John Hickenlooper: “I rise today to pay tribute to Kaaren Hinck and her 20 years of service to the U.S. Senate. Although she is never one to…”

“I rise today to pay tribute to Kaaren Hinck and her 20 years of service to the U.S. Senate. Although she is never one to seek the spotlight, we can't let her walk out these doors without acknowledging what has been a tremendous career in public service to eight Senators and one Representative across four States and two Presidential campaigns. Kaaren's Senate career got off to an auspicious start one day while she was at home playing hooky from school in Minnesota. Watching TV, she saw an ad for the Senate page program and thought that sounded like something she might like to do. In a sign of things to come, not only was she selected to become a page for her home State Senator, but she also worked it out with her principal so she could do an ``independent study'' and avoid the page program classes altogether, a born dealmaker even before stepping foot in the Chamber. After studying art history at Boston University, she returned to the Senate, this time interning for the ``Lion of the Senate'' himself, Ted Kennedy, before becoming his volunteer coordinator. Thus began her long association with the gentlemen and gentlelady from Massachusetts. Ted Kennedy would be a high watermark for most Senate careers, but Kaaren would go on to work for Senator John Kerry at the height of his Senate career and follow him onto his Presidential campaign. After the heartbreaking loss of 2004, she would embark on a new adventure: the post-Mickey Drexler Gap.…”