TRIBUTES

Allen Moore

I am so sorry for your loss, but what a wonderful legacy to celebrate. I hope my personal recollections might bring a knowing smile to your lips.

The Senate has elements of a "caste system" about it. There are senators, and there are staff. I was staff--to John Danforth from 1977-88, and to Bill Frist from 2001-05. We members of the "lower caste" paid close attention to how senators treated their staff. We knew who the good ones were, and we knew who the others were, too. Senator Kennedy was one of the best, and that is high tribute.

I got to spend some quality time with him after 9/11 and the anthrax attack on the Senate. He and Senator Frist were scheduled to go out to Ft. Detrick, Maryland, for a daylong series of briefings on bio-terrorism and America's response capabilities. Senator Frist couldn't go at the last minute, so it was just me accompanying the Senator and one of his staff members by Pentagon helicopter.

I had grown to admire the Senator over the years starting back in the late 1970's when he would fight the hard, lonely battle against amendments in tax bills. He would make strong arguments, and then the Finance Committee Chairman, Russell Long, and the Ranking Republican, Bob Dole, would join forces and crush him. Amendment after amendment, Senator Kennedy kept fighting...and losing. His spirits were up because he believed in what he was doing. He knew more about what was in the bill than many members of the Committee. We staff members were very impressed. We often agreed with him.

On our trip to Ft. Detrick, he could not have been more gracious or inclusive of me. At every meeting, he would ask the first questions. I wasn't shy, but he would always ask, "Allen, is there anything else you'd like to ask?" It may seem like a small thing, but when you are a member of the "lower caste," it was a very big deal.

After that trip, he would sometimes ask his HELP Committee staff director, Michael Myers, to run ideas by me before the Senator raised them with Senator Frist. I was happy to oblige. Michael and I would laugh about it, but the Senator was paying me the terrific compliment of respecting my judgment.

One afternoon, I bumped into the Senator walking Splash in the hallway. We stopped to talk. I asked him about Splash and whether he ever barked. The Senator said that Splash could be a little high strung, but didn't bark very much. Then he stopped, smiled, and started to chuckle.

He told me that there was one person who did make Splash bark. When the Democratic Senators were offsite on the occasional planning retreat, Splash would sometimes go along. Warming to the story, the Senator said that on one occasion a particular Senator addressed the group. The oration got loud and long. At first, Splash paid no particular attention. Then, without warning, he started to bark and even howl. Before long, everyone in the room was howling with laughter. The Senator was laughing aloud as he told the story. "And it happened more than once," he said, barely containing himself.

The Senator Splash was responding to: Joe Biden.

A few months later, I boarded an elevator and found the Senator there. We exchanged greetings, and he said, "Let me introduce you to my sister Eunice." I shook hands with her and complimented her on the Special Olympics. The Senator described me to his sister in glowing terms. I was in my late fifties at the time. I had seen and done a lot of special things in my life, but I walked off that elevator feeling ten feet tall.

Ted Kennedy could do things like that--spontaneously, and naturally, and sincerely. Lucky you family members for a lifetime of receiving the "ten-feet-tall-treatment."