We had a very spirited, hard-fought campaign in ’94.
My advisers said, “Oh, Senator Kennedy is over the hill, he’s lost it. You’re going to find he can’t bring together the kind of energy and support he has in the past.” I remember after all that, becoming more and more enthusiastic and overconfident. Well, I was at a rally, and I spoke and I was scheduled to leave, and I hear Senator Kennedy out in a parking lot. He was standing up on the back of a car and he was talking about he and his brother, that’s JFK, going to Beirut — this was a group of Lebanese-Americans. I could hear him bellowing and people cheering and I thought, “He’s still got it.” In the ensuing years there were a few occasions where we touched base. When his mom passed away, I wrote a note. From time to time, I’d get a note from Senator Kennedy, congratulating me on an event in our family, a marriage, a child being born. The first time [after the 1994 election] we actually sat down and chatted was at a City Year fundraising event. When I was on the board, I was asked by the CEO of City Year — it’s the precursor of AmeriCorps, based in Boston — to invite him to speak at our prime fundraising dinner. I called up Senator Kennedy and he said he’d be happy to be there. So there we were at the same table, he and I, and our two wives. And as I recall, he made a $5,000 contribution to the charity, showing a kindness and respect to me that I appreciated. He didn’t have to say yes to me. He could have waited for a call from the CEO. We come from different places politically, we weren’t buddies, we didn’t go to football games together, but Senator Kennedy was a very easy person to be friendly with, easy to strike up a conversation with. He was at ease with himself and other people. I visited with him when I was organizing the [Salt Lake City Winter] Olympics. The federal government provides security and transportation support to the tune of hundreds to millions of dollars, and as the senior senator from my state it was important that I touch base with him. He provided counsel and advice on how I should proceed, who to talk to in the Senate. I went to his office and the walls were just covered with pictures. It was just wall to wall pictures. He took me through the office, showed me pictures, explained to me the background, what was happening that day. It was interesting that he would take the time, not just hustle me through the office. It showed me the kind of personal side he’s known for. The time we really worked together was when I was governor. When I was elected, I traveled to Washington and asked to meet the state delegation. He was right there, on time. There were a couple of others, who I won’t mention by name, who made a more random appearance. One made a prepared speech and just left. But Senator Kennedy was there for the whole time. I found in the ensuing four years, whenever I needed help, Ted Kennedy was the go-to guy. There was this one occasion I was trying to recruit a company to expand a facility in Massachusetts. I was talking to the CEO and he said that the senator from Pennsylvania could get that company a larger military contract. Well, I asked Senator Kennedy if he might contact the CEO. And he made the call and removed that issue as a bone of contention and convinced the CEO of the company to expand in Massachusetts.
Look, I not only contacted him in part because he had the clout, but because he never hesitated to do something, in area after area. He did the hard work he didn’t just show up for the TV shots. He did the behind-the-scenes work that governing requires.