[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 146 (Saturday, October 8, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 IN HONOR OF REPRESENTATIVE BILL HUGHES

                                 ______


                               speech of

                         HON. ROMANO L. MAZZOLI

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 6, 1994

  Mr. MAZZOLI. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I pay 
tribute to Representative Bill Hughes, my close friend and colleague of 
20 years.
  Bill Hughes, a native of Salem, NJ, and lifelong resident of New 
Jersey, is a consummate Congressman. Since he was first elected to 
Congress in 1974, he has always remembered, in the words of former 
Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, that ``* * * all politics is local.'' 
In keeping with this belief, Bill Hughes, throughout his career, has 
spent all but one weekend per year in New Jersey's Second District. 
Bill understood early into the game that you never forget who sent you 
here and you never forget your roots back home.
  Bill Hughes has devoted much of his professional life in the area of 
law enforcement serving 10 years as a prosecuting attorney in Cape May 
County, NJ, and 20 years in Congress as a member of the House Judiciary 
Committee. In his capacity as chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime and 
Criminal Justice, he has spearheaded efforts to establish boot camps 
for the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders and has pushed Congress to 
appropriate funds for new prisons. He has also led the fight against 
computer crime, child pornography, firearms violations, arson, drug 
offenders, product tampering, and many other problems plaguing our 
Nation.
  Along with his work as chairman of the Subcommittee on Intellectual 
Property and Judicial Administration and his work on the Merchant 
Marine and Fisheries Committee, Bill Hughes has also been very 
supportive of campaign finance reform legislation, an issue in which I 
have also been very involved. In his own campaigns, Bill Hughes has 
sought to raise most of his campaign funds from small individual 
contributions, rather than from sources outside the State of New 
Jersey. He has limited PAC contributions to less than a third of his 
total campaign funds and he suggests that other members follow suit.
  Through his work as chairman of the Subcommittee on Intellectual 
Property and Judicial Administration, Bill Hughes has worked diligently 
to protect the interests of authors of software programs and books, 
composers, and film makers throughout the country as well as other 
areas of the world. He has also been very instrumental in advancing the 
GATT negotiations, working to remove trade barriers and strengthen the 
U.S. economy.
  Bill has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions 
including: The Senior Distinguished Alumni Award for Rutgers 
University; the Leo Fraser Super Achiever Award from the Juvenile 
Diabetes Foundation; Man of the Year award by the Girl Scouts of 
America and; Congressman of the Year award by the National Association 
of Police Organizations.
  But above all of these recognitions, Bill Hughes' most lasting 
tribute is that the people of New Jersey's Second Congressional 
District has reposed their faith and trust in him for two decades and 
would have done so for another two decades or more if Bill and Nancy, 
his beloved wife, were not anxious to return home to start a new phase 
of their life.
  For my part, I am losing a friend and a seatmate of long standing. I 
wish him, Nancy, and the family the best of health and happiness in 
retirement.

                          ____________________