[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 147 (Tuesday, November 29, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  EXPRESSING SORROW OF THE HOUSE AT THE DEATH OF HON. DEAN A. GALLO, 
              REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY

  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged resolution, (H. Res. 
587) and asked for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 587

       Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of 
     the death of the Honorable Dean A. Gallo, a Representative 
     from the State of New Jersey.
       Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to 
     the Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the 
     deceased.
       Resolved, That when the House adjourns today, it adjourn as 
     a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased.

  The SPEAKER. The gentlewoman from New Jersey [Mrs. Roukema] is 
recognized for 1 hour.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in support 
of this privileged resolution, which asks that when the House adjourns 
today, it does so in memory of our dear friend and colleague, Dean 
Gallo.
  Dean was a personal friend and a great statesman for New Jersey. I 
know that I speak for all of us when I say that we will all miss his 
quiet leadership and counsel. I can still remember when he arrived here 
after the 1984 election. His reputation was legend and we welcomed him 
warmly to the New Jersey delegation. He was a thoughtful legislator. 
While Dean was a man of few words, his opinions were valued and when he 
spoke, we listened.
  But Dean's background in public service began long before Congress. 
He got his start on the Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Council in 1968, 
becoming president of the council only 2 years later. From the township 
council, Dean moved on to become a member of the Morris County Board of 
Chosen Freeholders, where he distinguished himself as freeholder 
director. In 1976, Dean became a member of the New Jersey Assembly. 
Showing ability for leadership once again, he was chosen as Republican 
leader in 1982.
  Recognition of Dean's leadership abilities continued here in 
Congress. His skill at coalition-building helped him win seats first on 
the Public Works Committee and then on the powerful House 
Appropriations Committee. He also had been a House Republican regional 
whip and had served as cochairman of the Northeast-Midwest 
Congressional Coalition, composed of Rust-Belt members.
  Dean had a reputation as a fiscal conservative and environmentalist. 
His legislative accomplishments included House passage of a measure 
requiring oil tankers to be built with double hulls after the Exxon 
Valdez oilspill, a ban on sludge dumping in the ocean, tax breaks for 
those using mass transit, and measures to combat acid rain.
  The citizens of the 11th District, which included all of Morris 
County and parts of Passiac, Sussex, and Somerset Counties, were always 
foremost in his mind. That was never more evident than when Dean 
decided to withdraw from his race for a sixth term in August. His 
decision to step down was yet another sign of his integrity and loyalty 
to his constituents. He believed that his illness would prevent him 
from providing the level of service that he had provided to his 
constituents for so many years and that he felt they deserved.
  This body has lost a loyal and faithful servant and we will all miss 
him, but his legacy will live on.

