Political Quotes

“I rise today to honor longtime Kanawha County Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman upon his retirement after more than 32 remarkable years of service to the 13th Judicial Circuit. I have often said there is no greater accomplishment than to find yourself in a position to give back to the community you love. As a Charleston native, Judge Kaufman has served the people of Kanawha County with professionalism, fairmindedness, and great respect from the day he took office in 1988. Following his undergraduate education, he worked as a paralegal in the Washington, DC, law firm of Covington & Burling and received a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1980. He served a clerkship on the U.S. Tax Court during law school before joining his late father's Charleston law firm of Kaufman & Ratliff in 1980. Prior to his appointment as judge, he served as my colleague in the State legislature and was appointed to the State senate in 1982 by then- Governor Jay Rockefeller and was elected in 1984. Judge Kaufman's lectured internationally at prestigious law schools and conferences and is a former member of the Mass Litigation Panel of the West Virginia Supreme Court and past president and executive officer of the West Virginia Judicial Association. Shortly after graduating law school, Judge Kaufman tragically lost his parents, former Senator and World War II veteran Paul Kaufman and Rose, and brother, Steven, in a car accident.…”