House to honor Boehner’s chief of staff

Paula Nowakowski, House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) top
aide, who died suddenly over the weekend, will be honored on the House
floor this week, leadership aides said.

The 46-year-old chief of staff was found dead in her Alexandria, Va., home on Sunday, sources confirm.

{mosads}President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush called the Ohio Republican after learning of Nowakowski’s death, due to an apparent heart attack, according to Boehner’s spokesman Michael Steel.

Details on Wednesday’s likely memorial were still being worked out as of late Monday, according to the Speaker’s office. But Boehner, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) are likely to pay tribute to her.

Congressional leaders from both parties issued statements praising Nowakowski, affectionately known as Boehner’s right hand, in part for her fierce loyalty to the lawmaker as well as to the conservative cause.

For his part, Boehner said “we will remember Paula as she would want to be remembered — as a tireless worker, faithful friend, rabid Detroit sports fan, whip-smart strategist, warrior for freedom and devoted Catholic who counted President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II among her greatest heroes.”

Nowakowski spent more than a decade at the helm of Boehner’s various leadership offices, serving as staff director of the Education and Workforce Committee when he was chairman and then as chief of staff when he became GOP leader in 2006.

Nowakowski, a St. Cloud, Mich., native, is survived by her longtime companion, Michael Smith, as well as by her mother, brother and sister.