Patrick Leahy: “I spoke on the floor last week to briefly recount some of the many reasons that Vermont and the Nation will miss the…”

“I spoke on the floor last week to briefly recount some of the many reasons that Vermont and the Nation will miss the leadership, the independence and the decency of Senator Jim Jeffords when he chooses to retire from the Senate at the end of his current term. Since then there have been many news articles and editorials that have also catalogued and described various aspects of Jim Jeffords' distinguished legacy. As is often the case when he writes about the events and issues of the day, Emerson Lynn, the publisher of the St. Albans Messenger in my home State of Vermont, did this particularly well. I would like to share his editorial with the members of the Senate. I ask unanimous consent that Emerson Lynn's recent editorial about Senator Jeffords be printed in the Record There being no objection, the editorial was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: [From the St. Albans Messenger, Apr. 21, 2005] Jeffords Leaves Before His Time, Accomplishes Much Senator Jim Jeffords, who turned Washington's political world upside down 4 years ago with his defection from the Republican Party, Wednesday turned Vermont's political world upside down with his announcement not to seek reelection. He said it was time to begin a new chapter in a life that for 38 years has been dominated by an election cycle that began as a state senator from Rutland in 1967, to Attorney General in 1969, to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 to the United States Senate in 1988.…”