[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 154 (Thursday, December 14, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S11768]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO SENATOR SLADE GORTON

  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, everyone has been focused on the 
Presidential election. It has been one of the most drawn out 
Presidential elections in U.S. history. Another election came to 
conclusion recently, and that was the Senate race in the State of 
Washington, one of the closest Senate races in many years. It took 
weeks to discern.
  Our friend and colleague, Senator Slade Gorton, was defeated. I want 
to make a couple comments concerning our colleague, Senator Gorton.
  I had hoped he would not lose this race because he is a friend of 
mine and, in my opinion, he is one of the most outstanding Senators we 
have had.
  By way of a little history, I was elected with Senator Gorton in 
1980. Both of us were freshman Senators. He was formerly an attorney 
general. He gained some attention nationwide in that he and his family 
bicycled all the way across our country. It shows they are a close 
family and individuals with endurance and athletic talent.
  He is an outstanding Senator. He lost reelection in 1986, 
unfortunately. A lot of people lost. It was a tough year. That was 
certainly one of the toughest losses we had. I remember stating at that 
time when Senator Gorton lost that he was a Senator's Senator. I hated 
to see him lose that race. He showed great endurance and came back in 
1988 and won and also won reelection in 1994. As I mentioned, he was 
just defeated in a very close race in 2000.
  Senator Gorton has served 18 years in the Senate. In his last two 
consecutive terms, he was chairman of the Interior Appropriations 
Subcommittee and worked on a couple of different Appropriations 
subcommittees. He did an outstanding job with the Interior 
Appropriations Subcommittee which has enormous responsibility. He 
handled that with great skill and in a bipartisan way.

  People ask: Can the Senate function? Can we work in a bipartisan 
manner? I look at Senator Gorton and his leadership on the Interior 
Subcommittee, working with Senator Byrd and Senator Reid. He has proven 
it can happen and has shown how it can happen and should happen.
  He is an outstanding Senator. He has handled his defeat with great 
class. There was a recount, and he congratulated Maria Cantwell as the 
victor. We are proud to call him our colleague and our friend. 
Certainly he will be missed in this body; certainly his leadership will 
be missed in the State of Washington.

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