                              {time}  1910

  With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. 
Hughes], the dean of our delegation.
  Mr. HUGHES. Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the gentlewoman for 
yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, Dean Gallo was unquestionably one of New Jersey's finest 
sons. He was a legislator's legislator. He came to us from a State 
legislature that was a very productive legislature. For many reasons, 
not the least of which Dean Gallo provided that kind of leadership that 
helped us solve a lot of problems in our State.
  When he came to Congress, he followed through with the same 
tradition, one of reaching out to everyone. His technique was not one 
of being a show horse. He was a producer of quality legislation. He was 
one that was concerned about goals and policy. He wanted to be a 
serious legislator in the time that he served here in the Congress and 
indeed he became one of New Jersey's finest legislators. He was a good 
friend. New Jersey and the Nation suffered a great loss when Dean Gallo 
left this institution and left this earth.
  Mr. Speaker, our greatest sympathy goes to the Gallo family.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey 
[Mr. Saxton].
  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the gentlewoman from New 
Jersey for her thoughtfulness in bringing this resolution before the 
House this evening.
  Every once in a while, someone comes along who has special qualities, 
special talents, and, yes, in fact is a special person. Dean Gallo was 
one such person.
  Dean and I were elected to the State legislature in New Jersey in the 
same year in 1975, and I was not surprised at all to see Dean become 
the minority leader in the assembly of the State legislature in just a 
short period of time.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I ask for the attention of the House. Mr. 
Saxton is making a very poignant statement on behalf of our deceased 
colleague and I believe he deserves our attention.
  The SPEAKER. The House will be in order.
  Mr. SAXTON. After a very successful 9 years in the State legislature, 
Dean and I were again elected together in 1984 to come here to serve in 
the House of Representatives where we were together for almost 10 
years.
  Dean came here as a freshman, found his way to the committee on 
committees immediately as a member of the freshman class, served as a 
member of the Committee on Small Business and the Committee on Public 
Works and Transportation where he made friends at every turn. He also 
became very quickly a member of Bob Michel's leadership group as well 
as Newt Gingrich's whip organization as soon as Newt was elected, where 
he again excelled. But perhaps his most successful experience here in 
the legislative body was as a member of the House Committee on 
Appropriations where he was able to cross over the aisle and be 
productive with issues that were important to both Republicans and 
Democrats, Members on both sides of the aisle.
  Certainly all of us here will miss Dean and perhaps me in particular 
because of the many personal times that we had together. All of us 
together join here this evening in saluting the loss of a very dear 
friend and a dear colleague.
  On the day after election when all of us were resting from the 
turmoil of the second Tuesday in the month of November this year, 
Dean's friends and colleagues in Morristown, NJ said goodbye to a very 
dear friend.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey 
[Mr. Menendez].
  Mr. MENENDEZ. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for offering 
this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, in view that this is in the memory of a former colleague 
of this House, I would submit that the House is not in order.
  Mr. Speaker, I would hope that when someone leaves this institution 
naturally or, in this case, as our colleague Dean Gallo left, by virtue 
of illness and ultimately an illness that led to his death, that we 
would remember people and treat them with the proper respect. I would 
hope that this institution is more lasting in its relationship with its 
Members than we obviously presently see it now.
  Dean Gallo will be sorely missed by the members of the New Jersey 
delegation and by the people of the State.
  Mr. HUGHES. Mr. Speaker, the House is not in order.
  The SPEAKER. The objection is well taken. The House is not in order. 
The Chair would ask Members who desire to converse to please leave the 
Chamber.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. In an age of bitter partisanship here in the House, 
Dean Gallo consistently reflected the bipartisan cooperative ideal. 
Like each of us, Dean had responsibilities to his constituents as well 
as to his party. But as a member of the Committee on Appropriations, he 
never left any doubt that he stood ready to work for the people of New 
Jersey, be they his constituents or not. The way he saw it, they were 
New Jerseyans and so was he, not Republicans, not Democrats, but New 
Jerseyans. I learned that soon, coming to the House in my very first 
term here, the term that is now ending in the 103d, when I started 
working with Dean, and even though he was a member of the opposite side 
of the aisle, the minority on the Committee on Appropriations and I was 
a member of the majority as a freshman, Dean Gallo never said no to an 
opportunity to work together on behalf of New Jersey.
  There are always those who may have gotten more attention than Dean. 
There are those who may have been on television more often than Dean, 
but no one was better loved than Dean Gallo and no State better served 
than New Jersey.
  While the Sun may be setting on the 103d Congress, it certainly will 
not set on his memory.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from New 
Jersey [Mr. Zimmer].
  Mr. ZIMMER. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, in any legislative body, there is usually only a small 
percentage of the membership who actually make the institution work, 
and Dean Gallo was one such legislator. In a body that is well-known 
for its posturing and its rhetoric, Dean made sure that the hard work 
of this institution got done on a basis of day-to-day hard work and 
practical application.
  Dean never forgot that politics is about people, the people that he 
worked with in this body, the other Members and the staff, and most 
especially the people whom he represented, the people of the 11th 
Congressional District of New Jersey.
  I first got to know Dean when I was elected to the State assembly in 
New Jersey as a rookie assemblyman. He was minority leader at the time, 
he showed me the ropes, he taught me much of what I know now about 
politics.

