[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 151 (Wednesday, November 20, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11662-S11664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SERVING IN THE U.S. SENATE

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, let me begin by thanking you for 
presiding this morning, for your leadership in the Senate, and for the 
friendship I think you epitomize when friendships are created, that 
grow and take root, and that bloom in the Senate. I am proud to call 
you a friend.
  Let me say at the very outset that it has been an enormous privilege 
serving for the last 6 years in this great body.
  I want to express my gratitude this morning, in the few minutes that 
I am going to take, to a number of individuals who mean a lot to me and 
my service in the Senate.
  I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to my wife Randi, who has 
been a great fellow mate, an encourager, a partner, and, most of all, 
my best friend. I am so appreciative to have her here this morning. I 
wanted to express that.
  I also want to thank Chaplain Ogilvie. I appreciate so much his 
prayer this morning, and his prayers every day--and more than the 
prayers that he offers for the Senate, the prayers that he offers for 
our country. But I am especially grateful for his friendship and for 
his spiritual counsel that he offers to other Members. He is going to 
be greatly missed in this institution, and I think the country is going 
to miss his service here.
  While we all understand that he is making the right decision, he is 
going to be sorely missed. As I look back on the last 6 years, I thank 
you, Lloyd, for the many hours that you gave to me in counsel and 
encouragement. And I am very appreciative and very grateful.
  I also want to express my appreciation to people in the State of 
Arkansas--the great State of Arkansas, all 2.7 million of them. I thank 
my staff--not 2.7 million, but it seems like it sometimes.
  I want to thank the people of Arkansas. I am forever grateful to them 
for allowing me the privilege of serving them in the Senate. Of course, 
those who are familiar with the State of Arkansas know that it is a 
very diverse and very beautiful State from a physical standpoint, but 
it is also very different as you go to the various parts of it. I hail 
from northwest Arkansas. I come from the Ozark Hills--being a State 
legislator for 8 years, representing a small district in northwest 
Arkansas, being elected to Congress from the Third District, and coming 
to the Senate and serving the entire State of Arkansas has been an 
enormously gratifying experience. I have learned that not only are the 
people wonderful and great in those hills of northwest Arkansas, but 
also the people of the delta with their very different culture and very 
different background from the Ozark Hills are wonderful people with 
tremendous values who love this country of ours as much as my native 
area in the northwest; or the opportunity to represent the one real 
urban area of Arkansas, Little Rock, our capital city. To be able to 
represent every area and every region of the State has been an 
enormously enriching experience--to work not only for the Ozark Hills 
but for the Mississippi Delta, and our many vast areas.
  I discovered the cultural diversity of my State, and I discovered 
that there are great and wonderful people in every section of Arkansas.
  It has been an experience that has far surpassed my wildest dreams 
and my greatest ambitions.
  I thank the people of Arkansas for letting me walk in the footsteps 
of some great predecessors such as J.W. Fulbright, John McClellan, or 
the individual whose portrait hangs just outside the Senate Chamber, 
Joe T. Robinson.
  I thank the people of Arkansas.
  I also want to thank my colleagues. What a great group--that I 
believe is dedicated to doing what they believe is right for America.
  I served for 4 years in the House of Representatives. Oftentimes down 
in the House we would usually good-naturedly make fun of the Senate. So 
when I was elected to the Senate, I recall a number of them coming up 
and saying: We hope you enjoy your time down at the retirement home at 
the other end of the Capitol. That was, of course, the kind of outlook 
that we had down there; that this was the place where nothing got done, 
and everyone was a little older and a little slower down there. The 
rambunctiousness and sometimes wild passions that characterized the 
debate in the House were not as evident in the Senate. But it is not a 
retirement home. People work immensely hard in this body.

