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2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 11:42 AM

Kennedy remembered as a fighter

Longtime senator, political icon dies after battling a brain tumor

By VICKIE MOSS, Herald Public Affairs Editor

For Caleb Correll, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was the face of the legendary Kennedy family.

Correll, chairman of the Franklin County Democratic Party, is too young to have grown up in the Camelot era. Still, he calls Ted Kennedy a major influence.

“He always talked about how he was wealthy but he felt a responsibility to fight for those who were less fortunate,” Correll said. “That’s been my driving force getting into politics, being able to help those who were disadvantaged.

“It’s a huge loss. He had such an influence. It’s going to be strange for awhile.”

Kennedy died Tuesday night at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., after battling a brain tumor. He was 77.

Local Democrats like Correll remembered Kennedy this morning for his many achievements, which included bills to provide health insurance for children of the working poor, the landmark 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Meals on Wheels for the elderly, abortion clinic access, family leave and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

He also was a key negotiator on legislation creating a Medicare prescription drug benefit for senior citizens and was a driving force for peace in Ireland and a persistent critic of the war in Iraq.

“He was always the voice that stood up and said ‘no,’” Joan Vibert, a Democrat from Homewood, said. “He did not seem to be sold out to some corporate entity and that’s what I have great admiration for.”

Vibert said she is disappointed Kennedy didn’t live to see the passage of a bill for health care reform, an issue currently under debate and one that was important to Kennedy.

Kennedy’s death is a great loss for the country and for the Kennedy family, Richard Oglesby, a Republican from Ottawa, said. He serves on committees with the Franklin County Republican party and the state’s Republican party.

“We wish his family our condolences,” Oglesby said. “That family has definitely been through a lot.”

U.S. Senator Sam Brownback this morning released a statement and said his thoughts and prayers go out to Kennedy’s family and friends.

“Senator Kennedy was a lion in the Senate,” Brownback said. “He fought for what he believed in and did so with passion. I had the opportunity to work on several legislative issues with Senator Kennedy and despite our political differences, he was professional, courteous, and thoughtful and always looked for ways to find common ground.”

Brownback and Kennedy recently worked together on the Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act of 2008 which was signed into law in October. Brownback is a co-chair of the Senate Cancer Caucus.

Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1962, when his brother John was president, and served longer than all but two senators in history. Over the decades, he put his imprint on every major piece of social legislation to clear the Congress.

His own hopes of reaching the White House were damaged — perhaps doomed — in 1969 by the scandal that came to be known as Chappaquiddick, an auto accident that left a young woman dead.

Kennedy — known to family, friends and foes simply as Ted — ended his quest for the presidency in 1980 with a stirring valedictory that echoed across the decades: ‘‘For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.’’

The third-longest-serving senator in U.S. history, Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in May 2008 and underwent surgery and a grueling regimen of radiation and chemotherapy.