[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 125 (Thursday, September 23, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11371-S11373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO DAVID LEWIS WILLIAMS

 Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to offer a tribute 
to Kentucky State Senator David Williams,

[[Page S11372]]

as sincere congratulations for 15 years of service in the General 
Assembly and as encouragement for many more years of accomplishments 
and victories still to come.
  David is one of the sharpest politicians and smartest people I know. 
His long-time passion for politics and desire to serve Kentucky is 
evidenced in his hard work in the Kentucky Senate--and in his 
perseverance getting there. David's strong convictions about issues and 
principles important to Kentuckians have helped him become a prominent 
figure in the State legislature, but his climb to the top was not an 
easy one. David lost his first campaign for public office when he ran 
for county judge-executive, and has often faced tough opposition in the 
Senate. To his credit, David has remained committed to his constituents 
and to the values they elected him to represent.
  When he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives 15 years 
ago, David was a country lawyer from Burkesville, Kentucky. His sharp 
mind and peerless rhetorical skills were evident right from the start, 
and helped David eventually come to lead the now-Republican Majority in 
the Senate.
  As a fellow public servant, I know first-hand the kinds of 
commitments and sacrifices that have to be made in order to effectively 
serve a constituency. Clearly, David has demonstrated his willingness 
to take on that responsibility, and has been an example through his 
ability to handle the daily demands of being a Senate leader. 
Additionally, he is a great family man. David's wife Elaine has surely 
been a great support and encouragement to him, and deserves 
commendation for her tireless work in the field of education, as the 
instructional supervisor for Cumberland County Schools. David is also 
devoted to his parents, Lewis and Flossie Williams, of Cumberland 
County. David's father served as Cumberland County clerk for nine 
consecutive terms, and was a high school principal and basketball coach 
when David was growing up. His parents' work in education and politics 
gave David a solid background that has prepared him well for his 
current leadership role in the State Senate, and will certainly 
continue to inspire him in future endeavors.
  David, on behalf of my colleagues and myself, thank you for your 
fifteen years of service to the 16th district and to the people of 
Kentucky. I have every confidence in your ability to lead the State 
Senate, and know that your best days are yet to come.
  Mr. President, I ask that an article which ran in the Louisville 
Courier-Journal on September 5, 1999, be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

          [From the Louisville Courier-Journal, Sept. 5, 1999]

                  Williams Gets Closer to Senate Peak

                            (By Tom Loftus)

       Burkesville, KY.--David Williams began learning hard 
     political lessons at a young age.
       In the second grade he lost an election ``for some kind of 
     class favorite'' by a single vote. ``At that time I was 
     chivalrous enough to vote for my opponent,'' Williams said. 
     ``I decided I wasn't going to do that again.''
       It wasn't the last election Williams would lose, yet come 
     away a bit the wiser--and with his passion for a career in 
     elective office undiminished.
       Today, after serving 15 years in the General Assembly--many 
     of those years in a minority faction of the minority 
     Republican Party--David Williams stands as perhaps the most 
     powerful member of the General Assembly.
       This summer's defections of two Democratic senators to the 
     GOP gives the Republicans a majority in the Senate for the 
     first time ever--making Minority Leader Williams into 
     Majority Leader Williams, and likely Senate President 
     Williams.
       So when the legislature convenes in January, the Senate 
     will be led by this 46-year-old lawyer from Burkesville, a 
     man described as smart and articulate by some, cocky or 
     condescending by others.
       Williams calls himself a compassionate conservative. Many 
     Democrats consider him their favorite Republican senator.
       At his core, he's a man who lives government and politics.
       ``We can't get him out to golf; he really doesn't have any 
     time-consuming hobbies.'' said Cumberland District Judge 
     Steve Hurt.
       ``He has always been fascinated by the political process. 
     He's the kind of guy who sits up at night watching `Hardball 
     with Christ Matthews' and C-SPAN.''
       In January, Williams plans to play a little hardball of his 
     own.
       Last week he said he'd exercise the majority's rightful 
     power to bounce Louisville Democrat Larry Saunders as Senate 
     president.
       ``I want the majority of the members of the Kentucky state 
     Senate to choose the president they feel most comfortable 
     with,'' Williams said.
       ``And if it happens to be David Williams, I would be most 
     proud to serve in that position.''


