[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 120 (Friday, September 11, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10245-S10247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
______
KIRK O'DONNELL
Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, Kirk O'Donnell, succinctly
described by Albert R. Hunt in the Wall Street Journal as ``one of the
ablest and most honorable people in American politics,'' died suddenly,
much too young, this past Saturday.
He epitomized the honor and dignity to which all of us engaged in the
political life of our Nation should aspire. He served for more than 7
years as chief counsel to then-Speaker Thomas P. ``Tip'' O'Neill, Jr.
He has been active in politics even since, as indeed he was in the
years before Washington too.
I knew Kirk from my earliest days in the Senate. He and his lovely
wife Kathy have dined with Liz and me at our home. His cousin, Lawrence
O'Donnell, served in my office for many years as chief of staff and as
the staff director of the Finance Committee when I became Chairman in
1993. Our thoughts certainly are with Kathy, her children, and the
O'Donnell family as they cope with this sudden, terrible news.
To begin, one must know that Kirk was a fellow Irishman and the great
and indispensable achievement of the Irish is that they made it
American to be ethnic. On the contribution of the Irish I have written:
What did the Irish do? First, they stayed in the cities,
remaining highly visible. Next, they kept to their faith.
Thus the Roman Catholic Church became a major American
institution. Then they went into politics.
[[Page S10246]]
Kirk O'Donnell, embodied all of these noble traits. He began his
political career in 1970, working on Kevin H. White's campaign for
governor of Massachusetts. That bid failed, but when Mr. White later
became mayor of Boston, he hired Kirk to run the Fields Corner Little
City Hall, in essence, a field station of the city hall. In the words
of Speaker O'Neill, ``All politics is local'' and this grassroots view
of Massachusetts, coupled with Kirk's astute political sense, made him
an ideal choice when the Speaker needed a new counsel here in
Washington.
It is then that I first came to know Kirk O'Donnell. He was an Irish-
American who saw early on the danger of the financial support which
some others were providing the IRA. In 1977, Tip O'Neill, Hug Carey,
Edward M. Kennedy, and I joined together at Kirk O'Donnell's initiative
to oppose such activities. We issued a joint appeal on St. Patrick's
Day, 1977, which stated:
We appeal to all those organization engaged in violence to
renounce their campaigns of death and destruction and return
to the path of life and peace. And we appeal as well to our
fellow Americans to embrace this goal of peace, and to
renounce any action that promotes the current violence or
provides support or encouragement for organizations engaged
in violence.
Now, finally, one of the oldest conflicts in Europe has the potential
of healing and being resolved. A courageous agreement has been reached
in Northern Ireland and is being implemented. The United States played
a role in reaching this agreement. And the seeds for American support
of a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Northern Ireland were sown
in the late 1970's, when principled people such as Kirk O'Donnell stood
up to say that violence was not the answer to this problem.
Mr. President it is with great sorrow that I have risen today to
thank Kirk O'Donnell for his lifetime of public service and again to
offer my sincere condolences to his family.
At this point, I ask to have printed in the Record the obituaries
from the New York Times and the Boston Globe, as well as a tribute to
Kirk O'Donnell by Albert R. Hunt, which appeared in The Wall Street
Journal.
The material follows:
[From The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 10, 1998]
The Loss of a Talented, Decent and Honorable Man
(By Albert R. Hunt)
Kirk O'Donnell, one of the ablest and most honorable people
in American politics, died suddenly last weekend at the
altogether too young age of 52. Even in grieving, it's
somehow hard not to think how different the Clinton
presidency might have been if Kirk O'Donnell had been a top
White House adviser starting in 1993.
He combined the best virtues of the old and the new
politics. Raised in the rough-and-tumble environs of Boston
tribal warfare, he never saw politics as anything but a
contact sport. But he always practiced it with decency and
civility.
He was a great student of political history, which better
enabled him to appreciate contemporary changes. There was a
pragmatism to Kirk O'Donnell that never conflicted with his
commitment and total integrity.
