Johnny Isakson: “we are busy about lots of things, but there is one thing that you should never be too busy to do, and that is to pause…”

“we are busy about lots of things, but there is one thing that you should never be too busy to do, and that is to pause and stop and say thank you--thank you to someone or some entity or some institution that has made a difference in your life or in the life of your country. I don't often come down here on points of personal privilege. I do it, but I don't often do it. When I do do it, it is special for me, and I hope it is special for the people I am talking about. A good friend of mine is retiring from the Southern Company in the next few months. His name is Jim McCool. Now, most of you probably don't know Jim McCool. Jim is one of those people who some people refer to as a lobbyist and others refer to as a professional advocate. I refer to him as my good friend. I met him in the 1980s. He had started his own formal wear business. He then sold that business and went to work for Mississippi Power. It was later one of the Southern Company's companies. He then worked as a liaison to Washington for the Southern Company, for Georgia Power, for Mississippi Power, and for Alabama Power. I got to know Jim in lots of ways. First of all, it was when I was in the Georgia State Senate and the Georgia State House. On the industry committee, we worked on issues that dealt with electric utilities. I didn't know anything about those, as I was a real estate broker. My knowledge of electricity was that when I threw that switch, I wanted it to come on.…”