                political aspirations run in the family

       Williams runs a one-man law practice in his hometown of 
     Burkesville, county seat of the predominantly Republican 
     Cumberland County. He and his wife, Elaine, who is 
     instructional supervisor for the Cumberland County schools, 
     live in a house valued on tax rolls at $225,000. They have no 
     children. Williams is the only child of Lewis and Flossie 
     Williams, who still live in the house where David grew up.
       The family regularly attended Burkesville United Methodist 
     Church, and Williams' parents put a high value on the 
     importance of a good education. Lewis Williams was a 
     principal and basketball coach who, after losing his first 
     campaign for county clerk, won nine consecutive elections for 
     that office without opposition.
       ``We went to Lincoln Day dinners when I was a small boy. I 
     heard (U.S. Sen.) John Sherman Cooper, (Fifth District 
     Congressman) Tim Lee Carter, (U.S. Sen.) Thruston Morton and 
     all those folks,'' Williams said. ``I grew up in the 
     courthouse. After school and on Saturdays I'd hang out there 
     when I was a kid. And I was actively involved in the local 
     party when I was 15 or 16 years old.''
       At Cumberland County High School, Williams was the senior 
     class president, lettered in baseball, and was captain of the 
     football team. His quotation next to his photo in the 1971 
     yearbook is: ``The scales of justice can only be balanced by 
     the weight of involvement.''
       Williams said he particularly liked playing football. He 
     was a center on offense and a tackle on defense. ``If I had 
     been a step quicker I could have played college ball,'' he 
     said. (Hurt, who quarterbacked the 1971 Cumberland County 
     team, suggested Williams would have to have been a bit more 
     than one step quicker.)
       In fact, though he and his wife like to fish and keep a 
     pontoon boat on Dale Hollow Lake, their favorite pastime is 
     college sports. As a legislator he takes advantage of the 
     chance to buy two tickets to University of Kentucky and 
     University of Louisville football and basketball games. He 
     travels to most UK football games on the road and attends 
     postseason basketball tournaments when UK plays.
       ``The football season is something I really enjoy,'' he 
     said. ``I usually try to catch U of L when I can. I'm one of 
     those rare people who like both UK and U of L.''
       Williams is a graduate of both.
       After high school, he and his then-girlfriend Elaine 
     Grubbs, went on to UK. They dated off-and-on through college.
       At UK Williams was true to his high school yearbook 
     quotation. Among other things he was in the student senate 
     and ran for student body president--the clean-shaven frat boy 
     who ran against an opponent he describes as ``long-haired and 
     hippie-ish.'' Williams lost.
       After graduation, Williams enrolled at the U of L Law 
     School. He married Grubbs after his first year there.
       Williams said he could have studied law at UK but wanted to 
     broaden his experience. And he liked Louisville.
       ``My closest relatives live in Louisville--aunts and uncles 
     on my father's side of the family--and I visited Louisville 
     often as a boy,'' Williams said. ``I lived in Louisville 
     during some of the summers when I was growing up because when 
     my dad was a teacher, he would go to Louisville and roof 
     houses on construction crews and make good money in the 
     summer. .  .  . We would go up and live with relatives.''


