Volume 155, No. 6 covering the 1st Session of the 111th Congress (2009 - 2010) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SERVICE TO KENTUCKY AND THE NATION” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S276-S279 on Jan. 12, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SERVICE TO KENTUCKY AND THE NATION
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I thank my good friend, the majority leader, for his very kind remarks about what has now become a rather lengthy period of service in the Senate. He and I came here at roughly the same time, and, as he indicated, came to the Congress at roughly the same time. We have shared a few positions on each side of the aisle that are remarkably similar no matter which party you represent.
I noted with interest last week the photograph at the White House of the living former Presidents who had all had lunch together, and I was thinking, as the majority leader was speaking, we are in a rather limited fraternity, too--so far it is a fraternity; it will be a sorority at some point as well as a fraternity; a brotherhood or sisterhood, if you will--of people who have held these jobs which have their own unique set of challenges that are quite similar whether you are leading the Republicans or leading the Democrats.
I wish to thank the majority leader for his very kind remarks not only about me but about my wife's public service as Secretary of Labor, which will be coming to an end at noon on January 20, along with the current administration. I also wish to express my gratitude to the majority leader for coming down to the University of Louisville back in 2007. The students enjoyed it immensely. In fact, their last magazine about the program of the center has a very large picture of the majority leader and a lengthy article including a Q and A session he had with the students.
So I am grateful for his friendship and look forward to working with him in this Congress to advance the interests of our Nation.
A few months prior to this body's convening last week, I was grateful to be chosen by my colleagues to serve once again as the Senate Republican leader.
I would also like to thank the people of Kentucky for giving me another term in the Senate. I am certainly privileged Kentucky has sent me to the Senate five times now to speak for them and for their interests, and I intend to work harder than I ever have over the next 6 years to justify their confidence.
At such a time as this, after the people of Kentucky have spoken, I cannot help but think of great Kentuckians in the past who the people of my State have selected to represent their interests.
Some we know from the history books, such as Henry Clay. Although he was Speaker of the House, Secretary of State, and a three-time Presidential candidate, we know him best as the Senator from Kentucky--
the Great Compromiser who staved off civil war. Or take John Breckinridge. Elected to Congress from Virginia, he resigned that seat to move to Kentucky, which at the time was America's western frontier. A key architect of Kentucky's early State government, Breckinridge went on to serve as a Senator from Kentucky, and then as our young Nation's Attorney General under Thomas Jefferson.
Moving to modern times, I can think of other legendary Senators from Kentucky whose footsteps still echo in these halls.
Kentucky still fondly remembers the career of public service carved out by A.B. Chandler. He would be the first to tell you he made his mark not as a Senator but as a two-term Governor, or in the job he resigned the Senate to hold: commissioner of baseball. No matter what the job, with his winning personality, he was better known throughout the State by his nickname ``Happy.''
I am sure he would be happy to see his grandson, Congressman Ben Chandler, continuing his family's tradition of service to the people of Kentucky.
I have also spoken on this floor before of my admiration and respect for John Sherman Cooper, the conscience of the Senate in his day. I will always remember the man who mentored me as an intern in my first job on Capitol Hill and helped me navigate these hallways decades later as a freshman Senator.
Of course, there is Alben Barkley, the first and, until recently, the only Kentuckian to be elected his party's leader. After 12 years leading Senate Democrats through the Great Depression and World War II, he became America's 35th Vice President.
Alben Barkley held the record as Kentucky's longest serving Senator for over 40 years--until it was broken by a man who, like him, rose from humble beginnings to become famous across the Commonwealth.
That Senator was Wendell Ford, a man many of my colleagues have had the honor to know and work alongside. Wendell was the senior Senator from my State when I was first elected, and I got to watch him up close for 14 years. Over those years, I learned why Wendell is the first and only Kentuckian to be elected successively Lieutenant Governor, Governor, and Senator. It is because even while he attained high office, he never forgot the lessons he learned working alongside his parents on their farm. Countless times he reminded voters he was ``just a country boy from Yellow Creek.'' And Kentuckians respected him for proving that a country boy could walk the halls of power, dine with kings and Presidents and still come back to Yellow Creek and be right at home.
