On the recordApril 21, 2021
I rise today, on behalf of Oregonians in every nook and cranny of our wonderful State, to thank my friend Chris Maier for more than three decades of stellar public service. Chris is retiring this month as a superhero who has been cutting through redtape and defeating bureaucracy for so many Oregonians who turned to her nights and weekends and all hours. She helped with emergency immigration and State Department needs, passports, visas, immigration questions, and so much more. As a casework manager and constituent services representative in my office for more than a decade, Chris brought an unfailing professionalism, determined follow-through, and ``Oregon Way'' focus on smart solutions when tackling all of those duties. Chris came to our Portland office in 2009, after a decade of working for my friend Senator Gordon Smith. Before that, she had worked a total of 11 years in the offices of Senator Mark Hatfield, Congressman Denny Smith, and State Representative Chuck Carpenter. If those names that I just mentioned were an answer on jeopardy, the question would be: Who are four prominent elected Republicans in Oregon history? The Senate heard that one right. Chris is retiring after a career of working for elected officials from both political parties. On one level, she worked for all of us as elected officials, but on a larger level, she worked for everybody in Oregon, regardless of their politics.…