Success never changed him. He founded the influential
Center for National Policy (his successor as its chair was
Madeleine Albright) and then became a partner in the high-
powered law firm of Vernon Jordan and Bob Strauss. But his
values and devotion to family, friends and country were
remarkably constant.
``He was a big oak tree of a friend,'' notes Stanley Brand,
a Washington lawyer, of the former Brown University football
star, a description which Mr. O'Donnell used to joke, was an
``oxymoron.''
He cut his political teeth working for Mayor Kevin White in
Boston in the mid-70s, running the neighborhood city halls,
developing an appreciation of the relationships between
common folks and government that would serve him well for the
next quarter century. Then there were more than seven years
as chief counsel to House Speaker Tip O'Neill.
There was an exceptional triumvirate of top aides to the
speaker: Leo Diehl, his longtime colleague who was the link
to the past and the gatekeeper who kept away the hangers-on;
Art Weiss, although only in his twenties, unrivaled as a
policy expert; and Kirk O'Donnell, in his early thirties, who
brought political, legal and foreign policy expertise to the
table, always with superb judgment.
Though it may seem strange in today's Congress, he
commanded real respect across the aisle. ``Kirk was really a
tough, bright opponent; he was a great strategist because he
didn't let his emotions cloud his judgment,'' recalls Billy
Pitts, who was Mr. O'Donnell's Republican counterpart working
with GOP House Leader Bob Michel. ``But he always was a
delight to be around and his word was gold.''
When the Democrats were down, routed by the Reagan
revolution in 1981, it was Kirk O'Donnell who put together a
strategy memorandum advising the party to lay off esoteric
issues and not to refight the tax issues but to focus on
social security and jobs. It was the blueprint for a big
Democratic comeback the next year. When then-Republican
Congressman Dick Cheney criticized the speaker for tough
partisanship, Mr. O'Donnell immediately turned it around by
citing a book that Rep. Cheney and his wife had written on
House leaders that praised the same qualities that he now was
criticizing.
Few operated as well at that intersection of substance and
politics, or understood both as well. He played a major role
in orchestrating a powerful contingent of Irish-American
politicians, including the speaker, to oppose pro-Irish
groups espousing violence. ``Kirk put the whole Irish thing
together,'' the speaker said.
He was staunchly liberal on the responsibility of
government to care for those in need of equal rights. But he
cringed when Democrats veered off onto fringe issues, and
never forgot the lessons learned running neighborhood city
halls in his 20s. Family values to Kirk O'Donnell wasn't a
political buzzword or cliche, but a reality of life; there
never has been a more loving family than Kirk and Kathy
O'Donnell and their kids, Holly and Brendan.
The Clinton administration made job overtures to Kirk
O'Donnell several times but they were never commensurate with
his talents. He should have been either Chief of Staff or
legal counsel from the very start of this administration. He
would have brought experience, expertise, maturity, judgment,
toughness--intimate knowledge of the way Washington works--
that nobody else in that White House possessed.
But sadly, that's not what this president sought. For Kirk
O'Donnell wouldn't have tolerated dissembling. He never was
unfaithful to those he worked for but ``spinning''--as in
situational truths--was foreign to him. When working for the
speaker or Michael Dukakis in 1988, he would dodge, bob,
sometimes talk gibberish but never, in hundreds of interviews
with me, did he ever dissemble.
The contrast between this and someone like Dick Morris, who
Mr. Clinton continuously turned to, is striking. This was
brought home anew when Mr. Morris, the former top Clinton
aide, wrote a letter seeming to take issue with a column I
wrote a few weeks ago.
For starters, he erroneously denied that he suggested
Hillary Clinton is a lesbian. More substantially, Mr. Morris
says that Mr. Clinton called him when the Lewinsky story
broke and had him do a poll to gauge reaction. He did that
and told Mr. Clinton the public wouldn't accept the truth.
Although Mr. Morris turned over what he says is that poll to
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, some of us question
whether the survey was genuine.
