"When politicians steps down either because of term limits or other reasons, their peers often pay homage to their outgoing brethren. Today U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., paid tribute to his colleague, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.

Here is the text of Salazar’s speech."

"Ken Salazar in his blind ambition to be elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004 seemed to have been willing to accept money from just about anyone. As if Salazar's acceptance of campaign money from a New Jersey law firm now at the center of a criminal corruption probe wasn't bad enough, one of his campaign donors is now facing up to 87 months in prison for hiding political contributions from the IRS."

"The only conclusion we can draw from [Salazar's] record is that he opposes increasing the supply of domestic oil – wherever or however it is proposed. The fact is Colorado is sitting on one of the world’s largest deposits of oil. The Green River Basin in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah has an estimated 1.7 trillion to 2. 1 trillion barrels of oil. This accounts for 62% of worldwide oil shale reserves, which amounts to over 800 million more barrels of oil than the world’s proven oil reserves."