Political Quotes

“I come here with a solemn message today, and I come here remembering a Republican colleague who served in this body for 12 years--George Voinovich. George was a former Governor of Ohio and a former mayor of Cleveland. I think, in his time, he was county auditor. He was Lieutenant Governor, I believe, and mayor of Cleveland. He was the chairman of the National League of Cities. As a two-term Governor of Ohio, he was also chairman of the National Governors Association. I had the privilege of serving as his vice chairman and, later on, as his successor, as the chairman of the NGA. Then George came here. He was elected in 1998, and he took office here in the Senate in 1999. He served for two terms and is, I am sure, remembered by everybody who served with him as smart, kind, principled, hard-working, and straight-talking. He was everything an elected official should be and could be. He and I went to Ohio State together but not at the same time. He was in law school and a year or two older than me. I was an undergraduate, and so I never got to know him at that point in time. But we shared a lot of bonds. I got to know his family well, his wife Janet. She and my wife Martha, as we were Governors together, were spouses together and were very good and close friends. I liked George. You know sometimes when you meet someone and you just like them right away?…”