Honoring Tim Friedman

HONORING TIM FRIEDMAN

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, the subject of my Special Order is Tim Friedman, who as many of you know is the assistant manager of the House Democratic Cloakroom.

I don't know where to begin. I don't know what I am going to do without Tim being here. I think this is his last week and he is retiring after so many years in the Cloakroom. But just to give you an idea of some of the things that I don't know who is going to do these things for me anymore: usually I bring my cell phone on the floor. And he has to remind me that I am not allowed to have a cell phone on the floor, so I have to put it in the back and leave it there. And I tell him he doesn't have to answer it, but he usually answers it.

A lot of times late at night when we are doing Special Orders, those of you who know that basically the food area in the back is closed, so I have to ask him to open up the refrigerator and I leave a dollar in the refrigerator and he gets me a Coke.

My beeper breaks down on a regular basis, and I have to leave it for Tim to fix. Half the time it is not even broken, but he doesn't want to tell me that I don't realize it is not broken so he just says, Oh, yeah, I fixed it, even though it probably wasn't broken from the beginning.

Let me see what else. I have made a list here. When we doze off in the Cloakroom, that is big. Many of us, as you know, are here late at night or even during the day. If we are tired, we lie down on the couch, and he has to come around and gently nudge us to make sure that we don't miss a vote. I don't know, the list goes on and on. I don't even know where to begin.

Oh, my yellow pads. I always carry yellow pads and I use my blue marker to cross things out. And a lot of times I leave them on the seat, and then I will go back to my office and Tim will call me up and say, Oh, Frank, you left your yellow pad. Come on down here and get it. He is going to save it for me. So the list goes on.

The other thing is we have this triumvirate, or three people, who are the managers here that, as far as I know, they have been here for as long as I can remember, and that is Tim, Bob, and Barry. And I cannot imagine what it is going to be like when we are missing one of them. So it is not only Tim, but it is the fact that this triumvirate is going to be gone or is going to be broken up, and I can't imagine who is going to replace Tim because I always think of them as the three people that I can always rely on. But the list goes on.

Have you ever noticed that Tim brings that green book, he brought it down here today, that green book which we have to sign in, I guess, for Special Orders. It goes back I don't know how many years. I mean, that thing probably belongs in the Smithsonian Institution. It goes back 30, 40 years. Who keeps it, who gets that green book once you leave? I guess it will have to be either Barry or Bob. Then the list goes on.

Let me say, Tim has an incredible sense of humor. Not only the Clerks and the people that work behind us, but he as well as the other managers have to stay late at night when we do Special Orders. And I think you know that the Democrats are determined to fill every last hour of Special Orders, and so he or Bob or Barry has to stay here very late, usually until midnight because that is when they are cut off. And I always come in and kid him and say, Are you working tonight? And I tell him, Well, maybe I won't do the Special Order. And he says, Oh, no, you can do it, you can do it. He doesn't really mean it. He hopes I go home, but he tolerates us anyway. And he has a tremendous sense of humor and makes us laugh, which is so important, particularly with all the problems that you have around this place. Having somebody with a great sense of humor is really important, needless to say.

My staff think that Tim is more important than them. I mean, that is what they will constantly tell me, because I call here all the time, not only every day, not only every hour, but sometimes every five minutes to see what is going on, and he never says, Why are you calling? He is never grumpy. He is always like, Mr. Pallone, you called. And he gives me an update on what is going on, and he never makes me feel like I shouldn't call again, even though I probably shouldn't.

So I could go on forever, Tim, but I just want to thank you for all you have done not only on behalf of myself and not only on behalf of the Democratic Members, but on behalf of all Members. I know others told me that they want to enter statements in the RECORD, so that is why I asked unanimous consent that the RECORD be kept open. You certainly deserve your retirement. I can't believe you are retiring. You don't look old enough to retire, but I know you are going to enjoy your retirement.

Let me say a little bit of his history, if I could. He is a native of Lackawanna, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. He arrived in Washington in 1976 and started his career in the House in July 1976 under the patronage of Congressman Dan Rostenkowski. He worked as a doorkeeper under the Honorable James T. Molloy from 1976 to 1982. In 1982, he transferred to the Office of the House Sergeant at Arms and worked as an assistant to Jack Russ, and Tim was appointed as assistant manager of the House Democratic Cloakroom in 1985, before I got here, by then Speaker Tip O'Neill, Speaker of the House.

Tim married, he actually got married a few years ago to Colleen Early in 2003, probably one of the reasons he wants to retire, so he could spend more time with his wife. And they are avid golfers. They are building a home in Wallace, North Carolina. I know he can't wait to enjoy his retirement, but we will sorely miss you and I personally will, for sure.

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