[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 130 (Thursday, September 11, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5551-S5552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     REMEMBERING JAMES M. JEFFORDS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, earlier this week, the Senate passed a 
resolution recognizing the life and career of Senator Jim Jeffords. 
This Vermont icon passed away over the August recess, nearly 8 years 
after concluding a decades-long career in public service. That career, 
marked by historic moments on the national stage, was one in which 
Vermont came first. I ask unanimous consent that an article from the 
Burlington Free Press, ``Tributes pour in for Vermont GOP giant 
Jeffords,'' be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
  Jim and I came to Washington together in 1975, he to represent 
Vermont as our lone Member in the House of Representatives, and I as 
Vermont's first Democratic Senator. But our years working together go 
back further, to the days when I was a State's attorney in Chittenden 
County, and he the State's attorney general. Our families knew each 
other. Marcelle and Liz knew each other well, having both attended 
Cathedral High School in Burlington. Both Jim and I would readily 
acknowledge that our wives were the hearts and souls of our families.
  That longtime relationship served us and Vermont well when Jim came 
to the Senate in 1989. Together, we worked to protect Vermont's dairy 
farmers, to preserve Vermont's celebrated natural landscape, and to 
give Vermont a strong and powerful voice in Washington.
  I joined many Vermonters in celebrating Jim's life last month in his 
home town of Rutland. Our sympathies are with his children Laura and 
Leonard, and his grandchildren.
  Jim was a humble man, a Vermonter through and through, and a true 
friend. His legacy is that he held Vermont in his heart, and worked to 
advance the best interests of his constituents on the national stage.
  For that, this Vermonter will join many others in simply saying, 
``Thanks, Jim.''
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

            [From the Burlington Free Press, Aug. 19, 2014]

            Tributes Pour In for Vermont GOP Giant Jeffords

                           (By Sam Hemingway)

       The Jim Jeffords For Governor campaign camper was headed up 
     U.S. 2 toward East Montpelier in the summer of 1972 with the 
     candidate behind the wheel.
       ``He almost drove off the road,'' recalled Bruce Post of 
     Essex, who was aboard the camper as a just-out-of-college 
     campaign volunteer. ``He was the world's worst driver.''
       What Post also remembers from that day is that Jeffords, 
     Vermont's attorney general at the time, telling him about a 
     decision Jeffords had made to give no special treatment to a 
     powerful Republican who had run afoul of Vermont's 
     environmental laws.
       ``He told me that day, `It might cost me my political 
     career, but it's not going to cost me my political 
     conscience,' `` Post remembered Monday, the day Jeffords 
     died.
       Jeffords did lose the primary, but he went on to serve 
     seven terms in the U.S. House and three in the Senate. In 
     2001, his conscience led him to leave the GOP, a stunning 
     move that shifted control of the chamber to the Democrats.
       Monday, Jeffords died shortly after 7 a.m. at Knollwood, a 
     retirement home for military veterans in Washington, D.C. He 
     was 80 and the last Republican to hold federal office elected 
     from Vermont.
       ``While we are saddened by our father's passing, we take 
     comfort in the knowledge that he lived a full life, from the 
     hills of Vermont to the halls of Congress,'' Laura and 
     Leonard Jeffords, the senator's son and daughter, said in a 
     statement. ``We will miss his kindness, his good humor, and 
     his generosity of spirit.''
       Jeffords, afflicted with Alzheimer's disease, had been in 
     declining health and had lived at Knollwood since retiring 
     from his Senate seat in 2006. Jeffords was a veteran of the 
     Navy and the Navy Reserve, but never served in combat. 
     Jeffords' wife, Elizabeth Daley Jeffords, died in 2007.
       News of Jeffords' death Monday morning, first reported by 
     the Burlington Free Press, quickly spread across the state 
     and the nation.
       ``Jim never lost the fiercely independent spirit that made 
     Vermonters, and people across America, trust and respect 
     him,'' President Barack Obama said in a statement.
       ``Whatever the issue--whether it was protecting the 
     environment, supporting Americans with disabilities, or 
     whether to authorize the war in Iraq--Jim voted his 
     principles, even if it sometimes meant taking a lonely or 
     unpopular stance.''
       In Vermont, Gov. Peter Shumlin mourned Jeffords' death. 
     Flags at public buildings across the state were lowered at 
     half-staff and will remain so through Saturday.
       ``The passing of Senator Jim Jeffords will be felt 
     throughout Vermont and our country,'' Shumlin said in a 
     statement. ``We need more like Senator Jeffords. My heart 
     goes out to his children and extended family.''


