[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 16339-16340]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   REMEMBERING SENATOR PAUL COVERDELL

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, all last week I deferred coming to the 
floor to speak about my friend, Paul Coverdell, on the ground that it 
might be easier to do so this week. It is not. It is not, but it is 
vitally important to memorialize such a friend.
  Every Monday evening or Tuesday morning, Paul Coverdell and I sat at 
the end of the table during leadership meetings in the majority 
leader's office, with an opportunity to comment on all of the issues 
that came before that group. Frequently, however, at the end of the 
table, we would exchange whispered remarks on some of the other people 
or subject matter, either present or not present. Paul Coverdell had a 
wonderful sense of humor, there and elsewhere: Dry, gentle, always to 
the point. It was a delightful pleasure to share those moments, 
sometimes stressful, sometimes marvelously relaxed, with such a man.
  If you sought advice on a matter of vitally important public policy, 
Paul Coverdell was one of the first you would seek out. You knew that 
anything he would discuss with you would be filled with wisdom and 
common sense, and that stacking your remarks against his would focus 
and sharpen your own thoughts and your own ideas. It hardly mattered 
what the subject was--education, taxes, national security, a dozen 
others; the advice was always good and always relevant.
  If you then sought tactics or advice on how to accomplish a shared 
goal, Paul Coverdell was a man whom you sought out. Particularly if 
there were an individual in your own party, or in the other party, whom 
you might be reluctant, for one reason or another, to approach, you 
could ask Paul Coverdell to do it for you, and he would. There was no 
task, there was no detail that was too small for him, none that he 
thought was beneath him, if it was constructive, if it would help the 
cause in the long term.
  One way in which you can determine individuals' reactions to other 
individuals is in a group. At the Republican conference meeting 
immediately before the Fourth of July recess, Paul Coverdell, as the 
Secretary of the conference, presented us a little plastic note card, 
the top of which read ``Republican Policy.'' I no longer remember the 
particular subject, but I do remember that first one or two people 
said, ``I don't agree with point 3.'' Pretty soon, everyone was piling 
on. Finally, one of our colleagues wrote across the top of this, ``One 
Republican's Policy,'' and handed it back to Paul Coverdell, who just 
went back to perfect his message.
  Whom you tease, you generally love. That in many respects was an 
expression of the love and respect his Republican colleagues had for 
Paul Coverdell.
  Paul Coverdell made us all proud of our profession, a profession 
often criticized, in fact a profession rarely praised. When a State 
sends a Paul Coverdell to the Senate, it is proof positive that our 
system works. And when the Senate of the United States listens to and 
respects and follows a Paul Coverdell, that, too, is proof that our 
system works. When, as was my privilege, you come to know and be 
befriended by a Paul Coverdell, you are especially privileged and 
especially honored. I was so privileged. I was so honored.
  I will not know his like again.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I congratulate my colleague from 
Washington State on very eloquent comments about our dear friend, Paul

[[Page 16340]]

Coverdell. I had the chance a few days ago to make some more extensive 
comments than I will tonight about Senator Coverdell. But I just want 
to add, I had the opportunity, as many Members of the Senate did, to 
travel to Atlanta this past weekend to participate in that very 
wonderful service for our dear friend. I don't think it really hit me 
that he was really gone until I got back this week to Washington and 
started contemplating this Senate body without Paul Coverdell and all 
that he meant to each and every one of us. He was our friend. We loved 
him very much. This body, this institution, is a poorer place because 
he is gone.
  Each one of us is richer because we were privileged to know this very 
gentle, this very kind, this very sweet, this very good man.

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