15,000 and still counting: the tireless Texan.

• Author: Gordon, Dianna
• Position: Attendance and voting records of Senator Judith Zaffirini

And you think you work hard ... a senator in Texas hasn't missed a day or a vote in 10 years.

Texas legislative staff was convinced: No one would consistently arrive at work at 4 o'clock each morning of the session. But, then again, no other legislator had marked up perfect attendance in the House or Senate since 1987. They had not figured on the dedication and work ethic of Senator Judith Zaffirini.

"We were in a filibuster one night," recalls Betty King, secretary of the Senate, "and we thought, We'll catch her. No one could get here every morning at 4 o'clock.'" As staffers watched, however, Zaffirini's car pulled into the lot, but not at 4. It was a little after 3 a.m., King remembers.

The senator, who gets up at 2:45 each morning of the legislative session to make it to the office by 4, calls the early morning hours her "quiet time," the time she spends reading staff summaries of every bill that will appear on the Senate floor that day, the time she prepares herself to vote.

15,000 VOTES

Zaffirini, president pro tempore of the Texas Senate, cast her 15,000th consecutive vote Feb. 27, maintaining the 100 percent voting and attendance records held since her swearing-in on Jan. 13, 1987 - five regular, 140-day sessions of the Legislature and 11 special sessions.

In honor of the occasion, Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock presented her with the Senate gavel used to announce her milestone vote. It was her second gavel. In 1993, he gave her the gavel used for her 10,000th consecutive vote.

Back in 1987; her first session, she had no idea that she was setting a record. "Actually, the first session I had no idea they developed such records. But after the session ended, I got a letter from Betty King showing my 100 percent attendance and 100 percent voting record." That was the first time any senator received those kinds of "marks."

GETTING ORGANIZED

Zaffirini says that habits of punctuality and attendance developed during her formative years in a Catholic school. Those habits were further ingrained when she married a law student at 18.

"It's a matter of self-discipline, getting organized and setting priorities," she explains. "I learned that when I was going to school full-time, working part-time jobs and being married. You learn to prioritize, focus and concentrate." Indeed, that discipline served her well in earning her bachelor's and master's degrees and a doctorate in communications after she was married.

It was as a Senate staffer in the...