[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 129 (Thursday, October 6, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2026]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      IN MEMORY OF ESTHER WEISSMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 6, 2005

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, Esther Weissman understood with all her 
heart that the cause of injured workers is one of society's great moral 
callings.
  Social consciousness infused her daily work as a lawyer. She knew she 
was fighting not only for just compensation for her clients, she was 
trying to save their lives from being sacrificed upon the altars of 
modern industrial society.
  They came to Esther on crutches, wearing arm slings, with eye patches 
and bandages of every sort from their encounters with the hazards of 
the workplace. They came to her office as pilgrims, migrants to a 
sacred place, seeking a miracle that would save their lives. Again and 
again Esther gave them hope, through honest and aggressive 
representation.
  In addition to her advocacy in the courts, Esther actively 
participated in the electoral system. She rallied other attorneys, 
labor leaders, and voters to protect the rights of workers and advance 
social justice at the ballot box. Her legacy includes preserving Ohio's 
legal protections for injured workers in the popular defeat of the 
anti-worker ballot initiative known as Issue 2, in 1997.
  Esther's was the cause of human dignity. Hers was the cause of 
economic justice. Hers was the cause of worker rights. Hers was the 
cause of the safe workplace. Hers was the cause of just compensation 
for injured workers. Hers was the cause of advocating for those too 
hurt, those too poor, those too weak to advocate for themselves.
  Esther Weissman was the Joan of Arc of injured workers.
  Again and again, holding up the banner of worker rights, she 
fearlessly fought on behalf of her beloved workers, with every fiber of 
her being, with all of her resources, with her last ounce of courage, 
to her last breath.

                          ____________________