Obituary: Sen. Paul Coverdell, 1939-2000

July 18, 2000
Web posted at: 7:36 p.m. EDT (2336 GMT)

By Michael Donohue/CNN

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Georgia, died Tuesday in Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital, where he had been hospitalized since Saturday with a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 61.

In the U.S. Senate, Coverdell was the GOP Conference secretary, the majority's fourth-ranking leadership position, and was a close ally of Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi. He was the GOP's point man for major education proposals on the Senate floor as chairman of the Senate Republican Task Force on Education and served on the Agriculture, Finance and Foreign Relations committees. A widely respected leader within the Congress and recognized workhorse, Coverdell served as the Senate liaison for the GOP presidential campaign of Texas Gov.George W. Bush.

Coverdell, along with Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-New Jersey, was the author of A-Plus Accounts or Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), which would allow for $2,000 education savings accounts from which parents can pay for public or private K-12 expenses tax free. Working across partisan lines, the Coverdell shaped other tax relief measures with Torricelli to encourage savings and investment.

He was a leader on Latin American drug enforcement, authoring a federal law requiring the annual listing of the world's top suspected drug dealers. The 1999 Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, which became law last December, produced its first list of suspected drug kingpins just last month. The U.S. Department of Treasury is empowered to freeze the assets of those named and their business partners, and American citizens are barred from doing business with them.

"If this tool didn't exist, even if you were under indictment you could do business with a bank. But you cannot now," Coverdell remarked upon release of the list.

He was a strong proponent of providing U.S. financial aid to the Colombian government for its battle against the cocaine trade. Coverdell argued this year during a debate on the controversial proposal: "You can only say the cavalry's coming so many times before people quit believing that it is."

During last year's Senate impeachment trial of President Clinton, Coverdell voted to convict on both charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. "To allow our nation's highest official to break the very law he is sworn to uphold sends a very dangerous message, sets an unacceptable precedent, and begins to chip away at the constitutional and legal foundation upon which this nation was founded," the senator explained.

Coverdell served as director of the Peace Corps from 1989-1991. In 1992 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating incumbent Democrat Wyche Fowler Jr. in a tough contest that ended in an unprecedented December runoff.

He was reelected in 1998 over multi-millionaire Democrat Michael Coles, becoming the first Georgia Republican ever to be re-elected to the Senate.

A U.S. Army veteran who was posted in Okinawa, Korea, and the Republic of China, Coverdell was a successful businessman and was elected in 1970 to the Georgia state Senate, where he was minority leader for 15 years.

A resident of Atlanta, Coverdell had not previously reported any serious health problems. He is survived by his wife Nancy. The couple had no children.

Tuesday, July 18, 2000

• Sen. Paul Coverdell of Georgia dies at 61
  
• Obituary: Sen. Paul Coverdell, 1939-2000
  
• Senate passes 'marriage tax' repeal despite Clinton veto threat
  
• Gore addresses crime victims' rights; Bush urges paternal involvement
  
• House again votes on trade relations with China
  
• Hillary Clinton's campaign travel nears $1 million
  
• Hastert wants Clinton to consult Congress on price of Middle East peace
  
• House legislation would put restraints on junk e-mail
  
• Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg to address Democratic convention
  
• Activist hopes to get Green Party and Nader on Michigan ballot
  
• Ruckus Society trains Democratic convention demonstrators
  
• Clinton again bars suit against Cuba by confiscation victims
  
• House votes for more disclosure on W-2 forms
  
• Senate rejects GOP bid to block new national monuments
  
• Gingrich says Clinton should not be indicted
  
• latimes.com: Stereotype of tuned-out state takes a hit
  
• latimes.com: Campbell still trails Feinstein in funds
  
• Report: Unions giving Democrats record donations
  
• House panel probes telecommunications competition in effort to broaden high-speed Internet access
  
• As Bush prepares for fall campaign, Texans protective of state's image
  
• Mideast peace summit reaches 'moment of truth'
  

ARCHIVES