[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 4, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S9847]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RETIREMENT OF DELAWARE STATE SENATOR RICHARD S. CORDREY

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, there are moments in the history of every 
legislative body when the members, and the public, are forcefully 
reminded that the achievements of the body as a whole have depended 
significantly upon the skills and the leadership of a single 
individual. One of those moments has arrived for the Delaware State 
Senate with the decision of State Senator Richard S. Cordrey not to 
seek reelection in 1996, after 30 years of public service.
  That his colleagues have long recognized his outstanding personal 
qualities is made clear by the fact that for 24 of those 30 years, 
Senator Cordrey has served as president pro tempore of the Delaware 
Senate--an exceptional tenure in that office that is unrivaled in 
Delaware's history or among his counterparts in other States. As no one 
knows better than those of us who serve in the U.S. Senate, such 
extended recognition of legislative leadership is a certain sign of a 
rare and enduring trust, and Senator Cordrey's legislative record 
demonstrates why he has been for so long accorded that trust--fully 80 
percent of the bills he has introduced in the Delaware Senate have been 
passed by both houses of the Delaware General Assembly and signed into 
law by one of the five Delaware Governors who have held office since 
Senator Cordrey first entered the Delaware Senate. I doubt that any of 
us here, or any of our predecessors in this Senate could claim 
equivalent legislative success.
  A major legacy of that success is Delaware's Rainy Day Fund that sets 
aside 2 percent of the state's revenues in a fund that can be called 
upon in the event of a devastating economic recession. Delaware's 
thriving economy and its solid reputation on Wall Street can be largely 
attributed to that Cordrey-led initiative in fiscal responsibility. He 
demonstrated similar economic insight and leadership in shepherding 
through the general assembly in the 1980's Delaware's landmark 
Financial Center Development Act and related legislation which has 
expanded Delaware's thriving financial-services sector and given the 
State's economy a major boost.
  But the hallmark of Richard Cordrey's leadership of the Delaware 
State Senate has been his character and personality--an honest and 
affable man with a set of well-defined personal values and an adamant 
integrity who could nevertheless create bipartisan consensus out of 
legislative chaos. A Republican colleague, State Senator Myrna Bair, 
has said of Cordrey, a Democrat, ``He had a way of promoting what he 
believed while allowing others to vote their way with no hard 
feelings;'' and a Democratic colleague, State Senator Thurman Adams, 
has said, ``He always spoke what he thought was the truth. He took time 
with people, and they developed tremendous trust in him. His word was 
his bond.''
  Mr. President, no legislature would willingly say good-by to a leader 
who consistently demonstrated such qualities over a quarter-century, 
and the Delaware State Senate will miss the steady hand of Richard 
Cordrey at the helm, as will the people of Delaware--but he has chosen 
to retire from office with the same firmness that characterized him in 
office and, knowing Delaware will benefit far into the future from the 
body of law and the style of leadership he has created, we Delawareans 
all wish him well as he returns to private life.

                          ____________________