Readers write

Former U.S. Sen. Isakson was role model for legislators

I was saddened to awaken recently to news of the death of former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson. I first met Sen. Isakson after moving to Gwinnett County in 1990 and becoming involved in the Gwinnett GOP when he was running for governor. I crossed paths with him in 1996 when I was running for the Georgia State Senate as he mounted his first campaign for the U.S. Senate. When I joined the State Senate in 1997 (which he had just left), I often publicly said that Johnny Isakson was my role model for how a legislator should conduct him or herself, with bipartisanship and humility. And, in 2017, I had the ultimate honor of being presented to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee by Sen. Isakson as I began my confirmation journey to the U.S. District Court. I remember him talking that day with fondness about my uncle Robert Ray, a Democrat, with whom he had served in the Georgia House 30 years earlier. After the hearing, I was approached by a Democratic senator who said that Johnny Isakson was his best friend in the U.S. Senate and that he could support me since Johnny Isakson supported me. Oh, how I wished we could go back to the days where men and women in political office like Johnny Isakson were the norm and not the exception.

WILLIAM “BILLY” M. RAY II, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE, NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA