Sen. Stafford -- RIP
The country lost one of the good guys today when former Sen. Robert Stafford of Vermont died.
I could go on and on ranting about what a great senator he was and how the country needs a whole lot more leaders like he was. But that will be obvious if you read the following piece from the Associated Press.
Suffice to say, Stafford and his kind are few and far between these days and the United States is much the worse for it.
Former Vermont Senator Robert Stafford dies at 93
Ross Sneyd
Associated PressMONTPELIER - Former U.S. Sen. Robert Stafford, a staunch environmentalist and champion of education whose name is familiar to countless college students through a loan program named for him, died Saturday. He was 93.
Stafford was surrounded by family at a Rutland nursing home when he died at 9:30 a.m., said Neal Houston, his former chief of staff.
A Republican, Stafford served two years as governor, 11 years in the House and 17 in the Senate before retiring in 1989.
Gov. Jim Douglas ordered flags lowered to half staff Saturday as he saluted Stafford. "Governor Stafford was a tremendous public servant, a man of the deepest personal integrity and someone whom I admired greatly," Douglas said in a statement. "From the higher education finance program that now bears his name or his advocacy for clean air and water, Americans will continue to benefit greatly from his legacy of success."
Sen. Patrick Leahy described Stafford as a mentor who left an indelible mark on the nation during his tenure. "He touched the lives of millions of ordinary Americans through his leadership on education and environmental policy, in the finest tradition of public service," Leahy said in a statement. "And he gave the nation a lifelong lesson in civility and decency, in the finest tradition of his beloved Vermont."
Retiring Sen. James Jeffords, the independent who took over Stafford's seat in 1989, described him as a friend who was always willing to offer support. "Whenever I had a problem when I got into Congress and all, I'd go to him for counsel," Jeffords said in a telephone interview.
Sen.-elect Bernie Sanders said Staffords' work on the environment and education "made our state proud and (he) will long be remembered for all that he accomplished."
Stafford became a strong defender of the environment during his 28 years in Washington. Time and again he came to the defense of the Superfund program to clean up contaminated sites around the country. He guided bills combating acid rain and air pollution from automobiles through the Congress from his position as ranking Republican on the Senate's environment committee.
He also dedicated himself education from his perch on the Senate Subcommittee on Education, Arts and the Humanities. Congress saluted his dedication in 1988, renaming the Federal Guaranteed Student Loan program the Robert T. Stafford Student Loan program.
The low-interest loans to students are now known almost universally as "Stafford loans" to the millions who qualify for them each year. According to the federal Education Department, about 14 million Stafford loans were given to postsecondary students in 2006.
Stafford wasn't shy about bucking presidents of his own party, leading a successful effort to override President Reagan's veto of amendments that strengthened the Clean Water Act. He also tangled with industry when he believed it was thwarting efforts to clean the environment.
"If you ever want a piece of paper saying you are a certified (S.O.B.), come to me,'" he was told once by an auto industry executive.
Stafford co-sponsored the Wilderness Protection Act in the early 1980s. A 22,758-acre tract of the Green Mountain National Forest in Bennington and Rutland counties, which was designated by that law a national recreation area, was renamed earlier this year the Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation Area.
Stafford's reputation as a moderate Republican and sometime maverick in Washington was the end of a long journey for a man who once considered himself conservative, even hawkish. He attributed the transformation to education.
"When I was young and in the Rutland city's prosecutor's office and then the state's attorney's office, I thought in terms of local problems," Stafford told The Associated Press in 1998 on the 10th anniversary of his Senate retirement. "Then I got involved in statewide politics and began to realize that some things had to be dealt with on a statewide basis.
"The same process of personal education continued when I went to Washington and began to realize that the problems in many cases were nationwide _ air and water, maintaining a military _ and had to be thought of that way."
Born Aug. 8, 1913, Stafford was a true son of Rutland. He got an undergraduate degree from Middlebury College in 1935 and a law degree from Boston University in 1938. Education became a lifetime pursuit. He listed in his official biography with the state degrees from the University of Vermont, St. Michael's College and Norwich University from the 1950s through 1970.
But it was to Rutland he always returned and where he ultimately retired with his wife, Helen.
Reserved and almost shy at times, Stafford ended up with a long career in public service that he hadn't anticipated. "I never really intended to be a politician myself," Stafford told the AP.
But he tried politics _ starting with city attorney in his hometown of Rutland _ as a way of making his mark as a young lawyer practicing law alongside his father.
Stafford took a break to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II. His father died during the war, so when he returned to Rutland he re-established their law practice and was elected county state's attorney before leaving again to serve two years in Korea.
Upon his return, Stafford landed a job as a state deputy attorney general and then in 1954 won his first statewide race, for attorney general. That was going to be the end of his political career. "I enjoyed that job," he said. "I thought I would stay there four years and then go back to Rutland."
But he lasted only two years before he was persuaded by then-Lt. Gov. Consuelo Bailey to run for lieutenant governor. He held that office for two years and then won the 1958 election for governor.
Two years later he won his first term in Congress and continued to win re-election until he was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1971 on the death of Sen. Winston Prouty. Stafford won the special election later that year to serve the five years remaining in Prouty's term, remaining in the Senate until his retirement in early 1989.
With few exceptions, Stafford largely stayed out of the public eye after his retirement. He showed up in the Statehouse in 2001, walking stiffly with a cane, so then-Gov. Howard Dean could salute him in that year's inaugural address. The previous fall Stafford pleaded with the public for civility in the divisive election campaign the year the state passed civil unions, giving the benefits and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples.
"I consider that love is one of the great forces in our society and especially in our state of Vermont," Stafford said just days before the 2000 election. "It occurs to me that even if a same-sex couple unites in love, what harm does that do anybody or any society? So I felt compelled to come here and say that."
Before advancing age prevented it, Stafford and his wife loved to sail, often spending weekends on their 55-foot vessel the Full Moon on Chesapeake Bay while living in Washington.
Stafford is survived by his wife, Helen, and their four daughters. Houston said a private family service was being arranged. A larger public memorial would be held in January, he said.
