Thad Cochran: “I congratulate and commend my friend and colleague from Mississippi for his wonderfully eloquent statement, and for…”

“I congratulate and commend my friend and colleague from Mississippi for his wonderfully eloquent statement, and for taking time, today, to pay tribute to a very special friend. Twenty-five years ago, Jonna Lynne Cullen came to my office in Jackson, MS, to congratulate me on my election to the Congress. She and my wife, Rose, along with my distinguished colleague the majority leader, were classmates at the University of Mississippi just 13 years before that. She told me, when she came to the office, all about the process of organizing the House of Representatives and offered to assist me and my staff as I began my job as the new U.S. Congressman from the Fourth Congressional District of Mississippi. Her advice and counsel to me were very helpful, and I gained more respect for her, for her insight and her knowledge, as time went on. As a member of the staff of the House Rules Committee, she was where the action was. She was where you knew what legislation was coming up and what the process was. And she was a great source of information and encouragement for me, as someone who had never worked as a member of the staff or had been closely involved in the workings of the Congress before my election in 1972. Her appreciation of the Congress was contagious, and so was her enthusiasm. Everyone I knew liked her. In time, her capabilities and dedication were rewarded with an offer to work at the White House.”