Both sides of the aisle offer last respects to Boehner’s chief of staff

Paula Nowakowski’s friends and loved ones said a final farewell on Friday to the longtime Capitol Hill aide respected by those on both sides of the aisle for her professionalism, grace and firm but gentle hand.

Scores of colleagues attended the funeral service held for the 46-year-old chief of staff to Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). Nowakowski’s sudden death from an apparent hearth attack stunned the tight-knit congressional community.

{mosads}Nowakowski is survived by her mother Teo, brother, Gary and longtime companion Michael Smith. 

Eulogists included former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who worked with Paula on forming the Contract with America, Jade West, a longtime Senate aide with whom Nowakowski formed a tight bond, and Barry Jackson, former Boehner chief of staff from the late 1990s, who hired Nowakowski to work in Boehnerland.

Boehner staff donned Detroit Red Wings lapel pins in honor of their beloved director, who was an avid fan of her native Michigan’s championship hockey team, former Stanley Cup winners.

Among the packed crowd were several high-ranking Democratic operatives including White House legislative liaison Phil Schiliro, Dan Turton, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) chief of staff John Lawrence and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) chief of staff Terry Lierman.

Though not listed as an official eulogist, Boehner rose to thank those gathered to remember his longtime aide.

An emotional Boehner promised to keep up the fight that Nowakowski, his longtime aide of more than 15 years, engaged in on a daily basis: to win back control of the House of Representatives.

“We’re going to do our jobs because if we didn’t she’d kick our butts from one end of the Capitol to the next,” the leader said, his frank comment evoking a commiserative chuckle from Paula’s former conservative compatriots who experienced her passionate determination for the GOP to retake control of Congress.

Nowakowski played a key role in the 1994 Republican Revolution by helping to draft that movement’s signature “Contract with America.”

Gingrich, “the father of the revolution,” having become a Paula fan back in those heady days, told the congregation of mourners that what made her so special was her belief “that self-government was worth 100 percent of your passion.”

And more than anything, Gingrich explained, Paula never forgot where she came from. She never forgot the profound effect that mentors had on her own career growth and so she made a point of reaching out to and sharing her knowledge with fresh faces as well.

“She never forgot that that’s where she was, that’s where she came from. So, if each of you would find one young person and mentor them, then she’s still alive,” Gingrich said.

As Leader Boehner said in a moving tribute on the House floor on Wednesday, Paula “made a positive difference in thousands of lives around the Hill and around this town.”
 
And her ability to touch people was demonstrated on the social media tool Facebook this week.

Nearly 800 people had become “fans” of a Facebook group, “In Remembrance of our Friend Paula Nowakowski,” created less than one week ago.

Many of the group members include former and current Hill staff of both parties, as well as friends and family from her native St. Clair, Mich. The group page offers a place for Nowakowski friends and colleagues to leave comments on Paula’s life and legacy, as well as to share pictures and videos.

One of the video clips posted on the site is the 15-minute tribute from the House floor where the top-ranking House Republican and Democratic leaders honored her memory earlier in the week.

According to aides familiar with the situation, Democratic leaders engaged in a mammoth meeting at the White House that same day made a point of breaking the meeting in order to return to the lower chamber to honor Paula’s memory.

Nowakowski’s mom, brother and companion, as well as other members of the immediate family, sat in the “Executive Gallery” box to watch the top four House Democratic and GOP leaders remember Paula.

Pelosi directed her remarks to Nowakowski’s family seated above the GOP side of the chamber.

“This is a very special person, a devoted conservative as the leader has said. She loved Ronald Reagan and John Paul II. She had a strong perspective, was very innovative in her orientation in terms of solutions and had a beautiful, beautiful smile. … She left us, but she has made her mark. She is a person we will never forget because of her leadership skills and because of her friendship,” the Speaker said. Following the tribute she went up to give her condolences in person to Nowakowski’s family.

Pelosi’s gracious tribute to Nowakowski was much appreciated by the close-knit team in Boehnerland.

As much of a partisan as Nowakowski was, she was also a fierce institutionalist and could see beyond partisan politics in her role as the director of then-Education and Labor Chairman and current Minority Leader Boehner’s respective staffs.

It was in that role that she earned the respect of veteran liberal Democratic lawmaker Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (Calif.), who requested to preside over the chamber during the tribute to Paula.

According to aides, it was the first time in almost 20 years that Miller presided over the chamber — a testament to his respect for Paula.

In 2001, Miller, then-ranking member of the Education and Workforce Committee, and his then-staff director John Lawrence spent countless hours with then-Chairman Boehner and Paula as they wrote the bipartisan education bill “No Child Left Behind.”

“What people don’t understand about the Hill is that the House, in particular, is an intensely personal place. It operates on intensely personal relationships, even among people who strongly disagree with each other (politically), and it has to be, that’s the nature of the institution, and that was embodied in this relationship,” Lawrence explained, noting that working with Nowakowski on the committee made it easier to do so when they then took on similar roles in the party leadership offices.

And when Miller ordered the moment of silence to commence in the nearly full House chamber that day, the silence was deafening.

Friends and colleagues reflecting on the tributes paid to Nowakowski thought that Boehner, who considered Paula a trusted aide and dear friend, said it best when he spoke to Paula’s mom, seated up in the gallery that Wedensday.

“Thank you for the shining light that was your daughter. Of her 46 years, that light shined brightly and touched countless lives, and she will never be replaced in this institution, nor will she be forgotten.”

Nowakowski was buried at Columbia Cemetery in Arlington, Va.