Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 31, 1994 TAG: 9403310088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Outside of Congress, Natcher was best known for his streak of 18,401 uninterrupted roll-call votes in the House, a feat that ended on March 3 when failing health forced him to miss a vote, on a minor procedural matter, for the first time Natcher since he took office in 1954.
But on Capitol Hill, Natcher was an icon, a lawmaker who educated himself on the issues rather than rely on his staff, who took no campaign contributions, who was visibly offended by hints of corruption, who honored legislative procedures and courtesies to their last jot.
He once said that he wanted his epitaph to read, "He tried to do it right."
Those qualities, and his seniority, landed Natcher the chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee in 1992, but only after Jamie Whitten of Mississippi surrendered the job.
The chairman, who effectively controls House action on much of the federal budget, is one of most powerful figures in Congress. House Democratic leaders had beseeched Natcher to take the job from Whitten months earlier, after Whitten suffered a stroke, but Natcher refused to overthrow his colleague.
That sense of fairness also led House colleagues to make him chairman of the body's internal gymnasium committee, where they could be assured that he would allot court time and other amenities without regard to politics or personal favors.
Natcher was said to take more pride in his voting record, his daily entries into a diary and the weekly essays on history that he sent to his seven grandchildren than in his eminence in the House.
In his district in central and western Kentucky, he generally campaigned by placing a few newspaper advertisements and driving from town to town in his own automobile.
And in contrast to many House members, who operate publicity machines of Wurlitzer proportions, Natcher issued one news release each year, summarizing his voting record.
In 1990, he spent $6,768 of his own money to rack up 66 percent of the vote against an opponent who had spent $144,315.
One Republican who tried to unseat him in the 1980s likened the race to running against God.
Natcher was born in 1909 in Bowling Green, a middle-sized town in Kentucky's rolling limestone cave country. He was awarded a law degree from Ohio State University in 1933. After Navy service in World War II and a string of private and public legal jobs, he won a special election to the House in August 1953.
Natcher's record of continuous votes, believed to be the longest in congressional history, became a burden to him in later life. He regularly urged newly elected members to miss a vote early in their careers to avoid his fate.
As his wife, Virginia, lay dying in Kentucky in 1991, Natcher shuttled almost continuously between her bedside and the House floor to avoid missing votes.
He was visibly weak in January, when the House returned to business after its winter recess. After he entered Bethesda Naval Hospital, the House suspended voting business on March 1 for one day - an unprecedented action - to allow him to keep his voting streak intact.
Memo: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.