Angus S. King, Jr. was mentioned in TRIBUTE TO DANA CONNORS on pages S6820-S6821 covering the 2nd Session of the 117th Congress published on Nov. 28 in the Congressional Record.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO DANA CONNORS
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, it is a great pleasure to join people throughout the State of Maine in thanking Dana Connors for a remarkable career of nearly six decades of devoted service and lasting contributions in government and the private sector. In addition to being an outstanding leader, Dana is a cherished friend to me and so many others.
I first met Dana when I was working for Bill Cohen in Washington and he was the city manager of Presque Isle, a position he held for 16 years. Both of us are natives of Aroostook County, so we have always had that special county bond.
Years later, we served together in Governor John McKernan’s cabinet, where he was commissioner of transportation. Everyone who worked with Dana during his 11 years in that challenging role was in awe of the fact that Dana could go into any meeting, and no matter how unhappy the people might be about the condition of a road or bridge in their community, they inevitably came out smiling. He just had a knack, which he still has, of always listening to people and making them feel valued.
From there, Dana stepped forward to serve as president of the chamber. Throughout his nearly 30 years of leadership, he has shown a deep understanding of the role of businesses in our State, particularly those that are owned by families. He is a staunch supporter of Maine’s traditional industries, including farming, fishing, and forestry, and a champion of such emerging industries as advanced manufacturing and biotechnology.
What motivates Dana are his love for our State, his belief in our communities, and his deep affection for our hard-working, ingenious, and determined people. He understands the importance of creating an environment that is conducive to small businesses starting up, growing, and expanding. Above all, Dana is passionate about ensuring that Mainers have good jobs and are able to stay right here in Maine. There is no better demonstration of this desire than his strong and effective advocacy for vocational education, apprenticeships, and other programs that provide Mainers with skills that are in demand by Maine employers.
I am especially grateful to Dana for the advice he provided during the pandemic as I was drafting the Paycheck Protection Program. I knew I could turn to him for guidance on how it should be crafted and what would work best to help our small employers remain in business and continue to pay their employees. Dana was truly an invaluable resource during that crisis.
There is one special memory of Dana that I want to share. In 2016, he brought together all five of Maine’s living U.S. Senators–George Mitchell, Bill Cohen, Olympia Snowe, Angus King, and me–for a forum about public confidence in government and bipartisanship. It is a testament to the enduring relationships Dana has forged and the respect he has earned from members of both parties that he was able to convince all five former and current Senators to come to the same event on the same night.
There is another part to that story that says so much about Dana. At the time, my husband, Tom Daffron, was teaching a class at the University of Maine. He told Dana that the Senators forum would be a wonderful event for students to attend, but they could not afford to pay for the dinner. Dana quickly devised a solution. He offered students the opportunity to volunteer at the event, which would allow them to attend for free. Those students were absolutely thrilled to see five Maine Senators on the same stage discussing the issues of the day, all because of Dana’s generosity and his caring for the next generation.
Dana has made such a positive difference for Maine in all of the positions he has held. His legacy is that Maine is an even better place to live, raise a family, and start a business. He has done so much, and I know that there is another chapter yet to come. In the meantime however, I offer my very best wishes to Dana and his wife, Joyce, and my deepest thanks.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 182
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