[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 13, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S198]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO TRISTRAM COFFIN

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I would like to publicly thank U.S. 
attorney Tristram Coffin for his service to Vermont and our country. I 
have known Tris for decades, and I am proud that Vermont has been 
served by someone as thoughtful and fair as Tris. I join my fellow 
Vermonters in thanking him for his service to our State.
  Tris earned his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and his 
law degree from Columbia University. He worked for me as a staff 
attorney on the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1991 to 1994 before 
becoming an assistant U.S. attorney in Vermont's civil division from 
1994 to 1998 and in their criminal division from 1996 to 2006. He then 
worked in private practice in Burlington with the firm of Paul Frank & 
Collins, P.C. In 2009 I recommended Tris for the vacant U.S. attorney 
position, and he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in August 2009 
to be Vermont's 36th U.S. attorney.
  Throughout his time as U.S. attorney, Tris has demonstrated 
thoughtful leadership in partnering with State and local law 
enforcement agencies and Vermont communities on a wide range of issues, 
including efforts to confront the crisis of heroin and opioid 
addiction. In September 2010 he convened a timely and constructive 
symposium in the State house in Montpelier to discuss the problem of 
opiate drug abuse. Impressed by his work, last year I invited Tris to 
deliver testimony at a Judiciary Committee field hearing in Rutland 
examining community solutions to the opioid crisis. At that hearing, I 
was moved by the dedication and passion Tris has brought to developing 
partnerships with Vermont schools to raise awareness and focus on 
prevention.
  Vermont is a safer and better place because of dedicated public 
servants like Tris. I commend Tris for his years of service to the 
Green Mountain State and wish him the best in his future endeavors. He 
is a friend I treasure.

                          ____________________