[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 103 (Friday, July 12, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE JOHN S. WATSON, SR.

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DONALD M. PAYNE

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 11, 1996

  Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on June 29 while we were back 
in our districts for the Independence Day District Work Period, the 
State of New Jersey lost one of its champions, the Honorable John S. 
Watson, Sr. A man of many firsts, he chose to use his experiences, 
talents, and resources to serve the public.
  Mr. Watson served six terms in the New Jersey General Assembly 
beginning in 1981. He served on the assembly housing and urban policy 
committee and the assembly appropriations committee. His diligent work 
on the appropriations committee resulted in Mr. Watson being named 
assembly minority budget officer. In 1992, he was appointed chairperson 
of the assembly appropriations committee, making him the first African-
American legislator to hold such a position.
  His tenure in the assembly afforded him the opportunity to author 
numerous appropriations committee resolutions funding programs in 
housing, arts, health, education and human services. He sponsored 
legislation establishing a set-aside program for the acquisition of 
African-American art--the first in the Nation's history. He also 
sponsored legislation creating the New Jersey Pre-College Program for 
High School Students and the Minority Opportunity Skills Training 
[MOST] Program. He was also responsible for the legislation which 
permanently established the State's Martin Luther King, Jr., 
Commemorative Commission.
  Prior to his service in the general assembly, Mr. Watson served ten 
years on the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders. I had the 
privilege of meeting him when I served on the Essex County Board of 
Chosen Freeholders from 1972 to 1978. Mr. Watson was first appointed to 
the Board in 1970, where he became the first African-American to be 
elected freeholder in the history of Mercer County. He went on to 
become the first African-American to serve as president of any 
Freeholder Board in the State of New Jersey. He became an active member 
and leader of the New Jersey Association of Counties and the National 
Association of Counties.
  In 1992, Mr. Watson used his knowledge of the State, its leaders and 
his coalition-building skills to create the New Jersey African-American 
Political Alliance. I am honored to serve as chairman of the alliance 
which is a statewide coalition of political and other leaders that 
works to influence decisions that affect our communities and secure 
equity in the political arena. Mr. Watson served the organization with 
distinction as a vice chairman and was an integral part of many of our 
successes.
  He not only served the people of New Jersey through his legislative 
work but he was active in many civic organizations including the 
Trenton Branch NAACP, Junior Achievement, New Jersey Juvenile 
Delinquency Commission, Trenton State College Equal Opportunity Fund 
[EOF] Community Advisory Board, and the Delaware-Raritan Canal 
Commission.
  Mr. Watson's work and accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. He 
holds an honorary doctorate of laws degree from Richard Stockton State 
College, Pomona, NJ. The Edison State College Institute for Public 
Policy in Trenton, NJ, was renamed the John S. Watson, Sr., Institute 
for Public Policy. The newly constructed community center of the Patton 
J. Hill School in Trenton, NJ, was named in honor of Mr. Watson.
  Mr. Speaker, I am sure my colleagues will want to join me as I pay 
tribute to a man of conviction, commitment and achievement, and offer 
my condolences to his four children, eight grandchildren, and two 
great-grandchildren.

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