Political Quotes

“earlier this year, the Sunday Rutland Herald and Sunday Times Argus had an article about a fellow Montpelier neighbor, Dr. Ernest Tomasi. Dr. Tomasi was named the distinguished citizen of the year by the Montpelier Rotary Club. Madam President, I have known Dr. Tomasi my whole life. And my parents knew him even before I did. He is a remarkable man, and probably one of the last examples of a country doctor, even though he has always practiced in our capital city. Dr. Tomasi, a man very proud of his Italian heritage, as was my late mother, was one who would make sure that everybody who needed a physician received that physician's care. So many times people would come to him telling him that they could not afford a doctor's care but needed a doctor's care. They always got it. It would be remarkable if somebody were able to tally up all the people of central Vermont who were cared for by him but never received a bill because they could not pay for it. I also think of the number of times as a youngster seeing him going out making house calls, and then even in later years, even after I became a U.S. Senator, seeing Dr. Tomasi with his battered bag heading off for house calls. It was my privilege to see him in 1994, when he went back for the 50th anniversary of D-Day. He had landed on Normandy as a young medic and, as he said, was one of the only ones who went ashore without guns.”