Friday, October 28, 2005

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Floor Statement on Earl Smith
Remarks as Delivered on the Senate Floor

Mr. President, I rise in morning business to pay tribute to a great Georgian, a great American, a personal friend of mine, and a great citizen of Cobb County. In about 11 days our county will come together to pay tribute to this great individual and I wanted today on the Senate floor to memorialize for a moment the contributions of Earl Smith. For me it is a particular point of personal pride and it is because Earl Smith has been a role model to me my entire adult life. Quite frankly, I don't know that I would be privileged to serve in the Senate had it not been for his example, his support over 35 years.

I met Earl Smith when he founded the Cobb County Lions Club in the 1960s and led it to be the best club in Georgia. I knew him as a businessman because I was in real estate and he was in the heating and air conditioning business. He installed new units in houses I sold, serviced them, and built a business to be one of the best in the United States of America.

I know him because when our community was in need of facilities for our young people, Earl Smith took time from his business, raised money, and supported the construction of the East Cobb YMCA, today a shining gem in Georgia.

I know him because when our county was in a significant political disaster with an absence of leadership and faced with unparalleled growth and unparalleled difficulty, Earl Smith volunteered and went and qualified for office, ran and was elected as chairman of the county commission and took a county that had grown from 197,000 to 400,000, and now is almost a million; met the needs of its wastewater treatment; met the needs of its electric power generation; met the needs of its roads and transportation system; and even brought about public transportation to this growing and burgeoning community.

He did it during tough political times, but he did it because he was a man of dedication to his community and a man who never ever quit.

Today, a man who has done all those things--built a great business, served in the civic clubs, worked in his church, built a YMCA, a man in the autumn of his life could do many things on beaches or in the mountains--decided there was one more mission. So he took the lead in raising $140 million to build the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center in suburban Atlanta in Cobb County near the Galleria Center, a facility upon which ground was just recently broken, and in less than 2 years will be completed to be the finest urban performing arts center in the United States of America.

So today on the Senate floor, I rise for this brief moment to pay tribute to a man who has given countless hours, countless dollars, countless efforts and all of his being to make his community better.

On November 7, when the community comes together to honor him, if I can't be there in spirit, these words will be there so that he knows not only does his community recognize him, but on this day on the floor of the Senate we pay tribute to Earl Smith of Cobb County, GA.