An O'Neill Again Runs the House, but This One Works Backstage

C atlin O'Neill can't quite remember her first time on the House floor, a little girl in the large comforting arms of her legendary "Pop-Pop." But it is not a stretch to say that today the doors of that grand chamber do not open without the grandchild of the late Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr.

After the Democrats took back control of the House in January, new Speaker Nancy Pelosi put O'Neill, 29, in charge of floor operations, a job that covers everything from regulating the temperature in the chamber to ensuring there is always a Democrat in the speaker's chair.

"My job goes to the operating of government," O'Neill said in an interview. "If I step back, I know it's crucial that everything gets done."

And then there is her unofficial and unsought role as keeper of the legacy.

When Pelosi was agonizing over whether she should move out of Tip O'Neill's old Capitol office into the more elegant digs available to her, it was the late speaker's granddaughter who gave her a green light.

"It was sentimental, and Catlin said: 'It's okay, move the office. The family wants you in the speaker's office,' " Pelosi recalled yesterday. "That was important for me."

O'Neill suspects that most lawmakers do not know her connection to the gregarious, larger-than-life Tip. Those old-timers who do, she says, always have a story to tell about one of the last unabashed liberals in politics.

O'Neill is the daughter of Christopher "Kip" O'Neill-- Tip's fourth child and a Washington lobbyist -- and his wife, Stephanie. Catlin joined Pelosi's staff in 2002, after the California Democrat was elected minority whip. A few years ago she was promoted to floor assistant, a coveted position in the Hill hierarchy because it puts an aide in close proximity to legislators. Sometimes O'Neill is called upon to advise a freshman how to make his or her first floor remarks.

She was born in 1977, the year Tip O'Neill was sworn in as speaker. Her grandfather, one of the most prominent liberal Democrats of modern times, reigned as speaker until he retired in 1987, making him the second-longest-serving speaker in U.S. history, after Sam Rayburn.

Catlin has only sketchy memories of that historic period. "I used to raid the supply cabinet," she confessed about her frequent visits to the Hill.

She does recall with much clarity, however, her grandfather eloquently reciting "Paul Revere's Ride" for her third-grade class, and then asking the students to identify the poem. None could. "Catlin, you must know this," he finally implored.

"I was humiliated," she said, laughing.