The infamous political consultant swears he sampled 500
people, asked 25 to 30 questions and did it all out of own
pocket for $2,000. If true, it was a slipshod survey upon
which the president reportedly decided to stake his word.
(Only days later, Mr. Clinton swore at a private White House
meeting that he hadn't spoken to Mr. Morris in ages.)
There was no more an astute analyst of polls than Kirk
O'Donnell. He would pepper political conversations with
survey data. But because he understood history and had such
personal honor he always understood a poll was a snapshot,
often valuable. But it never could be a substitute for
principle or morality or integrity.
Those were currencies of his professional and personal
life. These no longer are commonplace commodities in
politics, which is one of many reasons that the passing of
this very good man is such a loss.
____
[From the New York Times, Sept. 7, 1998]
Kirk O'Donnell, 52, Lobbyist And an Aide to a House Speaker
(By Irvin Molotsky)
Washington, Sept. 6.--Kirk O'Donnell, a lawyer and lobbyist
for a leading Washington law firm and the former chief aide
to former Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., died on Saturday
near his weekend home in Scituate, Mass. He was 52 and lived
in Washington.
A family friend, Robert E. Holland, said that Mr.
O'Donnell, who did not have a history of health problems,
collapsed after jogging. Mr. O'Donnell was pronounced dead at
South Shore Hospital.
The White House issued a statement tonight in which
President Clinton said: ``Kirk O'Donnell was a gentleman and
a patriot who brought wit, common sense and a genuine
humanity to his public and private life. He was a very good
man and has left us much too soon.''
Mr. Holland, a boyhood friend of Mr. O'Donnell's and for a
time his law partner in Boston, said that in his role as
chief counsel to Mr. O'Neill, Mr. O'Donnell always acted
behind the scenes in the Speaker's behalf, except on one
issue, the running of guns to elements of the Irish
Republican Army.
At the time, Irish-Americans were divided on the question
of providing guns and many politicians supported groups that
were shipping the weapons. The group that Mr. O'Donnell
helped form to oppose the weapon shipments included Democrats
like Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, Senator
Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Mr. O'Neill and Hugh L.
Carey, then the Governor of New York.
[[Page S10247]]
Mr. O'Donnell was born in Boston and graduated from the
Boston Latin School, Brown University and Suffolk Law School.
He taught history at a Somerset (Mass.) High School and then
took a job with Mayor Kevin H. White of Boston and ran Mr.
White's successful re-election campaign.
After leaving the Speaker's office, Mr. O'Donnell was
president of the Center for National Policy, a Democratic
advisory group, and he was a leader in the unsuccessful
Democratic Presidential campaign of Michael S. Dukakis in
1988. He was a senior partner in the Washington law firm of
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.
Mr. O'Donnell is survived by his wife of 26 years, Kathryn;
his daughter, Holly, and his son, Brendan, all of Washington.
____
[From the Boston Globe, Sept. 7, 1998]
Kirk O'Donnell, 52; top adviser to national, Mass. Democrats
(By Beth Daley)
Kirk O'Donnell, 52, a prominent Washington lawyer who once
worked with Boston's most colorful politicians, died Saturday
after collapsing while jogging near his Scituate summer home.
Known for his morality as much as his dedication to the
Democratic cause, Mr. O'Donnell entered the political world
after a brief stint as a history teacher to work on former
mayor Kevin H. White's failed 1970 gubernatorial bid.
He went on to serve as general counsel to US House Speaker
Thomas P. ``Tip'' O'Neill Jr., for eight years and quickly
gained the reputation in Washington as a skilled strategist
and a straight-talker.
Although he held key Democratic positions that included
White House adviser and former president of the Center for
National Policy, Mr. O'Donnell relished quiet time with his
family at their summer home in Scituate at least as much as
being near the center of power in the nation's capital.
``He was politics at its best,'' said US Representative
Barney Frank, who first worked with Mr. O'Donnell during
White's gubernatorial bid. ``Talented and principled, he
really worked to make the world better and fairer.''