                              The maverick

       Jeffords's maverick political instincts served in him good 
     stead as he navigated Vermont's shifting political currents 
     over 40 years, emphasizing his moderate positions as the 
     state leaned increasingly toward more liberal, Democratic 
     positions.
       As a House member, he was the only Republican to vote 
     against President Ronald Reagan's tax cuts in 1981. In 1991, 
     he voted against George H.W. Bush's nomination of Clarence 
     Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. He supported President Bill 
     Clinton's health care reform and, in 1999, voted against his 
     impeachment.
       ``He was a partner in our work for Vermont, and he was a 
     friend,'' Sen. Patrick Leahy said of Jeffords in a statement. 
     ``He was a Vermonter through and through, drawn to political 
     life to make a difference for our state and nation. Part of 
     his legacy will also stand as an enduring chapter of the 
     Senate's history.''
       Leahy and Jeffords both won their first elections to 
     federal office in 1974 and were rivals for a time. They grew 
     closer over the years as they worked on dairy issues and 
     others important to Vermont.
       Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who won the election to replace 
     Jeffords in 2006, said Jeffords was a common-sense Vermonter 
     who accomplished a lot.
       Sanders toyed with running against Jeffords in 2000 but 
     decided against it and said Monday he would have passed on 
     challenging Jeffords had Jeffords run for re-election in 
     2006.
       ``Vermonters admired him because of his low-key and down-
     to-earth qualities, and because of his obvious and strong 
     love of the state and the Vermont way of life,'' Sanders 
     said. ``He was an effective champion of education, disability 
     rights, the environment and the arts--and millions of 
     Americans have benefited from his efforts.''
       Rep. Peter Welch, in an interview, spoke of how Jeffords 
     and his wife helped him during his successful run for the 
     House in 2006, and then in Welch's early months as a freshman 
     congressman.
       ``He spoke softly but got a lot done,'' Welch said of 
     Jeffords'' career. ``There are colleagues of his in the House 
     who still remember him with great respect.''
       Former Republican Gov. Jim Douglas said Jeffords ``will be 
     long remembered as a Vermonter who gave his all and his best 
     in every season of his storied career. As a friend, I will 
     miss him dearly.''
       Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott said he fashioned his career 
     after the example set by Jeffords. ``He did what he felt was 
     right, not what he felt would make him popular,'' Scott said.


                               The switch

       Jeffords' decision to become an independent in 2001 rocked 
     the nation. His move changed the balance of power in the 
     Senate, which had been 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats.
       The move cost his GOP colleagues their committee 
     chairmanships and, for Jeffords, the loss of several lifelong 
     friendships.
       ``I have changed my party label, but I have not changed my 
     beliefs,'' Jeffords said in his May 24, 2001, speech at a 
     jam-packed Radisson Hotel in Burlington where he announced 
     the switch.
       ``Indeed, my decision is about affirming the principles 
     that have shaped my career. I hope that the people of Vermont 
     will understand it. I hope in time that my colleagues will as 
     well. I am confident that it is the right decision.''
       The move catapulted Jeffords to rock-star national 
     prominence, praised by Democrats and vilified by Republicans.
       He wrote later that even members of his family opposed his 
     decision. Sen. Trent Lott, R-La., and a member of the Singing 
     Senators quartet along with Jeffords, fumed that Jeffords had 
     carried out a ``coup of one.''
       In the aftermath, Jeffords appeared on the covers of 
     Newsweek and Time magazines in the same week. He also was the 
     subject of several death threats, requiring required him to 
     receive Capital Hill police protection for a time.
       Back home, he was treated as a flat-out hero. His decision 
     to leave the GOP spawned a popular ``Thanks, Jim'' bumper 
     sticker and a special-edition beer called ``Jeezum Jim,'' a 
     reference to his modest nature and Vermonty accent.
       ``I have never been prouder of anything I've done in my 
     life than being with him at that time, the time preceding the 
     announcement and the time after that,'' said Eric Smulson, 
     Jeffords' spokesman for 15 years. ``How he handled himself, 
     how he stood for his principles. He was a great statesman, a 
     great Vermonter, but an even better person.''
       Others, including close friends and some Vermont Republican 
     leaders, were distraught about the 2001 decision.
       ``I was very upset over it,'' said James Johnston of 
     Montpelier, a former Jeffords campaign adviser and close 
     personal friend. ``But I know he had good reason to do it at 
     the time.''
       Johnston became emotional describing the loss of his old 
     friend.