  But one of the things that has impressed me more the last 6 years is, 
in fact, the Senate works just as our Founding Fathers had planned for 
it to work; that of which Madison said, the popular passions would be 
cooled and tempered by the deliberative debates in the Senate.
  So though sometimes we are frustrated and sometimes we call the 
Senate dysfunctional, the reality, in my mind, is, it works, and it 
works just as it is supposed to work, and as it continues to work.
  That is one of the great miracles of our experiment in a republican 
form of Government. It is that this bicameral legislature and our three 
branches of Government operate just as our Founding Fathers envisioned 
they would: to

[[Page S11663]]

check one another's power, to be a check on an over-concentration of 
power, and to ensure there would be a body such as the Senate, with 
such continuity that popular passions and emotions, overreactions at 
times, would be tempered by the debate that would take place in this 
body.
  But it is a very hard-working group. My colleagues work harder than 
most people in the country ever realize. It always used to irritate me, 
during the August recess, to go back to the State and have people ask 
me how the month-long vacation was going. So here is this image, I 
guess, that will always be there. But I know, as anybody who has gotten 
very close to the workings of the Senate, that this is a very hard-
working group. Edgar Guest put it this way: ``He has found real 
greatness--who does his task from day to day and meets whatever comes 
his way.'' That is what I have tried to do these past 6 years. And that 
is what my colleagues do every day.
  I found among my colleagues courage. Courage, in my mind, is facing a 
choice in which there is a clear right and a clear wrong, and in which 
choosing the right involves a price, involves a cost, involves 
something, a consequence, and the willingness to go ahead and make the 
right choice in spite of the fact there is going to be a price to pay.
  Maybe we don't see it as often as we would always like in the Senate, 
but I have seen over the last 6 years on numerous occasions where my 
colleagues knew in their heart what was the right thing to do, or at 
least as they understood to the best of God's revelation to them and 
God's light to them what was right and wrong, and they--in spite of 
what might be a political risk or other risk--were willing to take a 
courageous stand and make a courageous decision.
  And then, I am thankful for my colleagues' friendship. The old adage 
in Washington is: If you want a friend, buy a dog. My experience in the 
Senate disproves that. My experience is, that is not really true, that 
there are real and genuine friendships that develop and grow in this 
body.
  I mentioned, at the beginning of my remarks, Danny Akaka. I think 
Senator Akaka epitomizes the kinds of friendships that cross party 
lines, cross the aisle, and that are genuine on a human basis and on a 
human level, and that has immensely impressed me: that amidst important 
debates about life-and-death issues, war and peace, and votes that 
impact millions of Americans, and, indeed, impact the entire world--
that in the midst of those kinds of debates, there are relationships 
that transcend, and the very personal needs of friends take precedence 
and are there. So I am grateful for those friendships that have taken 
root and have grown and have blossomed in my own life.

