A Decent Man
The New York Times ends its obituary of Senator Paul Wellstone with this telling anecdote:
Mr. Wellstone was one of the few senators who made the effort to meet and remember the names of elevator operators, waiters, police officers and other workers in the Capitol.
James W. Ziglar, a Republican who was sergeant at arms of the Senate from 1998 to 2001 and who is now commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, remembered today "the evening when he came back to the Capitol well past midnight to visit with the cleaning staff and tell them how much he appreciated their efforts."
"Most of the staff had never seen a senator and certainly had never had one make such a meaningful effort to express his or her appreciation," Mr. Ziglar said. "That was the measure of the man."
Words can’t express how sad I am about what happened to the senator yesterday. It’s to the great credit of the state of Minnesota that they sent such a man to Washington twice.
Posted at 4:27 AM