                              {time}  1920

  When I came to Congress in 1991 he was already a member of the 
leadership in this body, and once again he served as a mentor and he 
taught me a lot of lessons that I hope I will always remember.
  Dean Gallo was a man of intelligence, of decency, of unerring common 
sense. He was the kind of person that this body and every legislative 
body needs. We will miss Dean, and we will remember him.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. I thank my colleague.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. 
Torricelli].
  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, tonight in large groups and small, with handshakes and 
waves, Members of the 103d Congress say goodbye to each other, hoping 
to see some who return and some who will not. For those of us who knew 
Dean Gallo, who respected his work and called him a friend, we are 
denied that opportunity
  In the waning days of the last election Dean lost his life. So 
tonight each of us in our own way want to pay respects to his country 
and to his institution and to say goodbye. All of us will take with us 
different memories. The friendships we enjoyed with Dean in his years 
of service, his bipartisanship, his warm nature, his commitment to the 
people he served are all a part of those memories.
  Around our State there are people who enjoy services, benefits, 
people who in many ways live better lives because of Dean's service in 
our State legislature and in this Congress. Perhaps, Mr. Speaker, those 
are the best monuments to Dean, each of those people, their belief in 
our system, their understanding of how government can serve the needs 
of people.
  So my colleagues, I ask only this: As you leave this institution or 
plan to return to it, keep a memory, keep some thing about Dean alive 
in you to make you a better servant and a better citizen.
  Dean, we will miss you. We thank you for your service, for your 
friendship, for your commitment to our country and for making each of 
our lives a little better.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey 
[Mr. Franks].
  Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the 
gentlewoman for bringing this resolution forward.
  Mr. Speaker, I had the privilege for every day I served in any 
elective office to have been a personal friend of Dean Gallo's. He was 
a mentor throughout the entirety of my career and service to the people 
of New Jersey, and he was a mentor for a number of reasons.
  There were some characteristics about Dean that we all know, his 
imposing size, his physical appearance, that booming voice that 
sometimes he would need to lend to a discussion or a debate. But he was 
someone who also had an enormous capacity, an enormous capacity for 
hard work and for great compassion. Service to the people of Morris 
County and the people of New Jersey was what made life worthwhile for 
Dean Gallo, that plus his relationship with his family. He brought to 
this institution a commitment to do right as he saw right, an ability 
to work with members of both political parties from all regions of the 
Nation to advance those concerns that made this country a better place 
and made his beloved New Jersey so very proud of him.
  Mr. Speaker, we are going to miss him, and certainly he is going to 
continue to serve as an example for what service in this institution 
ought to be all about, making life a little bit better for people we 
represent and putting this country on a more secure footing. We are 
certainly going to miss him as we move forward in this Congress.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to our colleague, the gentleman 
from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone].
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, when I first came to this Chamber 6 years 
ago and I saw Dean Gallo I was impressed by this tall, tough gentleman. 
But what a classy person at the same time. I think that really best 
describes him for me, a class act. That was Dean Gallo. He I think more 
than any other person tried to bring our New Jersey delegation 
together, which was not an easy task. We were often all over the lot 
and had our partisan differences. But he recognized that we had to work 
together for the State of New Jersey, for the projects on the 
Appropriations Committee and just in general.
  I asked him many times for help with important projects in my 
district. Whether it was shore protection for our beaches, whether it 
was alternatives to some of the ocean dumping that was taking place off 
the coast, every time he was there and he was always willing to help 
because he put the State first and the Nation first before any partisan 
politics.
  I guess the best example that I could think of of what a class act he 
was, was the day he decided that he would not run for reelection. I 
could just tell that he was in a lot of pain the last few months that 
he was here in this Chamber. He recognized the fact that he was not 
going to be able to continue and he decided to leave basically while he 
was well and while he was still able to function, because he felt that 
I think his own personal good was not as important as this institution. 
That is a class act, and that certainly is how I will remember Dean 
Gallo.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to our colleague, the gentleman 
from Illinois [Mr. Hastert].
  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from New 
Jersey yielding. Dean Gallo to me was a great friend, a fellow who 
would sit in the back or stand in the back of the Chamber and pass the 
time of day. He would talk about his times, of what his beliefs were, 
why he believed so strongly in the things that he did. But I treasure 
probably the most greatly the times after session when Dean and some of 
his colleagues and I would go out and have a plate of spaghetti and 
would talk about the times that Dean was in semi-pro ball or the short 
period of time that he broke into the big time, or the times that he 
was in the New Jersey Legislature and the times that he served as the 
majority leader in that legislature.
  But I think one of the things that will always stick with me in my 
thoughts about Dean Gallo was the last few days that he served this 
legislature before he left, before he could not be here any longer, the 
commitment and the dedication that he had to this institution, the love 
that he had for this institution and the people who served here and the 
people that he served back in New Jersey. Dean was certainly a unique 
and wonderful individual, and he will leave his mark on this 
institution for as long as we can remember. We certainly should try to 
emulate this man and the service he gave, and I feel that I was a much 
better person for having known him and having worked with him.
  Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the 
gentlewoman from New Jersey, for allowing me to have a few words to say 
about my good friend, Dean Gallo. I had the privilege of getting to 
know Dean Gallo when he was a member of the Morris County Board of 
Chosen Freeholders. In New Jersey we have the most distinguished title 
for county commissioner. And I was a member then in Essex County of the 
Chosen Freeholders serving in county government back in the 1970s, and 
Dean Gallo was also in county government at that time, and we really 
got to know him as a very, very special person.
  Dean was always interested in people in general. Then Dean went on to 
go to the State legislature when I went on into the city government, 
municipal government, and then Dean came down to Washington.
  But the thing about Dean Gallo is that he was always for people, he 
put people first. Whether I had a serious problem in the city of Newark 
where his district was 100 percent different, he would always sit down 
and see what he could do to help the people in my constituency. He 
always put New Jersey first.

