[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 137 (Tuesday, October 25, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11792-S11793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING THE LATE SENATOR PAUL WELLSTONE

  Mr. DAYTON. Mr. President, 3 years ago today a chartered plane 
crashed in northeastern Minnesota killing Minnesota's senior Senator, 
Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila, and their daughter Marcia. Also on 
board were Mary McEvoy, our State Democratic Party's associate chair; 
Tom Lapic, a long-time Senate staffer; a young aide, Will McLaughlin; 
and two pilots. There were no survivors.
  They were flying to Minnesota's famed Iron Range to attend a friend's 
father's funeral when the plane crashed just before landing and before 
Senator Wellstone's reelection just 11 days away.
  Paul and I were political allies and personal friends for over 20 
years, and he was my colleague and mentor during my first 2 years in 
the Senate. In 1982, Paul was the Democratic Farmer-Labor or DFL 
candidate for State auditor in Minnesota, while I was its candidate for 
the Senate. We both lost.
  Eight years later, we switched. Paul ran for the Senate; I ran for 
auditor. We both won. In between, we officed and worked together on 
energy and economic development programs for the Governor of Minnesota 
and became good friends. When Paul ran for reelection to the Senate in 
1996, I agreed to be his finance chair. Paul hated fundraising as much 
as I did, so we made quite a team. Fortunately, Paul's great popularity 
in Minnesota and his nationwide reputation as champion for important, 
progressive causes prevailed, and he won a decisive reelection victory. 
Four years later, Paul helped me win my election to the Senate.
  Everyone who knew Paul and Sheila Wellstone knows that they were 
extraordinary, unmatchable, and irreplaceable. Marcia, Mary, Tom, and 
Will were very accomplished and special people in their own rights, and 
their losses were as searing to their families and friends as Paul's 
and Sheila's.
  Senator Paul Wellstone was unique. He was the leader, the heart, and 
the soul of Minnesota's Democratic Party. He had more passionately 
devoted followers, supporters, and political organizers than anyone 
else in Minnesota, perhaps more than anyone in our State's political 
history, for Paul Wellstone was truly a man of, by, and for the people, 
especially, as he jokingly referred to himself and to them, the little 
fellers. He stood for, spoke for, and worked for the many against the 
powerful, the wealthy, and the narrow special interests.
  In 1990, he pulled one of the greatest political upsets ever by 
defeating a well-entrenched Republican incumbent, despite being 
outspent by 7 to 1 and being 40 percent behind in the polls at Labor 
Day. He came to Washington, immersed himself in the work of the Senate, 
and over his 12 years, won respect and friendships on both sides of the 
aisle.
  Whether they agreed or disagreed with Paul, everyone knew that he 
truly believed his position was right, that he passionately cared about 
the people he was trying to help, and that he had the unflinching 
courage of his convictions. He also had the oratory eloquence to win 
skeptics to his side and the genuine good humor to keep even his 
opponents his friends.
  He used his skills, his terrific mind always absorbing new ideas, his 
nationwide network of friends and advisers, his growing seniority in 
the Senate, and his passion and persistence to accomplish much more 
than time permits me to recount. During his first term, he authored and 
passed the landmark ``gift ban'' legislation that virtually eliminated 
all lobbyist gifts to Members of Congress and staffers. He was an 
original cosponsor of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill. 
In Paul's own words, he said:

       I am proud to be a politician because I believe strongly in 
     democracy. My father, a Jewish immigrant from Russia whose 
     family had to move from town to town because of czarist 
     persecution, taught me to cherish free elections and the idea 
     of ``government of, by, and for the people.'' But I am not 
     proud of the current state of campaigns and politics in our 
     country.
       The ethical issue in our time is that money has come to 
     dominate politics and the democracy my father so deeply 
     believed in is so severely compromised. Campaigns match 
     image-makers against image-makers, pollsters against 
     pollsters, and millions of dollars against millions of 
     dollars. It is a superficial, trivialized politics of attack 
     ads, manipulated advertising and 9 second sound bites. Most 
     importantly, money corrupts the process. This is a much more 
     serious corruption than the wrongdoing of a single 
     individual. This is the kind of corruption which results in 
     too few people having too much wealth, power, and say and too 
     many people being denied a voice. It is the politics of 
     democracy for the few, not democracy for the many.

  Paul also worked tirelessly for years in partnership with Senator 
Domenici to enact mental health parity, requiring that mental illness 
be treated similar to any other illness. This important cause pitted 
Senators Wellstone and Domenici against very powerful and profitable 
special interests--insurance companies and for-profit health providers, 
whose profits increased by not providing or not paying for needed 
health care services.

[[Page S11793]]

  The two Senators succeeded in winning Senate passage of their 
amendment to the Kennedy-Kassebaum health insurance health protection 
bill with 70 votes in favor. Unfortunately, their amendment was 
defeated in the conference committee.
  The two Senators continued working together to enact their historic 
legislation. Tragically, the Senate effort has lagged since Senator 
Wellstone's death, despite the present majority leader's pledge in his 
remarks on the Senate floor of October 24, 2003 ``to ensure that mental 
health is appropriately addressed in this Congress.'' That legislation 
has not been voted on in the Senate, either in the last session of 
Congress or in this one.

  It would be the best possible commemoration of Senator Wellstone's 
life, and the giving of his life in the service of his country, for the 
Senate to pass that legislation and insist that it becomes law.
  There is so much more that Paul Wellstone achieved, such as 
protecting women and children from domestic abuse, on which he and his 
wife Sheila worked closely together, and which he wanted to achieve 
before his life was tragically ended.
  His uniqueness recalls the words of Ernest Hemingway:

       Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their 
     fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their 
     society. Moral courage is a rarer quality than bravery in 
     battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, 
     vital quality of those who would seek to change a world which 
     yields most painfully to change.

  Paul Wellstone dedicated his life to change the world for the 
betterment of people. That is why he and Sheila meant so much to so 
many people in Minnesota and across the country.
  All of us--their family, friends, and admirers--still feel their 
loss. They and Marcia, Mary, Tom, and Will all had so much life left to 
live. We will cherish them forever.
  I close with a brief passage from Paul Wellstone's political 
autobiography, ``The Conscience of a Liberal.''

       When I am in coffeeshops with people, no one asks, Are you 
     left, right or center? No one cares. What people want is that 
     your politics be about them.
       Tip O'Neill once declared, ``All politics is local.'' But I 
     would go further. All politics is personal. These are people 
     who more than anything else yearn for a politics they can 
     believe in. They want politicians whom they can trust and who 
     are at least most of the time on their side.

  With Paul Wellstone, people had the very best on their side all of 
the time. He will always be missed. May his life--all of their lives--
be an example and inspiration to us all.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________