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“FAREWELL TO GIGI LOPATTO” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Senate section on pages S1813 on March 5, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
FAREWELL TO GIGI LOPATTO
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, one of our dear staffers is present who has given a great deal of effort to the Judiciary Committee, and I want to pay her my respects for a few moments.
Today is Jeanne Lopatto's last day working in the Senate. She has worked on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and for me in particular, for the last 18 years and is currently press secretary for the full Judiciary Committee. It is with mixed emotions that I rise to thank her for all the good work she has performed in the past. I give her my best wishes for her future.
Gigi is a Capitol Hill success story. She began her career with me as an entry-level assistant, and she has moved up to spearhead the Judiciary Committee press operation, which is a big job and a very important one. As a result of her hard work and dedication, Gigi has earned the respect, admiration, and trust of all of us who have worked with her. Thus, it is with a certain degree of both sadness and pride that I am bidding her farewell.
Gigi will be joining our dear friend and former colleague, Spencer Abraham, at the Department of Energy as his spokesperson. In other words, she is going to be speaking for a Cabinet-level official. I think that is a great thing. Our loss--mine in particular--will be unquestionably Secretary Abraham's gain. I know she will have her hands full over there, but she is up to the challenge. If I might be so bold, I want to say that I share the pride of Gigi's great success with her wonderful family.
Gigi will be greatly missed here in the Senate, and certainly by me. I think she is going to be missed by the reporters and the press officials who have relied on her on a daily basis. Senate staff on both sides of the aisle are going to miss her, her friends and colleagues on the committee and on my personal staff, and, of course, most of all, I am going to miss her. So let me just say that I am very grateful to Gigi for the service she has given to the Senate and to our country at large and for working with us on the Judiciary Committee, as an essential part of the committee, as somebody who always acted with integrity, decency, honesty, love, and affection for all of us on the committee, regardless how cantankerous that committee is from time to time. She has had a steady hand on the tiller during a lot of really acrimonious debate at times, and she has really done this job as well as it could have been done. We love her, and we are going to miss her. We also wish her well as she proceeds on to even greater and better things, as she views it and as I view it.
So, Gigi, we are going to miss you. We all love you and appreciate you and want you to be successful in your next job, which I know you will be.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Vermont is recognized.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I join the Senator from Utah. We will now know anytime the Democrats are told they are not doing their job it will be coming straight from the Senator from Utah.
Senator Abraham is very fortunate to have her there. Senator Abraham is a good friend to all of us here, and she has been a good friend to all of us here. He is fortunate. I will do my best to fill in and help the chairman on some of these issues, especially as I know we can finish this bill in 2, 2\1/2\ days, so long as the leadership does not interrupt us for anything else.
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