[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 103 (Friday, July 12, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1278-E1279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING CONGRESSMAN JOSEPH Y. RESNICK

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MAURICE D. HINCHEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 12, 1996

  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment today to share some 
memories of one of my distinguished predecessors, Joseph Y. Resnick, 
who served in this body during the mid-1960's. Joe Resnick was an 
inspiration to me as a young man when I was first getting involved in 
politics and Government service. His commitment to public service and 
his responsiveness to his constituents led to a new era in 
representative government in the Hudson Valley region, a legacy which 
continues to this day.
  The first Ulster County Democratic convention that I attended in 1964 
featured Joe Resnick as a candidate for Congress against a long-time, 
seldom-seen Republican incumbent. During his acceptance speech at that 
convention Joe Resnick told a story about a conversation with a friend 
of his in Ellenville, NY. The man expressed his surprise that Joe was a 
Democrat. You see, back in those days Democrats in upstate New York 
were outnumbered 3 to 1. Joe continued on in his speech, not for a 
moment defensive or embarrassed by it and said ``I'm the best kind of 
Democrat--the winning kind!'' And he was right. And it wasn't the first 
or the last time he was right either.
  Joe Resnick brought a new style of leadership to the region. He was a 
very visible public official. Up until that time, Members of Congress 
in the region didn't have district offices, but Joe Resnick opening a 
district office in Kingston, NY. Joe Resnick actually wanted his 
constituents to know who he was and that he was there to serve them, 
not the other way around. It used to be that the only way you could get 
your Congressman to help you was if you had power, money, or good 
connections. Joe Resnick had a radically new idea--serving the public 
directly, with dedication, and without discrimination. It all seems so 
natural to us today to do that, but believe me 30 years ago it wasn't. 
His example inspired me to open one of the very first district offices 
when I was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1976.
  When I first came to Congress in January of 1993, then Speaker Tom 
Foley told me a wonderful story about his service with Joe Resnick on 
the House Agriculture Committee back in the 1960's. Joe Resnick was a 
freshman and the scene was the first day that the committee met for 
that session of Congress. The chairman of the committee, Speaker Foley 
went on to say, was an old Southern gentleman, very much of the old 
school as well, speaking in a thick Southern accent, who propounded the 
popular theory of those days that a freshman Member of Congress should 
be ``seen and not heard,'' and that's the kind of treatment that the 
freshman Members could expect from the committee, and so forth. That 
was how it was in the old days. Well, Joe Resnick, who as a

[[Page E1279]]

freshman was seated at the far end of the dais from the chairman, heard 
this and said ``nobody is going to tell me how to vote; nobody is going 
to tell me what to do'' in a voice loud enough for everyone in the room 
to hear. And nobody did ever tell him how to vote and get away with it. 
Joe Resnick was a man of conscience. His campaign literature reflected 
this--``I am my own man. I represent no special interest. I speak and 
vote only in accordance with my conscience and judgment to benefit the 
people I represent. The political bosses don't control me.'' And they 
didn't. Speaker Foley went on to tell me that Joe Resnick never did hit 
it off with that committee chairman and never got help from him. But 
Joe Resnick had his own circle of friends in powerful places, most 
notably his friendship with President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

  Joe was an energetic public servant as well, working hard to bring 
Federal programs to the people who needed them--from food relief to 
helping to keep Castle Point veterans hospital from closing. He even 
brought President Lyndon Baines Johnson to Ellenville, for the 
dedication of Ellenville Hospital, on a day which is still remembered 
today. Although Joe Resnick was a prosperous man at the time of his 
untimely death in 1968, he and his brothers, with whom he founded the 
famed Channel Master Corporation, have never for a moment forgotten 
their humble origins as children of immigrant parents from Russia. His 
story, and the story of his large, extended family, is the story of 
America itself--hardworking, dedicated, and big hearted in all the 
right places and at all the right times.
  Mr. Speaker, tomorrow would have been Joe Resnick's birthday and I 
want to respectfully invite my colleagues to join me in offering our 
prayers and best wishes to Joe Resnick's family on that day.

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