Mark Dayton: “I also want to join with my colleagues in paying tribute to our departing Senator from New Jersey, Senator Jon Corzine.…”

“I also want to join with my colleagues in paying tribute to our departing Senator from New Jersey, Senator Jon Corzine. I met him for the first time when we were both sworn in on January 3 of 2001. Even before that time, I knew of his success but also his high caliber by virtue of the fact that he was cochairman of a great firm, Goldman Sachs, whose previous contributions to the U.S. Government included John Whitehead, Deputy Secretary of State under President Reagan, and Robert Rubin, the Secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton. Senator Corzine followed in that tradition of very successful men who could do anything they wanted with their lives for the rest of their lives but had chosen to commit themselves to public service. It has been an honor and a privilege and a pleasure to serve with Senator Corzine these last 5 years, to learn from his own wisdom and experience as it relates to so many matters affecting the betterment of our country, and then to watch him forego what would have been a safe track and a relatively easy reelection next year as a Senator because he felt he could be of better service to his fellow citizens from New Jersey by acting as their Governor, going through the rigors and ordeals of another campaign, a challenging endeavor but where he sacrificed himself and his own resources in order to give greater service to the people of New Jersey.…”