Wendell Hampton Ford was born in Daviess County, KY, and grew up on his family's 250-acre farm in the little town of Thruston. The Ford family raised cattle, hogs, and chickens and grew tobacco and corn. Young Wendell was no stranger to work. He did his part by milking 30 cows by hand twice a day every day. Decades later, whenever anyone told him he had a strong handshake, Wendell would tell them: ``I milked at an early age.''
I know Wendell would credit his parents with teaching him everything he needed to know to succeed in life. Ernest Ford was a farmer, an insurance company owner, and a chairman of the Daviess County Democratic Party. He served in both the Kentucky State House and Senate. His mother, Irene Ford, worked harder than anyone on the family farm. She picked strawberries, she snapped green beans, and she canned everything that you could can. She could cook a pork tenderloin that was so good, Wendell recalls, ``We'd say it'd make you swallow your tongue.'' She was devoted to her family, her friends, her neighbors, and her church.
Wendell remembers:
Mother never disliked anyone. She never would say anything unkind about anybody. And mother worked very, very hard. . .
. if there's anyone that ever went to heaven, my mother is there.
Now, I am going to guess that maybe through his father's political connections, Wendell scored a plum prize as a young child: he became a page in the Kentucky State House. The way they inducted pages back then is a little different from how we do it in the U.S. Senate today. Wendell's sponsor, a representative from Taylorsville, had young Wendell come and stand on his desk on the House floor. He gave a speech about what a good little kid he was, and when he was done, the entire chamber applauded, making Wendell a page by acclamation. After an introduction to politics like that, is it any wonder Wendell decided he wanted more?
Wendell was also lucky enough to meet one of the great Kentuckians I mentioned earlier--Alben Barkley--back when, obviously, Senator Ford was young. At the Seelbach Hotel in my hometown of Louisville, he heard a speech from the Senator and future Vice President. Like Barkley, Wendell always wanted to be around people--a trait that would serve him well as a public servant.
Like most Kentuckians, Wendell Ford loves basketball. He played on the basketball team for Thruston Elementary School and he played on the team for Daviess County High School. But while in high school, Wendell broke his arm. That ended his basketball career, and that threatened to end his involvement with the team, the friendships he had made, and his seat on the bus to all the away games. So to stay involved, Wendell filled an open slot on the school's cheerleading team. He got to keep going to the games, he got to keep up his friendships, and he ended up being voted ``most talkative'' in the Daviess County High School senior class of 1942.
After high school graduation, Wendell attended the University of Kentucky. Then, in 1944, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and SGT Wendell Ford reported for duty at Fort Hood, TX. But he was not the only Ford to trade in his bluegrass for a 10-gallon hat and make that trip. By his side was his lovely bride Jean, who met Wendell when they both worked at the J.C. Penney store in Owensboro the summer after Wendell's high school graduation. They married in September 1943 just after Wendell had turned 19. Jean hailed from the town of West Point in Hardin County. She could hardly have known then how her life would turn out or how she and her husband would become respected across the Commonwealth.
Oftentimes, my colleagues and I will talk about our wives or our husbands and what we will be doing over the next recess. You will frequently hear spouses' first names tossed around, like my wife's name is Elaine. But after 50 years of marriage, Wendell only referred to his bride as ``Mrs. Ford.'' It is a testament to the fact that the country boy from Yellow Creek remains forever a country gentleman.
After the end of World War II and an honorable discharge from the service, Wendell graduated from the Maryland School of Insurance. He and Jean returned to Owensboro, where his family had moved after selling the farm. Wendell entered the insurance business with his father and started to take an interest in what was happening in his community.
It all started with a razor. That is what Wendell was looking to buy on a lunchtime errand when he ran into a friend who invited him to a Jaycees luncheon.
In my travels across Kentucky, I have met many who know and remember Wendell from his days with the Jaycees. Devoted to fostering leadership and community service, the Jaycees have done a lot for Kentucky and for the Nation. Once again, the man who played a role that cannot be ignored is Wendell Ford.
