Political Quotes

“I come to the floor today to recognize Kaitlin Gaffney, a longtime member of my Senate team who, after nearly 11 years, is leaving to start a new chapter in her life. Kaitlin has been a key part of Team Merkley since our earliest days. In fact, she was part of the original team that built our office and our constituent services operation from scratch. I don't know how many folks here have been part of opening a Senate office, but it is not easy. It is daunting. You walk into a completely empty office. There are no computers, no phones, not even the basics in terms of pens and paper, and you know you have responsibilities, and you need to start fulfilling them. In the early days, we didn't have a computer system to track our constituents' thoughts or opinions, so Kaitlin and the team wrote everything down on paper before moving to spreadsheets. There was no training on how to serve constituents, but from day one, that is exactly what we were determined to do and she was determined to do. So you have to hit the ground running, learning as you go, and Kaitlin did hit the ground running like an Olympic Gold Medalist. She built our constituent services operation from the ground up, and I am proud to say that today, 11 years later, it is an operation that is second to none and one that Oregonians across our State know they can rely on for help.…”