House Journal: Page 1522: Friday, April 12, 2002
I’ve been incredibly blessed. I’ve spent 18 years in the legislature, 14 years in
leadership, which means that my members had some faith in me that I could,
hopefully, do the right thing. And it’s been an amazing run. Fourteen years in
leadership, ten years as one of the leaders of the House. When you get to be a leader,
you get to deal with the other leaders on the other side of the aisle. That’s what’s very
special.
I have three staff members and they all thought I should quote a rock song from
their favorite artist. Dan likes Billy Joel and there’s his song, "Running on Ice," that is
for Dick Myers, Dave Schrader, and Christopher. It says, "As fast as I can climb, a new
disaster every time I turn around. As soon as I get one fire put out, there’s another
building burning down." And that’s what leadership is about. There are a lot of fires
here and we do our very, very best. Dave Schrader, I’m glad you came back tonight. I
know you had to race. I thought you’d do a little better than eighth, but I’m sure you’ll
do better another night. I wish you nothing but the best. You were a good adversary.
You were a good friend, and a very fair person on the floor. The years that you served
your Democratic caucus, you did an excellent job. I’m glad you’re back here tonight.
Dick Myers, these last two years have been very fun. You are just a genuinely decent
human being who does what he thinks is best. I’ve enjoyed our relationship of trying to
do what’s best for Iowa and I wish you all the best. Christopher Rants. Obviously, you
develop a very close friendship and a very close working relationship with the people
like Christopher, and Ron Corbett before him. I’ve enjoyed playing the bad cop to
Chris’ good cop these last couple of years. I’ve tried to teach him to be a little less laid
back. We all know that Christopher has a bit of an edgy personality, but he’s done a
wonderful job. He’s done a better job of running this place than I did. Everybody has
different strengths, but Christopher, we all learn from each other. I learned some
things from him as it relates to his personality and how my personality can get better
in terms of running this place. I will value that friendship forever.
The lobbyists up in the gallery and the reporters in press row - we’re all friends. I
understand that the press will do what they have to do in their jobs. I feel like if I ran
into the lobbyists and the press again after we’re out of here, that we can be friends, we
can talk, we can enjoy each other’s company. They’re very special people. We have
some of the best lobbyists that provide information to us. We have some of the best
press that take very good care of us. They do their job but do it in a fair way. I thank
you for that.
As I’ve said, I have three people in my office. I inherited Dan Fogleman from Ron
Corbett. I spend most of my time trying to have Dan not get me thrown in jail for some
of the statements he writes and trying to calm him down, but he’s done a great job.
He’s done his work to make me look good as a leader and I appreciate that deeply.
Becky came into the office with us. Becky is a consummate professional, and you know
that. I always knew that people that went in my office were treated right. Becky’s job
is to try and make me only fifteen minutes late to the meetings with Rants. She has
had a tough job, but I thank her very much. Susan has been with me from the
beginning of my leadership career. I’m not going to say too much because I know she
won’t want me to, but she’s been with me from the beginning. I’ve endured her temper
tantrums and she has endured me being the way I am, totally unorganized. Susan’s
favorite artist is Bruce Springsteen. This is something that would apply to all three
people in my office from the song, Lucky Man. "I went to see the gypsy the other night.
She looked in my palm, looked me in the eye and said, you’re a lucky man." I’m a lucky
© 2002 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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