Courtney: Weicker "Was Always Driven By The Public Good"

WASHINGTON, DC — One of Connecticut's top Democrats Monday hailed one of its most renowned politicians from across the aisles for service that "was always driven by the public good," on the day Connecticut and the nation said goodbye to him.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-02) held nothing back while issuing a statement on the passing of former Connecticut political figure Lowell Weicker:

“The passing Lowell Weicker at his home in Old Lyme surrounded by his wife Claudia and family will resonate far and wide," Courtney said. "His service to our nation and state was always driven by the public good - whether it was caring for the disabled or defending our democracy and the constitution."

Weicker was 92 when he died Wednesday. Courtney took the state back to the 1970s, when, as a young Republican senator on the Senate Watergate Committee, Weicker challenged Republican President Richard Nixon to resign amid the Watergate scandal.

In one of his most recognized bits of testimony, Weicker told a Senate subcommittee in 1974 that a secret task force to compile intelligence reports on President Nixon's political enemies was set up inside the Internal Revenue Service within months of Nixon becoming president.

"He did not flinch from entering the arena of public affairs, as Theodore Roosevelt called it, to fight the good fight and in doing so, set an inspiring example of citizenship that will live on for generations to come," Courtney said.

Flags were flying at half-staff all weekend in Connecticut to honor Weicker and were set to return to full-staff at sunset Monday, well after a morning funeral service scheduled for Saint Barnabas Church in Greenwich, followed by an interment at Putnam Cemetery.

See more on Weicker's life and legacy here.