Comments Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On Senator Arlen Specter
April 28, 2009

At a press conference earlier today on the Senate’s passage of the bipartisan Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) made the following comments about the decision of Senator Arlen Specter to change political parties.  Specter is the senior Senator from Pennsylvania. 

“Senator Specter called me this morning. He and I have been friends for 40 years.  We first met when we were both young prosecutors.  We have a particular friendship, and he wanted me to know before it became in the press.

“In talking with him, I had the impression that he went through much the same that Jim Jeffords of Vermont did.  I had the impression that Senator Specter had a feeling that the Republican Party, a great party in this country, had left him – not the other way around.  

“I know how hard he has agonized.  I believe he's going to be happier.”

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