  And then I am very grateful, as I look back over the past 6 years, 
for some very special staff people.
  I remember, after President Bush was elected, I was invited to the 
first bill signing. It was the bill--well, the bill is not important. I 
went over, and it was in the Roosevelt Room. A couple of things struck 
me: One was there was a handful of chairs that had been set up, so it 
was a very humble kind of signing ceremony. The President walked into 
the room, and he said: ``Now, the chairs are for the staff. The Members 
can stand.'' And he kind of chuckled, and then he said: ``Because I 
know who really does the work on legislation.''
  He was right, recognizing that it is the staff who makes this place 
operate. It is the staff who keeps the gears and machinery of 
Government operating and working. It is the staff who was here late 
last night and is back in here early this morning. And their 
contributions, I think, are often overlooked.
  I just want to thank my personal staff for their great work these 
past 6 years; and a few people I want to mention by name. To my right 
is my chief of staff, Todd Deatherage. I have just a handful on my 
staff who have served with me a decade, my entire time in Washington--
my 4 years in the House and one term in the Senate--and Todd is one of 
those who goes back the full 10 years.
  He served as my district director when I was in the House, and when I 
came to the Senate, he took his family, uprooted them, and moved them 
to Washington, and has served as my chief of staff in the Senate.
  So how do you sum up a decade in a few sentences? You cannot. That is 
the conclusion I came to.
  But, Todd, I appreciate so much your loyalty. I appreciate the wisdom 
you have brought to the office. I appreciate your hard work. And I 
appreciate, most of all, your friendship.
  Todd is, as are most of us in the Hutchinson Senate office, a great 
devotee and admirer of Ronald Reagan, and no one more so than my chief 
of staff because every year, on Ronald Reagan's birthday, we would have 
this celebration in our office, celebrating Ronald Reagan's birthday.
  But it was Todd's self-assumed role to remind us that birthday was 
coming, and he would send out the e-mails. And Todd--I don't know if he 
actually baked the birthday cake--but he assured there was a birthday 
cake brought to the office, and we would have a little party honoring 
Ronald Reagan.
  On Ronald Reagan's last birthday, he sent the e-mail out, and with 
the e-mails he included one of Ronald Reagan's famous speeches: ``A 
Time For Choosing.'' ``A Time For Choosing'' was the 1964 speech that 
really was the launching pad for Ronald Reagan's national political 
career. Of course, Barry Goldwater was the nominee of the Republican 
party. I was 14 years old, living in Springdale, AR, and I remember 
sitting in front of the black-and-white television in Springdale, 
watching Ronald Reagan address the Nation in the speech ``A Time For 
Choosing,'' known to most conservatives as simply ``The Speech.'' That 
was the speech that led to his run for the Governorship of California 
and ultimately the Presidency.
  So Todd, in sending out the announcement about the Ronald Reagan 
birthday, included the speech ``A Time for Choosing'' with a little 
postscript: ``You might want to read this speech because this speech 
had a big impact on our boss's life and thinking.'' And it did.
  Todd, as I express my appreciation to you today, one of your roles in 
our office was to be a reminder of first principles. Every office needs 
somebody who will be the reminder of first principles, and to be a 
reminder to all of us as to why we got into this in the first place.
  In fact, in 1984, when I first made my run for State representative, 
that speech, that treatise, that conservative manifesto, reminding us 
of what our view of Government is, and what our view of man is, and 
what the relationship of our Government should be to our society--those 
first principles are important, and they are important to me and 
important for us to remember.
  Todd, thank you for being the one to remind us of that time and time 
again.
  I thank my deputy chief of staff, Lisa Goeas. Lisa has been with me 
also for 10 years. She was one of the first hires I made when I was 
elected to Congress. I hired her as a scheduler, and right out of 
college. Of course, the big impediment--I am sure I am going to offend 
Californians--but the big impediment was, as I looked at her resume, I 
saw that she was a graduate of Berkeley.
  I had nothing against Berkeley, but as I scanned it, she could see 
the double take I took. I said: ``Lisa, you to know I am a 
conservative. I want you to be comfortable,'' I said. But she has been 
such an asset in the office. She went from scheduler to legislative 
assistant in the House, and then worked in the 1996 campaign so 
tirelessly, in the Senate race in which I became the first Republican 
the State of Arkansas ever elected to the U.S. Senate by popular 
election--she worked so very hard in that--and then she has become 
deputy chief of staff. She is gifted. She is incredibly industrious. 
She is bright. She is blessed with a great personality. And most of 
all, she is loyal, and she is a great friend.
  Nothing, to me, speaks more about Lisa than her involvement in the 
Cornerstone School in the District of Columbia. The Cornerstone School 
is a private Christian school that was started by a group of Hill 
staffers. They looked around the District, and they said: There are 
children who ought to have an opportunity to go to a Christian school 
and whose parents cannot afford it, or they don't have the opportunity, 
or there is no such school. These staffers set out on their own to 
start this school. They did so several years ago. I am not sure what 
the enrollment is, but it has grown.

