Watch Kennedy’s comments here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today remembered Louisiana’s Gov. Buddy Roemer on the Senate floor.

Key excerpts include:

“I want to just spend a few minutes today saying goodbye to a friend. Louisiana weeps right now. Governor Charles E. Roemer III passed away last week. He went by ‘Buddy.’ He served our state from 1988 to 1992. Before that, he served a number of terms in Congress.

. . .

“Buddy was one of the first real intellectual governors that we ever had in Louisiana. I’m not putting down our other governors, I’m not, because all of our governors have been intelligent, just like in your state. You don’t rise to that position without being intelligent. But Buddy truly believed in the power of ideas. And he truly believed in the worth of education.”

. . .

“When he became governor, we had a $7 billion budget; we had a $1 billion deficit. That’s what he was left with. Roemer balanced the budget. Wasn’t easy, but he did it.”

“And then he implemented fiscal reforms that dramatically, totally, changed our way of budgeting in Louisiana for generations to come, because of Buddy’s efforts.”

 . . .

“I’m going to really miss Buddy. All he ever wanted to do was change Louisiana. And he did. He wasn’t reelected, but he did. But Buddy always understood—this was his barometer of success. He used to tell me, ‘Kennedy, here’s how you know when you’re doing a good job: If you’re making the right people mad.’ He used to say, ‘If nobody’s mad at you, and if the wrong people like what you’re doing, you’re not doing your job.’”