A lot of beliefs that would come to characterize Wendell Ford's career came from the creed of the Jaycees. That creed states that only faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life, that government should be of laws rather than of men, and that service to humanity is the best work of life.
Wendell would rise rapidly in his career, again and again, no matter what the arena, and his time in the Jaycees was no different. That first meeting at the request of a friend led to Wendell becoming a member. By 1954, he was the Kentucky Jaycees State president at 31. In 1956, he led the Kentucky Jaycees to their national convention in Kansas City with one goal: they wanted to return home with a Kentuckian as the organization's national president--a Kentuckian named Wendell Ford.
Kentucky has a rich history of colorful, memorable campaign ads, but it took Wendell Ford, as a candidate for the Jaycees' national president, to come up with a brilliant ad by piggybacking his name on perhaps the most famous rock-and-roll song of all time. By convention's end, every Jaycee delegate went home singing a familiar tune with the words ``shake, rattle, and roll'' replaced with ``shake, rally with Ford.'' Wendell remembers:
We kept them up all night with that record. And I guess
[we] made it even better, because we won.
To work the crowds at the convention, Wendell bought two new suits for $35 apiece, one black and one gray. By rotating jackets with each pair of pants, he had four different outfits for the 4 days of the convention. Whether it was the song or the suits or both, Wendell went home the first Jaycees national President from Kentucky, and his network from that organization became the foundation for one of the Commonwealth's most successful political careers.
By the late 1950s, Wendell had caught the eye of Bert Combs, who had run for Governor of Kentucky but lost to ``Happy'' Chandler. Combs was planning to run again, and he wanted the impressive Jaycees president to be the youth chairman of his campaign. After winning that race, Bert Combs made Wendell his administrative assistant, a job he held from 1959 to 1961.
But soon the time came for Wendell to emerge from the ranks of political staffers and run for office himself. In 1965, he ran for a State senate seat representing Daviess and Hancock Counties, and clearly he was not afraid of a challenging race. The reason I say he was not afraid of a challenging race, the guy he ran against in the primary, a fellow named Cap Gardner, was not just any incumbent Senator, he was the State senate majority leader. I was in law school at the University of Kentucky at the time, and I remember reading about the primary in which the majority leader of the Kentucky State Senate was upset by an impressive young man named Wendell Ford. He won that race by 305 votes--after a recount.
In those days, Kentucky was very much a one-party State, so winning the Democratic primary for most any office was tantamount to winning the election. In most counties, you could hold Republican Party meetings in a phone booth. It is not that way anymore, which I think is for the better--I think a competitive, two-party system makes both parties better, and that, in turn, serves the people best--but the Democratic Party ruled Kentucky then, and after Wendell won the primary, he easily won the general. For the first time, but not the last, he became Senator Ford. As a freshman Senator, he sponsored 22 bills, all of which became law. That is a record of success few legislators would dare seek to duplicate.
But Wendell didn't plan on staying in the State senate too long. Just 2 years later, in 1967, he ran for Lieutenant Governor, and once again he ruffled some feathers amongst the more established politicians of the Commonwealth who didn't understand why this country boy from Yellow Creek couldn't settle down and wait his turn. In the primary, Wendell faced Robert Matthews, the incumbent State attorney general. I am sure the entrenched political forces in Kentucky expected and perhaps even desired Matthews to win, but Wendell wasn't going along with their program. He defeated Matthews in the primary--barely--36.1 percent to 35.9 percent. Wendell went on to win a similarly close race in the general election, defeating Thomas Ratliff and becoming the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.
But at the same time, something unusual happened. You heard me say just a minute ago that in those days Kentucky was very much a one-party State, but in 1967, Kentuckians elected a guy named Louie Nunn to be Kentucky's first Republican Governor since World War II. At that time, candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor in my State ran separately. So while the Democratic candidate for Governor lost, Wendell Ford quite remarkably won, and he instantly became two things: the top-ranked Democrat in State government and, of course, a real thorn in the side of Governor Nunn.
