Drake would lumber down and stand in
front of me. I’d be sitting in my elevated chair, and I still had to look up to him. But, I
did want to come down here to the floor for my closing speech.
For the last ten years, I’ve been honored to give a final day speech as the Majority
Leader or Speaker and generally, you talk about the Session and the year and what’s
gone on. I’m only going to do that for about one minute and then I would just like to
say a few other things. You would think that after eighteen years of building up to
this, I would know what to say, but I’m not sure. I’ve just jotted down some notes.
I always quote things, so it’s Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best
of times and it was the worst of times." That would sum up this year. It was the best
of times - we did good things: venture capital, the livestock bill, we did invest in
education. And it was the worst of times because we didn’t do all that we wanted to do.
We couldn’t do the things that we wanted to do, so it was both the best and worst of
times. For you pseudo-intellectuals out there, I hope you enjoyed that quote. I’d
prefer to refer to the Eagles’ Hotel California the way I felt about this session, "You can
check in any time you want, but you can never leave." That is what the session has felt
like more often than not.
We have done our work here. I hope the Governor signs the bill. I think we’ve done
some good work. We can always do better, but I think this Assembly has done, as it
always has, a lot of good work.
Over the last few days, we’ve had a lot of speeches. I’m sure a lot of you do this - as
you sit here, when people get up and talk about the memories, you tear up because
everything’s from the heart. It’s been fun to remember some things. Dave Schrader
mentioned the night the lights went out. I had forgotten about that. The reminiscing
is really, really important but when you try to do it yourself, and I’m sure the retirees
© 2002 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
Comments about this site or page?
hjourn@legis.iowa.gov.
Please remember that the person listed above does not vote on bills. Direct all comments concerning legislation to State Legislators.
Last update: Tue Apr 23 11:50:00 CDT 2002
URL: /DOCS/GA/79GA/Session.2/HJournal/01500/01519.html
jhf