![]() “But this is not a mean, vicious instrument.” Once released, the diary should make a fascinating legacy. “I put down every day like it happens,” he once said. Over the years Natcher maintained a diary, eventually running some 15,000 typed pages in more than 50 bound volumes. Congress had ordered the freeways, therefore they must proceed, no matter what other problems – environmental or otherwise – might arise.” “The most important reason that Natcher, over several years, stood up against the howls of protest of the Washington press and blocked the subway system singlehandedly was his reverence for Congress as an institution. But Pierce provided a straightforward explanation: Many speculated what ulterior motive Natcher might have had. ![]() In the early 1960s, Natcher, then chairman of the appropriations subcommittee which passes on the District of Columbia budget, delayed the start of the city’s long-sought subway system until the local freeway system was nearly complete. In his book “The Border South States” Neal P. ![]() Natcher was never one to cut legislative corners. They had been married 53 years when she died. But as he gained seniority he never forgeot his family and friends.ĭay after day in 1991, when his wife Virginia was sick, he would fly home to Kentucky to be with her at night and fly back to Washington the next morning to maintain his voting record. Natcher recognized early that the way to gain power was to win a seat on the House Appropriations Committee, of which he eventually became chairman. “I’m Bill Natcher up there in Washington trying to do a good job for you,” he would tell constituents. In 1990, he spent $6,768, compared with $144,315 for his Republican opponent, and still won two-thirds of the vote. In his last campaign, in 1992, Natcher spent $6,624, a ridiculously small amount by current standards. He maintained a small staff, drove himself to work and paid for his campaigns out of his own pocket. Years before his passing, the Almanac of American Politics heaped praise on Natcher, correctly observing: “He is one of a kind – one of the few who make the House work, a splendid old stickler for doing things the way they are supposed to be done.”Īs one who spent 11 years working for a Kentucky newspaper, I can attest to the fact that Natcher was a legend in his home state, although he never took advantage of his position. “In an age when many view politics cynically, he never ceased to honor the people who sent him to Washington by honoring the institution in which he served,” Foley said. Foley, D- Wash., was right to say that Natcher deserved to be remembered more for his legislative achievements than his voting streak. ![]() Sadly, the string ended at 18,401 consecutive votes when Natcher decided March 3 to remain at Bethesda Naval Hospital for treatment of heart disease. In a rare display of respect, the House had suspended proceedings a day earlier to enable Natcher to keep his record going. The last the public saw of Natcher was March 2, when he was wheeled into the House chamber on a stretcher in a brave attempt to maintain his record of never having missed a roll call vote in his 40-year career. ![]()
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