                              {time}  1930

  I think Governor Kean, our distinguished former Governor of the State 
of New Jersey, so ably talked about Representative Gallo in such a warm 
and glowing way that made us all feel even more proud of what a 
distinguished, outstanding person Representative Dean Gallo was.
  He always worked with the YMCA, the State Model Youth Legislature, 
and he would always address the young people, and so we are going to 
miss him.
  We look at him as a tall, tough-looking, rough, scrappy guy, but when 
you got to know him, you knew he was not a tall, tough, scrappy, rough 
guy. He was really a gentleman.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. I thank my colleague, and I particularly appreciate the 
reference by the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Payne] to the funeral 
service where former Governor Tom Kean spoke. He spoke most eloquently 
and sincerely on the revered love that we all had for Dean Gallo.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman].
  (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, I just could not forgo this opportunity to pay tribute 
to Dean Gallo, a true friend of so many of us here in the Congress, a 
real gentleman, a great lawmaker, one who came right from the townships 
to become minority leader in the State legislature in New Jersey and 
then on to Congress.
  We are going to sorely miss him.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with deep regret that I rise to join our 
colleagues in paying tribute to a remarkable Member of Congress and a 
fine friend.
  When Dean Gallo first joined us in Congress 10 years ago, he was one 
of the few Members of this body with professional experience in the 
real estate field. This gave him a unique understanding of the dynamic 
growth taking place in the northeastern United States in the 1980s. It 
gave him background in understanding the environmental needs of our 
region and our Nation. But it also gave him an appreciation for the 
sanctity of private property and the need to keep our freedoms alive.
  Dean Gallo, with his years of experience as an elected official, 
first on the local level, then in county government, and finally in the 
State legislature, never lost his common touch and his appreciation for 
the common sense of the common American.
  As chairman of our Northeast-Midwest Coalition, he was an able and 
articulate spokesperson for the needs of our region.
  The news of Dean's passing was one of the most upsetting developments 
of 1994. His quiet good nature and his warm friendship will be missed 
by us all.
  I join with our colleagues in expressing our condolences to his 
family, and to the many, many residents of New Jersey who knew him as a 
role model and as an outstanding public servant.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York.
  I now yield to our colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. 
Smith]
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Let me just agree and thank everyone who has 
spoken so eloquently on behalf of Dean Gallo, who was a friend to each 
and every one of us.
  He was an extremely straightforward, honest, down-to-earth lawmaker 
and friend. He will be greatly missed by each of us in this 
institution.
  Dean worked very hard for his district. He worked very hard for the 
State of New Jersey. He worked very hard for the Nation. He put the 
people's interest first.
  It was very clear by his work over the many years both in the 
statehouse in Trenton and here in Washington that he was a great 
lawmaker. Eulogies at his funeral by many distinguished persons 
including our former Governor, Governor Tom Kean, gave compelling 
testimony to a man whose life was marked with many successes. He faced 
every adversity head-on, including the most difficult of all: that was 
his very, very severe and debilitating and ultimately killing illness 
that took his life.
  As was pointed out by those who knew him best in terms of the 
clergymen who was there with him at the very end, he had a very strong 
faith in God. He turned to God and his family at that time of great 
distress. He had some comfort. He suffered with courage and great 
nobility, and he will be missed by each and every one of us.
  I thank my good friend, the gentlewoman from New Jersey [Mrs. 
Roukema], for her leadership on this today.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. I thank my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey 
[Mr. Smith], for his comments. It was important for him to note, and I 
concur, that Congressman Gallo was a very deeply religious man who 
lived his religion every day.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Kolbe].
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, Dean Gallo was in my class. We came in 
together.
  But that is not really why I stand here this evening, to say just 
these few words about him. If I were to think of one way to describe 
Dean Gallo, it would be to say that he was a legislator's legislator.
  He was an individual who loved the craft of legislation. He loved 
this legislative body, and he applied his craft with great diligence 
and with real professionalism. He was an individual who never 
apologized for what a legislative body did. He might not agree with it. 
He might find some of the actions wrong, even reprehensible. But he 
though that the legislative body was the expression of American 
democracy at its very best.
  And so he took great joy in this place. He took great joy in the 
colleagues that he worked with, and he was a good legislator.
  I served with him on the Committee on Appropriations and watched the 
very careful work that he did on that committee and in some very 
difficult subcommittee assignments that he was given.
  He was an individual who cared, I think, a great deal about certainly 
his State, his district, and I know he cared a great deal about his 
Nation and his colleagues who served with him.
  We will miss him. It is people like Dean Gallo who have made this 
place a better place to serve. It is people like Dean Gallo who have 
made our Nation a better place, and I along with others who may serve 
in his stead and who may serve with us to remember him, to remember the 
role model that I think he provides for each and every one of us.
  My love, my thoughts, my prayers are with his family in this moment 
of their loss, and I know that all of my colleagues join in expressing 
our deep appreciation for the time we had to serve with him.
  Mrs. ROUKEMA. I thank my colleague.
  Mr. Speaker, this body has lost a loyal and faithful servant, and we 
will all miss him, but his legacy will live on in our hearts and in our 
minds and in the hearts of his constituents.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Montgomery). Without objection, the 
previous question is ordered on the resolution.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________