[[Page S11664]]

  Lisa has poured herself into that school and raising money for it, 
providing scholarships for it, getting sponsors for the children, and 
to ensure not only their financial support, the tuition, but also to 
spend time and to be mentors, tutors for the children. I think that 
says a lot about her heart. Beyond being bright and industrious and 
energetic and all of the rest of the skills she brings to the office, 
she brings a great heart as well.
  I thank especially Nora Breidenbach, as well, for her 10 years of 
service. She has been with me ever since I came to Congress. She has 
headed up the entire constituent service operation. She has a kind of 
quiet efficiency. I always knew that if there was a problem that needed 
solving, Nora was the one who could solve it. She is also a great 
manager of people. She has gone through a lot of trials of her own 
during the last decade, but she always knew how to draw the best, not 
only from her own life but from those whom she was supervising. She 
brought the best from everyone who worked with her and for her.
  Also, I say a special thanks to Fay Ott, my office manager; Cortney 
Brown, my scheduler--every one of these staffers deserves a speech 
about them--Kate Hull, who has done such a wonderful job as my LA and 
is now working on the subcommittee staff, who shepherded through 
legislation that benefits thousands and thousands of nurses; Andrea 
Allen, who is my state director in Arkansas, a very wonderful human 
being, very great state director; Susan Carter, who has been with me 
for years, left and came back, who heads up projects; and Jim Hirni, my 
legislative director. I said last night, at one of our many farewell 
parties, that I think not only is he the best legislative director on 
the Hill, but going through a tough re-election campaign, no one had a 
better LD, to keep the shop going, but much more than that: to be there 
for me with encouragement, strength, and help.
  To all of my staff I say thanks. To me they are much more than staff. 
My DC staff consists of Nora Breidenbach, Joycelyn Belcher, Josh 
Benoit, Cortney Brown, Tim Chapman, Todd Deatherage, Jim Dohoney, Amy 
Gibson, Colonel Jim Garrison, Lisa Goeas, Michael Hilburg, Jim Hirni, 
Kyle Hicks, Kate Hull, Rebekah Hutton, Sally Lee-Kerns, Conan Krueger, 
David Manns, Chris Miller, Robbie Minnich, Tim Moore, Misty Murphey, 
D.J. O'Brien, Fay Ott, Brydon Ross, Marc Scheessele, Ben Sheldon, Brad 
Tashenberg, Dan Weaver, Jennie Wingad, Michael Zehr. My state staff 
consists of Andrea Allen, Carrie Bartholomew, Susan Carter, Jim Case, 
LaDana Emerson, Leslie Garman, Tammie Hall, Jared Haney, Ruby 
Henderson, Sarah Jones, Mitchell Lowe, Clint Reed, Julie Reynolds, 
Spencer Sessions, Jerry Sherrod, Don Travis, Kellie Wall, John 
Youngblood.
  They are much more than just staff. They are truly friends. As my 
colleagues have become good friends to me, so my staff are much more 
than employees, much more than service to the people of Arkansas. They 
are very good friends to me.
  I ran across this Henry Van Dyke quote on friendship. I would like to 
end my remarks this morning by quoting him:

       With such a comrade, such a friend, I fain would walk 
     through journey's end, through summer sunshine, winter rain, 
     and then? Farewell, we shall meet again.

  I thank the Chair for the opportunity to give these farewell remarks 
from this Senator. I thank my colleagues for the great honor it has 
been to serve with them these past 6 years.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. Before the Senator from Arkansas leaves the floor, let me 
extend my appreciation for all of his kind deeds toward me. We have 
worked together on concurrent receipts and a number of other issues. 
The State of Arkansas, in sending the Hutchinson brothers to 
Washington, really sent two quality people. I have worked with both of 
them. I didn't always agree with them politically, but as far as their 
being temperamentally, socially, so kind and considerate, thoughtful, 
is concerned, both of them are outstanding gentlemen. I look forward to 
working with both of them in the future.

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