Chief of staff reflects upon Tim Johnson’s political career

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — There are heavy hearts across South Dakota following the death of former U.S. Senator Tim Johnson.

Friends say the 77-year-old Johnson died Tuesday night from complications of a stroke.

Johnson’s longtime chief of staff is reflecting upon Johnson’s political and personal legacy.

Drey Samuelson ran Tim Johnson’s first successful campaign for Congress back in 1986.

“Tim was very fiscally conservative and he offered me $600 a month, which wasn’t a lot to live on, but I took it because I was so impressed with him,’ Samuelson said.

Samuelson would then go on to serve as Johnson’s chief of staff for 28 years. He says he spent more time with Johnson during that time than he did with members of his own family.

“We were a lot alike. Tim was something of an introvert and so am I. And so, we weren’t chatterboxes to each other but we got to know each other and became not only, he was not only my boss, but he was my good friend, which makes this so hard,” Samuelson said.

Samuelson last visited Johnson Tuesday afternoon, just hours before he died.

“Just overwhelming sadness. But I knew he was going to go. And after seeing him, the way that he was, it’s a cliché to say it was for the best, but it probably was, because he was unconscious and he was going to stay unconscious,” Samuelson said.

Samuelson says Johnson will be remembered for his courage and determination in returning to the Senate after suffering a brain bleed in 2006.

“He was in a coma for like three weeks. When he came back, he had to teach himself how to talk again and for a senator, that’s your tool of trade, but he did,” Samuelson said.

Johnson is the last Democrat to serve in a statewide office in South Dakota. Samuelson says that shows Johnson’s willingness to reach across the aisle as a political centrist, who always put South Dakota ahead of party.

“He was a great senator and even better human being and I’m going to miss him,” Samuelson said.

Samuelson says one of Johnson’s proudest accomplishments during his time in Congress was securing federal funding for rural water projects in South Dakota, including the Mni Wiconi system that delivered clean water to people on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

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