Wendell had to beat a Republican tide--a rare tide in those days--to become Lieutenant Governor. He was clearly a man of great talent and ambition who was not yet done making his mark on Kentucky politics. So naturally he looked next to the top job in State government, the office of Governor.
In that era, Kentucky Governors were forbidden to succeed themselves by running for a second term. In fact, Kentucky retained that term limit for Governors right up until the 1990s--one of the last States to do so. So Wendell would not have to face Governor Nunn in the 1971 election. He would, however, have to face a different Governor, his friend and mentor, former Governor Bert Combs.
Everybody in Kentucky thought Governor Combs, who had subsequently had a distinguished career as a U.S. court of appeals judge after his term as Governor, was a lead pipe cinch to be the next Governor of Kentucky, or at the very least to win the Democratic primary for sure. But once again Wendell Ford beat everybody's expectations. Bert Combs resigned his judgeship to run for Governor and couldn't believe what a tough race his former administrative assistant gave him. When a mutual friend of the two candidates said to Combs that he had taught Wendell well, Combs replied, ``Yes, I taught him too damn well.'' Wendell beat Bert Combs 53 percent to 44 percent in the primary and went on to easily win the general election. On December 7, 1971, he was sworn in as Governor of Kentucky.
Right from the start, Governor Ford's guiding belief as Kentucky's chief executive was that the only reason for the existence of government at any level was to serve people. Wherever he felt that wasn't happening, he believed there must be change.
Throughout his term, no bill that Governor Ford supported failed to pass. He commanded the forces of the State government below him the way a general commands his troops. But Governor Ford didn't ask anyone else to work harder than he did himself. His work ethic back then was legendary, and I think some of my colleagues can attest to the fact that he kept right at it after he joined us here in the Senate.
As Governor, a 14-hour workday was routine, a 16-hour day frequent, and an 18-hour day not uncommon.
When Governor Ford used to fly here to Washington for official matters, he was all business. Time in the car or the plane was spent reading memos or writing speeches. Dinner was a cheeseburger and fries in the hotel room.
As early as possible the next morning, Wendell was up and flying home to Kentucky where he would put in an extra-late night at the State capitol to make up for time missed.
Once he had successfully enacted the major points of his platform--
including shrinking and streamlining State government, creating the State's first environmental protection agency, and enacting a severance tax on coal--Wendell Ford decided he was not finished serving the people of Kentucky just yet.
I have already said at that time, a Kentucky Governor could not run for a second term. So Wendell looked to the U.S. Senate election in 1974 where he would have to take on incumbent Republican Senator Marlow Cook.
The 1974 election came on the heels of the Watergate scandal and Richard Nixon's resignation. It goes without saying it was a very hard year for Republicans. But even if it had been an easy year for Republicans, Governor Ford would have been very hard to defeat.
So Wendell won over Marlow Cook pretty handily, and Governor Ford became Senator Ford. I should point out, I actually used to work for Senator Cook as a legislative director in the early part of his one term.
Senator Cook graciously agreed to step aside a little bit early for Senator Ford. So Wendell's tenure in this Chamber began on December 28, 1974. At this point, the Wendell Ford so many of my colleagues know and admire emerges, as he spent an incredibly successful and fruitful 24 years here.
After my election in 1984, I served alongside him for 14 of those years. Obviously, Wendell Ford and I did not stand on the same side of the aisle. But we always stood together for the people of Kentucky.
With Wendell, whether you agreed or disagreed, you always knew where you stood with him. Even if you disagreed--which we often did--Wendell knew how to disagree without being disagreeable.
I remember one joke he liked to tell about how seriously we Kentuckians take our horseracing. He liked to say that one day on the running of the Kentucky Derby, a man walking in Churchill Downs noticed a box with an empty seat in it. He stopped and said to the little old lady sitting next to it: This is the first empty seat I have seen today. Bear in mind, this is at the Derby.
She replied: Well, it belonged to my husband, but he died.
The man said: It seems a shame to let such a good seat go to waste. Why didn't you give it to one of your relatives?
The lady said: I would have, but they are all at the funeral.
That is how important the Derby and the horse industry are to the Bluegrass State. Wendell Ford enjoyed telling that story.