Most well-known for his advice, Mr. O'Donnell was a highly
sought-after adviser to the Democratic party and served in
that role for former Massachusetts governor Michael S.
Dukakis's failed presidential campaign in 1988.
President Clinton said yesterday Mr. O'Donnell ``was a
gentleman and patriot who brought wit, common sense, and a
genuine humanity to his public work and private life. He was
a very good man and left us much too soon.''
The son of a Dorchester investment adviser and a homemaker,
Mr. O'Donnell attended Boston Latin School and graduated in
1964 with a passion for history and football. At Boston
Latin, he remains in the Sports Hall of Fame for his football
exploits.
After graduating from Brown University, where he also
played football, he was a history teacher at Somerset High
School.
With the 1970 governor's race sparking a lifelong interest
in politics and law, Mr. O'Donnell taught while he attended
Suffolk Law School, graduating in 1975. When then-mayor White
pledged to bring City Hall to the neighborhoods--literally--
Mr. O'Donnell was hired to run the Fields Corner Little City
Hall and worked from a trailer parked beside Town Field.
There he helped residents navigate the downtown City Hall
bureaucracy while studying politics and human nature at close
quarters.
Years later, while serving as one of the top strategists
for the Democratic leadership of the US House, he said, ``If
you can understand Fields Corner, you can understand
Congress.''
In 1975, he set up one of the first computerized voting
lists for the White campaign. On the day of the election, in
a Boylston Street office building, he checked every polling
place in the 22 wards to see how light or heavy the turnout
was in pro-White precincts. The White political organization
had Chicago-sized ambitions, and Mr. O'Donnell harnessed its
resources to provide telephone reminders and transportation
to the mayor's supporters.
Mr. O'Donnell's encyclopedic knowledge of Boston politics
brought him to the attention of Speaker O'Neill after White
was re-elected to a third term.
Since the mayor had been considered vulnerable, his
relatively easy victory prompted a call from O'Neill, who was
seeking a new counsel to succeed Charles D. Ferris, the
Dorchester native who had just been named by President Carter
to head the Federal Communications Commission. The man who
popularized the phrase ``All politics is local'' wanted
someone at his side who knew the similarity between Fields
Corner and Congress.
At first, Mr. O'Donnell was reluctant. He had left City
Hall to start a law practice with his friend, Robert Holland.
But the fabled O'Neill charm suggested to him brighter vistas
in Washington than in Boston.
After the election of President Reagan in 1980, Tip O'Neill
became the best-known Democrat in the nation. Mr. O'Donnell's
aim was to prepare the House speaker strategically and
tactically for dealing with the White House. The president's
popularity made difficult the chore of holding House
Democrats together.
Mr. O'Donnell, a gregarious man with a booming voice, spoke
in a straightforward manner to House members, with the same
determination as he did while dealing with the foot soldiers
of the Kevin White organization.
After O'Neill retied, Mr. O'Donnell worked as head of a
Washington think tank, the Center for National Policy, aimed
at reviving the Democratic party. In conferences and
seminars, he sought to focus the intellectual energy of a
party that had consistently lost presidential elections while
continuing its domination of Congress.
After he left the center, he was succeeded as director by
Madeleine Albright, now secretary of state. An old Washington
hand and a former chairman of the Democratic National
Committee, Robert S. Strauss, recruited Mr. O'Donnell to his
Washington law firm, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. As a
senior partner, Mr. O'Donnell represented a variety of
clients, from Liberty Mutual to the government of Puerto
Rico.
One lasting friendship that came from his legal work was
with a partner of Salomon Brothers, now Salomon Smith Barney.
After Robert Rubin, now secretary of the treasury, asked Mr.
O'Donnell for political advice in Washington, a close
friendship developed. He also advised another Cabinet member,
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo.
Mr. O'Donnell leaves his wife of 26 years, Kathryn Holland
O'Donnell, and two children, Holly of Washington, D.C., and
Brendan of Scituate.
A funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Thursday in Holy
Name Church in West Roxbury.
____________________