John Spratt: “I have served in the House for more than half of the 40 years that Charlie Johnson has served as Parliamentarian. As a…”

“I have served in the House for more than half of the 40 years that Charlie Johnson has served as Parliamentarian. As a matter of fact, I had just become a Member of the House with no more than 3 weeks of experience when I wandered onto the floor one day, having mistaken the bells and thought there was about to be a vote. Before I could get off the floor and go back about my business, Charlie beckoned me to the chair; and the next thing I knew I was wielding the gavel, presiding over the House, never having done that before in my life. I was never more thankful to have someone who knew what he was doing sitting behind me whispering instructions, and I have been thankful ever since that Charlie Johnson was in that position. For all those 22 years that I have known him, his chair behind the Speaker, his office across the hall have been sources of civility in a House that is often contentious, sometimes bitter and pugnacious and embattled. For all those years, the Parliamentarian has been an authority that everyone in this House, both sides of the aisle, have recognized and respected because his rulings and his advice and his good judgment have always been based on precedent and on sound thinking. His office made him powerful. Anyone who became the Parliamentarian of the House would be powerful inherently, but his knowledge, his ability and his manner made him authoritative.”