Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank the majority leader for organizing this Special Order. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak for Senator Sarbanes' employees, and especially for my sister-in-law Nellie Freeman, who worked for Paul Sarbanes for 17 years, from December of 1989 to January of 2007. I am not going to talk about all the amazing things about Senator Sarbanes that his Maryland colleagues have eloquently mentioned. John, I am definitely not going to talk about fathers and sons because then I will start crying, but my dad, Sandy Levin, who served in this House for 36 years, and my Uncle Carl Levin, who served for 36 years in the Senate, many of them with Senator Sarbanes, both loved him very much. But let me talk about Nellie and, by extension, his broader staff. Nellie loved serving in the Senate on the staff, and she loved the Senator. That is what she called him, ``the Senator.'' And John Sarbanes saw Nellie Freeman for who she was. He saw her talent and he unleashed her to interact with the people of Maryland, of which she was a native, to organize events, to organize his participation in festivals and convenings of all kinds. And she just loved this work. He saw the value in it and understood that the connection with human beings is the essence of politics. He once said that Nellie knew more constituents and more local organizations than anyone else in Maryland. And, you know, I think she is just incredibly proud of that to this day.…”