Political Quotes

“I rise tonight to take this opportunity to discuss why I believe it is so important that the U.S. Senate pass strong legislation to protect our children from the tobacco companies that are preying on them. I got my real start in public service in Eugene, OR, right after I got out of law school in my twenties in Lane County in Oregon. I started a senior citizens legal clinic. I was able to get almost all of the attorneys in town to volunteer their time, coming to the senior citizens center to help the older people with the varied legal problems that seniors have. At the legal clinic when I was in my twenties I saw firsthand the extraordinary health consequences that smoking has for our citizens. I saw older people come to that legal clinic in Lane County in Oregon racked with emphysema. They were struggling for every breath. I found myself, having organized this legal clinic to help older people, having to console the widows and widowers of cancer victims, families that lost loved ones years and years before their time. I saw then when I set up that senior citizens legal clinic exactly what cigarettes can do to the health and well-being of our citizens and the toll that they take on American families. So when I decided to seek elected office I said that I would put a special focus on my service in the U.S. Senate in trying to improve the health care of our citizens.”