[[Page S5552]]

       ``I guess I knew this day was coming,'' he said, choking up 
     as he spoke. ``I'm not so sure I'm ready to deal with it.''
       Jeffords later wrote two books reflecting on his 
     controversial move: a 2001 explanation of his decision titled 
     ``My Declaration of Independence'' and a 2003 memoir, ``An 
     Independent Man.''


                            A political life

       Jeffords, the son of a Vermont Supreme Court justice, grew 
     up in Rutland, studied at Yale University, received his law 
     degree from Harvard University and entered politics in 1966, 
     winning a race for state Senate from Rutland County.
       Two years later, he was elected attorney general, and soon 
     he became embroiled in a fight with International Paper's 
     plant in Ticonderoga, N.Y., regarding the discharge of 
     mercury-laden sludge into Lake Champlain.
       Jeffords ran for governor in 1972, but many in the party 
     resented his liberal positions on the environment and other 
     matters, and he lost a bitter primary battle to Luther 
     Hackett, a business-oriented Republican.
       ``He took it fine,'' said Bruce Post, recalling his time as 
     a volunteer with the Jeffords for Governor campaign. ``I 
     don't think he was bitter or anything.''
       Hackett lost to Democrat Tom Salmon in the general 
     election. Two years later, Jeffords won the state's lone U.S. 
     House seat when incumbent Rep. Richard Mallory ran for U.S. 
     Senate.
       Jeffords initially lived in a camper in Washington after 
     taking the House seat. He went on to win six House re-
     election contests, then won a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1988 
     when Sen. Robert T. Stafford, R-Vt., another Republican 
     moderate, retired.
       Jeffords was a consistent champion of education, helping to 
     pass the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as a 
     freshman House member and becoming so immersed in efforts to 
     support dairy farmers that he was dubbed ``Mr. Dairy.''
       He also worked behind the scenes to help Soviet dissidents 
     Alexander Solzhenitsyn by secretly arranging Solzhenitzyn's 
     move to Cavendish, where the author lived for 18 years before 
     returning Russia. Jefford also aided Soviet dissident 
     Alexander Ginzburg after he was expelled from Russia in 1979.
       During the Reagan years, Jeffords fought the president's 
     plans to cut back on environmental regulations and lower 
     taxes. In 1987, he was the only Republican House member to 
     vote with Democrats to pass a $12 billion tax increase. The 
     measure passed the House by a single vote.
       Surveys of his votes by liberal and conservative groups 
     determined he leaned slightly toward liberal positions, and 
     Jeffords continued to irritate GOP leaders.
       He supported gay-rights legislation, voted for a gun-
     control measure after saying he opposed it and introduced a 
     bill to force power producers to lower their emissions.
       Opinions are divided on what caused him to finally decide 
     to leave the Republican Party. Shortly before he made the 
     decision, he voted against President George W. Bush's budget, 
     saying it was too big on tax cuts and undercut spending on 
     education, child care, veterans and the environment.
       Jeffords also might have been irked that the White House 
     had not invited him to an event celebrating the Vermont 
     winner of the teacher of the year, even though Jeffords was 
     chairman of chairman of the Senate education committee.
       ``Looking ahead, I can see more and more instances where 
     I'll disagree with the president on very fundamental issues--
     the issues of choice, the direction of the judiciary, tax-
     and-spending decisions, missile defense, energy and the 
     environment, and a host of other issues, large and small,'' 
     Jeffords said in the speech announcing his decision.
       Jeffords, who had just been re-elected to the Senate in 
     2000, vowed to run for re-election in 2006 and repeated that 
     assertion until 2005, when he abruptly scheduled a news 
     conference at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in 
     South Burlington to announce he would leave the Senate at the 
     end of 2006.
       ``I am feeling the aches and pains that come when you reach 
     70,'' he said in his speech. ``My memory fails me on 
     occasion, but Liz would probably argue that this has been 
     going on the last 50 years.''
       Uncharacteristically, he took no questions at the news 
     conference, and appeared tired and unsteady on his feet.
       Jeffords' funeral is set for 11 a.m. Friday at Grace 
     Congregational United Church of Christ in Rutland.

                          ____________________