With his sense of humor, a penchant for storytelling that rivaled his childhood hero Alben Barkley, and his ability to establish friendships and trust, Wendell quickly became a leader amongst his Senate colleagues. He served a stint running the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
By 1987, he had risen to become chairman of the Senate Rules Committee. That position put him in charge of the inaugural ceremonies at the Capitol for both Presidents George H.W. Bush in 1989 and Bill Clinton in 1993. Kentuckians were proud to see one of their own on the inaugural platform just footsteps away from the new President.
Wendell was chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing where he worked to trim the costs of Government printing and implemented the first ever program for the use of recycled printing paper. That may not be the type of issue that grabs the biggest headlines, but, obviously, official Washington uses a lot of paper. Wendell was ahead of his time in making these environmentally friendly efforts that are commonplace now, and he saved taxpayers millions of dollars.
Wendell could see the absurdity of some of what goes on in Washington and knew just when to break the tension with a little humor. One former colleague has spoken of one of the many times the Senate has continued in session until 3:30 or 4 o'clock in the morning, with debate still going on on the Senate floor. At one of these times, Wendell nudged the Senator next to him and said: You know, the people back home think that we are the ones who won.
Wendell even appeared once on the cable channel MTV on a program called ``Rock the Vote'' because of his sponsorship of the motor voter law. That MTV appearance made him very popular with his grandchildren. Surely the number of U.S. Senators who have appeared sandwiched in between videos for Whitney Houston and Billy Ray Cyrus is very small.
In 1990, Wendell's colleagues, as my friend the majority leader pointed out, elected him to be No. 2 in their party in the Senate, the Senate whip. He held that slot until his retirement in 1999. Wendell was elected by acclamation and without opposition. That is obviously a position of great responsibility and honor, and it speaks to the respect Wendell commanded from his fellow Senators.
After his election as whip, he said: In Kentucky, we are known for our horses. I plan on being a workhorse and not a show horse.
I think knowing Wendell's work ethic, no one doubted he would give his all to the job.
In March of 1998, Wendell became the longest serving Senator in Kentucky history, breaking the record of the man he had seen giving a speech more than 50 years earlier, Alben Barkley. That is just another accomplishment in a long list that he has amassed over his extraordinarily successful tenure in both State and Federal Government.
Wendell Ford served in this body for 8,772 days, a record that stood for nearly 11 years until January 10, this past Saturday. He never lost an election for public office. Kentucky sent him to the U.S. Senate four times, and he was the first statewide candidate to carry all 120 counties.
How does a country boy from Yellow Creek achieve such success at the highest levels of American politics? I think because no matter where he ended up, Wendell Ford never forgot from where he started from. Even in his final months in the Senate, he still got goose bumps every time he looked up at the Capitol dome on his way to work. He remained the same man, partial to a cigarette and a down-home tale.
When his duties didn't require him to be in Washington, he would return home to Kentucky, as he did most weekends throughout his Senate career. A 3-day weekend was a perfect chance to go to the house he and his family owned by Rough River Lake and do some reading and fishing. He once said his idea of a vacation was ``not shaving and not wearing a suit.''
Wendell Ford never forgot the truly important things in his life--his wife Jean, their children and grandchildren, and the simple pleasures of his native Kentucky.
Many of my colleagues will remember his trademark greeting when he walked into a room. He would say: How are all you lucky people doing? Sometimes that would be shortened to simply: Hey, Lucky!
But Wendell never lost sight that he was truly the lucky one for receiving the trust of the people of Kentucky many times over. He would be the first to tell you that, and Kentucky and our Nation are lucky as well for having had his many years of service.
Over the next 6 years, as I work my hardest to better the lives of everyone in Kentucky and the country, I am going to remember the lessons learned from Wendell Ford's long career. I will remember how his life is a testament to the success anybody in America can attain, even a country boy from Yellow Creek. I will remember what an honor it is to continue in the tradition of Wendell Ford and so many other fine public servants who have come from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Their service will continue to remind me every day that with energy, determination, and principle, being the Senator from Kentucky is the best job I could ever hope to have.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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