                    Lessons learned through setbacks

       After law school, Williams returned to Burkesville to 
     practice law and--at age 25--ran for county judge-executive. 
     His opponent was incumbent Harold E. ``Barney'' Barnes--a 
     Democrat who had been appointed by Gov. Julian Carroll when 
     the elected judge died in office. Williams lost.
       ``It taught me some interesting political lessons about 
     incumbency,'' Williams recalled. ``When the governor and the 
     local judge have an unlimited amount of blacktop and things 
     like that, it can have a big effect.''
       But in 1984 Williams ousted state Rep. Richard Fryman of 
     Albany, a fellow Republican. Two years later he succeeded 
     retiring Sen. Doug Moseley of Columbia and has been re-
     elected to the state Senate three times since--the last two 
     times without opposition.
       During his Senate tenure, though, Williams was twice 
     rejected by the voters in years when his Senate seat was not 
     up for re-election.
       In 1992 he won a Republican primary for the U.S. Senate but 
     was drubbed in the general election by popular incumbent 
     Democrat Wendell Ford, who won with 64 percent of the vote.
       But perhaps the nadir of Williams' political career came 
     the following year.
       While stewing in a minority faction of the Senate 
     Republican caucus, Williams decided to try to be a prosecutor 
     and ran for commonwealth's attorney in his home four-county 
     district. He lost.
       But he never considered dropping out of politics.
       ``I didn't think any of the losses were due to my lack of 
     ability or people not liking

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     me,'' he said. ``I'm no Lincoln, but even Lincoln got beat 
     two or three times.''
       Longstanding alliances within the small Senate Republican 
     caucus had largely kept Williams out of a leadership position 
     there. But the number of Senate Republicans grew during the 
     1990s.
       During the 1998 session, after the Republican minority had 
     grown to 18 senators, Williams was part of (but he insists 
     did not lead) an attempt to oust Sen. Dan Kelly's Republican 
     leadership team--a coup that failed when Republican senators 
     voted 9-9.
       After the 1998 elections changed the make-up of the caucus, 
     Williams finally had the votes he needed to win election as 
     Senate Republican leader.
       And defections of two Democratic senators to the GOP mean 
     he's likely to become Senate president.


                     A mix of attorney and preacher

       Williams said Kentuckians can expect him to take generally 
     conservative stands on most issues.
       ``But I don't hate government,'' he said. ``I'm not a 
     person who is afraid to use government to effect change. . . 
     . I come from an area of the state that has needs. I've grown 
     up and lived with people who have needs. I've grown up in 
     areas that needed roads, that needed schools.''
       In fact, in 1990 Williams was one of only three Senate 
     Republicans who voted for the Kentucky Education Reform Act, 
     which included a massive tax increase.
       ``I voted for it because the school districts in rural 
     Kentucky did not have adequate resources, the students there 
     did not have adequate opportunity,'' Williams said. ``I'm not 
     unalterably wed to every aspect of the Kentucky Education 
     Reform Act. . . . But I still feel like I cast the right 
     vote.''
       Besides his support of KERA, Williams is known in the 
     legislature for his long fight to win funding for a resort 
     lodge at Dale Hollow, his advocacy of workers' compensation 
     law reform (which Gov. Paul Patton pushed through in 1996), 
     and helping to increase state spending on adult education.
       Williams is better-known, though, for his skill as a 
     debater. ``David Williams is and has always been one of the 
     most articulate members of the Senate,'' said Senate 
     Democratic Leader David Karem of Louisville. ``There's a 
     wonderful mix of the courtroom attorney and the traditional 
     Kentucky preacher in the way he delivers his speeches from 
     the floor.''
       Williams said Republicans are inclined to oppose two ideas 
     Patton has floated this year as ways of raising state 
     revenue--raising the gas tax and expanding legal gambling.
       But he said he's not prepared yet to slam the door on 
     either idea. ``We haven't seen a bill yet,'' he said.
       And if Williams succeeds in leading the Senate, might he 
     make another race for statewide office?
       Williams said he has no plans to seek higher office, though 
     he's not ruling out the possibility.
       Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, said Williams could be a 
     strong candidate for governor in 2003. ``He hasn't said 
     anything,'' Buford said. ``But I would watch that.''

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