On the recordDecember 16, 2010
I take a moment to say a few words about the junior Senator from Wisconsin, Senator Russ Feingold, who will be leaving the Senate at the end of this session. We have served together in the Senate, working for the people of Wisconsin every day, since he was elected in 1992. But now Wisconsin is losing a powerful and thoughtful advocate that carried on the proud progressive tradition of Robert LaFollette. Russ came to the Senate by winning an upset election, running as an outsider. He famously wrote a promise to the people of Wisconsin on his garage door, and people responded to his sincerity. Keeping that promise has kept him close to the people of Wisconsin as he traveled to every county in the State once a year to hold a listening session. That kind of accessibility, and his pledge to raise his campaign money mostly from the people of Wisconsin, gives him a credibility and integrity that no one in the State can question. Money and politics has always been an issue that Russ felt passionately about. So it should be no surprise that his biggest legislative win was when he worked with Senator John McCain to put restrictions on campaign financing with the historic Bi-Partisan Campaign Finance Reform Act, better known as the McCain-Feingold bill.
