[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 112 (Monday, August 31, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9676-S9677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO KENT HALL

  Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, just before Congress left for the 
August recess, we suffered a staggering loss in our ``Capitol Hill 
family''--the deaths of Detective John Gibson and Officer J.J. 
Chestnut.
  Today, as we returned to our work here, we learned that we have 
suffered another loss in our family.
  This past Saturday morning, Kent Hall died in his sleep. Kent was 
chief of staff for my colleague and friend, Senator Kent Conrad of 
North Dakota.
  Outside of Congress, his beloved family, and his many friends, it's 
likely that few Americans ever heard Kent's name. But millions of 
Americans benefited from his years of hard and conscientious work in 
this body.
  Kent Hall was a rare man--a Renaissance man. He held a doctorate in 
economics and philosophy. He loved ideas. But he also loved the nitty-
gritty of politics, and policy.
  And he loved this institution, this Senate. He was honored to work 
here. And we were honored to have him.

[[Page S9677]]

  He first came to the Hill to work for Tom Harkin. He joined Senator 
Conrad's staff as agriculture advisor in 1987, the year Senator Conrad 
came to the Senate. He later went on to serve as Senator Conrad's 
legislative director and eventually as his chief of staff.
  One of Kent's great passions was the federal budget. He believed 
America's budget should be balanced not only economically, but morally 
as well.
  So he fought for budgets that would enable working families to share 
in these good economic times, budgets that would extend the benefits of 
this economy beyond Wall Street, to Main Street. He fought for budgets 
that would allow working parents to take their children to a doctor 
when they're sick, budgets that would enable parents to find good, 
affordable day care, budgets that would allow parents to send their 
children to good schools--and after that, to send them on to college.
  Kent had a special place in his heart for people who live close to 
the land--farmers and ranchers and the people who grow up in the small 
towns of rural America.
  He grew up in one of those towns: a little farm town in Iowa--
population about 600. And though he left that town long ago, he still 
kept it close to his heart.
  Farmers and people in farm towns all over America have lost a good 
friend, and an extraordinary advocate. We are grateful for Kent's 
diligent work on: disaster relief and farm-crisis relief.
  And we extend our deepest sympathy to Kent's wife, Michelle, who 
works for Senator Harkin and to their two small children, 4-year-old 
Caitlin--``Caiti''--and 2-year-old Austin, both of whom he loved even 
more than he loved this place.
  We also offer our condolences to Kent's father, Ken, and his mother, 
Evelyn; his brothers, Mel and Michael; his sister Cheri; and his many 
nieces and nephews. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, and with 
all the members of the Conrad and Harkin staffs, who are feeling this 
loss more deeply than probably any member of the ``Capitol family.''
  Like Detective Gibson and Officer Chestnut, Kent Hall died too young. 
He was only 52 years old. But his legacy will live on--in his two 
little children and in the ideals he believed in so passionately, and 
fought for so hard, and helped transform into law.
  We will miss him.

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