Wealth & Money Quote by Richard Lamm

It’s praise that doubles as moral bookkeeping: the kind of line politicians deploy to launder a life into a single, defensible virtue. By insisting “He didn’t work for money,” Lamm isn’t just complimenting someone’s character; he’s preempting suspicion. The sentence is built like a rebuttal to an accusation nobody has to name: greed, self-dealing, careerism, the faint stink of “what was he really getting out of it?” In public life, motives are always on trial, and Lamm offers a clean alibi.

The follow-up clause - “He worked because he loved kids and education” - narrows the person’s identity to two culturally untouchable objects. Kids and schooling are civic holy ground; you can argue about taxes, budgets, and policy, but you’re not supposed to sneer at someone who “loves kids.” It’s a strategic sentimental anchor. “Worked” is doing heavy lifting too, suggesting labor that is steady and sacrificial, not glamorous or opportunistic.

The subtext is also about legitimacy in an era when public institutions feel transactional. Lamm, a politician from the post-Watergate and austerity decades, understood that voters increasingly read every salary, pension, grant, or contract as a potential grift. So the line isn’t only elegy; it’s a piece of civic repair. It asks the audience to believe that, at least once, public service wasn’t a hustle - it was devotion dressed as a job.