Political Quotes

“today, I want to recognize and honor the life of Kurt Paul Pfotenhauer, an extraordinary public servant and three-decade friend who passed away on January 21. Kurt was, first and foremost, a man of deep Christian faith. He was guided in his public service not only by his conservative political beliefs but by that faith, his integrity, his humility, and his sense of responsibility for others. When I first met Kurt, he had been named Senator Gordon Smith's chief of staff. Gordon and I were brand new Senators, and we had a Mount Hood-sized mountain to climb. That is because we were to fill the giant shoes of two retiring, very powerful U.S. Senators from Oregon. Kurt and my chief of staff executed an agreement between Gordon and I to set aside our political differences whenever possible and go to bat for the State of Oregon. That included making sure that our respective congressional and political staffs abided by that agreement. That last bit, as Senators know, sometimes can be easier said than done. We quickly learned that Kurt's word really meant something. Trust can be awfully difficult to make happen in politics, even with those in your own political party, but we came to see that Kurt's word, in fact, was his bond. Our staffs learned to work together--occasionally through gritted teeth--and Kurt and Gordon always upheld their end of the agreement.”