[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 1275-1276]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING SENATOR PAUL KIRK

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, first I wanted to say a few words to welcome 
our new colleague, Scott Brown, who has joined our ranks as a Member of 
the Senate from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I wasn't able to be 
here at 5 p.m. when he was sworn into office, but I wish him the very 
best. I had a good conversation with him a couple weeks ago after his 
election and look forward to serving with him.
  I rise this evening to honor a good friend and a legendary public 
servant. Although he only served here a short time, Paul Kirk has been 
a public servant for decades. I wish to tell him and his wife Gail and 
their family what a remarkable contribution in a few short weeks Paul 
Kirk has made as a Member of the Senate.
  Paul is an American who will never get the kind of attention he 
deserves for the rich life of public service he has led throughout his 
career. That won't bother him one bit because that is who Paul Kirk is. 
For over half a century, he has been motivated not by a desire to seek 
recognition or to receive it but by a passion for progress and a deep 
love of his own country.
  Paul came to Washington last fall with the impossible task of 
succeeding our dear friend Ted Kennedy as Senator from Massachusetts. 
Paul did so

[[Page 1276]]

not in the hopes of filling Teddy's shoes but in continuing to blaze 
the path forward that Ted Kennedy forged more than four decades ago 
when he arrived as a new Member of this body. As a U.S. Senator, Paul 
Kirk has served the Commonwealth with great dignity and humility. 
Although he was only among our ranks for a few short months, all of us 
will miss him in this Chamber. He left such a good and lasting 
impression of his service.
  Paul's time here is just one of many roles he has played in service 
to our Nation and our democracy. In 1965, many years ago, Paul Kirk 
entered public service as an assistant district attorney in 
Massachusetts. But it wasn't long before Paul's story became 
intertwined with the Kennedy family in Massachusetts.
  In 1968, Paul worked on Robert Kennedy's Presidential campaign, and 
the very next year he joined the Senate staff of Bob's brother Ted. 
Thus began the kind of a partnership that has moved mountains 
throughout our history. As a Senate staffer, the political director of 
Teddy's Presidential campaign, and the chairman of our own Democratic 
Party, Paul served alongside Ted Kennedy as Teddy and his remarkable 
staff over those four decades fought battle after battle on behalf of 
the American people.
  Paul has always understood the importance and power of the American 
story. That is why he has served for a decade as chairman of the 
National Democratic Institute of International Affairs, working to 
spread and support democracy around the world so that every nation 
could know what it is to be truly free. And he has worked to strengthen 
our own democracy as well, as the longtime cochairman of the Commission 
on Presidential Debates.
  As we all know, Paul Kirk is a very proud Democrat, but he is even 
prouder as an American. In an age when it seems as if partisanship can 
overwhelm even our most fundamental Democratic values, Paul Kirk has 
stood for fair play and open debate for decades.
  Many Americans first met Paul Kirk after Teddy passed away, when Paul 
so elegantly conducted that remarkable memorial service at the Kennedy 
Library in Boston. They saw in him the passion that led him to join Ted 
Kennedy in the cause of progress and also the quiet dignity of a man 
for whom the work would go on, even after the passing of his very dear 
friend.
  As a U.S. Senator, they have seen him take up the torch of issues 
that mattered to Teddy and to the people of Massachusetts and to the 
American people, none more important, of course, or dear to Paul's 
heart than the fight to reform our health care system, a fight that 
will have to continue in his absence.
  Paul has been assisted in this difficult job by a core of public 
servants, the names of whom are unfamiliar to most and the likes of 
which we might not see again, the staff he inherited from Ted Kennedy. 
Whether you are a Democrat or Republican--I say this to new Members--
the older Members of this Chamber, Democrats and Republicans, will tell 
you that to know the Kennedy staff was to respect how talented and 
professional that staff was, how fairly they treated every Member of 
this body and every staff member. It was the core reason for their 
success legislatively, because they had such respect for individual 
Members, the staff who works here, and for the ideas people brought to 
the debate. They too, of course, deserve our appreciation and 
recognition as well.
  I congratulate Senator Scott Brown and welcome him to this Chamber. 
It is a remarkable opportunity he will have to represent the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I look forward to working with him in 
the coming days and weeks. Senator Brown comes to fill a seat from 
which great things have been done for the people of Massachusetts and 
our country. I think there might be no greater compliment I can pay to 
the man whom we welcomed last year than to say to Senator Brown: We 
wish you the very best in filling Ted Kennedy's shoes and Paul Kirk's 
shoes as well.
  To my friend Paul, I thank you for your service, not just the service 
you performed in this Chamber but a lifetime of service you have given 
to our country and the many more years of service I know you will be 
able to provide. To his wife Gail, I thank you for sharing your husband 
with the country over these past months. I wish you all the best as you 
look forward as well to the future.
  To our colleagues who have come to know Paul's decency and 
professionalism, I urge we follow his example, not just in dogged 
pursuit of good legislation that moves our country forward but in the 
effort to make this Chamber a place where good ideas and good 
conscience can once again trump pettiness and partisanship. Let us be 
guided in our work not just by Teddy's passion but by the selfless 
spirit of service that has made Paul Kirk such a fine U.S. Senator and 
a very good American.
  I thank Paul for his service. I said to him the other day that my 
only regret is that he hasn't been able to serve here a longer time 
because I think he would have made a remarkable contribution to our 
country. He did in a short time, but I have a feeling that had he been 
here for a number of years, the country would be a better place today. 
It already is because of his service. It could have been even better. I 
wish him the very best.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________