[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 24969-24971]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             JOHN K. RAFFERTY HAMILTON POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1374) to designate the United States Post Office building 
located at 680 State Highway 130 in Hamilton, New Jersey, as the ``John 
K. Rafferty Hamilton Post Office Building,'' as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 1374

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF JOHN K. RAFFERTY HAMILTON POST 
                   OFFICE BUILDING.

       The United States Post Office building located at 680 U.S. 
     Highway 130 in Hamilton, New Jersey, shall be known and 
     designated as the ``John K. Rafferty Hamilton Post Office 
     Building''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, regulation, map, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the United States 
     Post Office building referred to in section 1 shall be deemed 
     to be a reference to the ``John K. Rafferty Hamilton Post 
     Office Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. McHugh) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh).
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this represents the fifth, final but certainly not the 
least of the proposed naming bills that we will have before us today. 
Indeed, I think this whole House owes the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Smith) a debt of gratitude for bringing to us what in looking over 
the life of John K. Rafferty is certainly someone who is totally 
fitting for this kind of honor.
  The gentleman from New Jersey brought this bill to the committee on 
April 12 of this year and, as with all of the other naming bills, it 
does bear the cosponsorship of the entire delegation here in the House 
from the great State of New Jersey. I do not want to undercut the 
sponsor's comments here in a moment, I know that he will have a great 
deal to say about Mr. Rafferty, but suffice it to say that he served 
his community for more than 30 years. He first worked on the Hamilton 
Committee for 6 years and then became Hamilton's first full-time mayor, 
serving continuously since 1976. In fact, Mr. Rafferty intends to 
retire from the office of mayor early next year at the completion of 
this term.
  As we have heard today both in the bills that have been proposed and 
some of the comments, we would like to think that these post office 
designations are extended to great Americans. We heard earlier the 
gentleman from Ohio speaking, I thought, very forcefully about the very 
appropriate nature of the designation to Mrs. Louise Stokes, as someone 
who had a profound effect on America and someone who exemplifies what 
we think constitutes a good and wholesome life as a citizen of this 
great country. Certainly from the information that I have seen on Mr. 
Rafferty from the comments and submissions by the gentleman from New 
Jersey, in fact, Mr. Rafferty is a great American, someone who perhaps 
is not read about in the national newspapers or heard often about in 
the national news broadcasts but nevertheless a man who every day wakes 
up and thinks of one thing first beyond his family and his loved ones 
and, that is, service to his community, simply working to try to make 
today a little bit better than yesterday and hopefully tomorrow a 
little bit better than today. That is a great American.
  I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey for his leadership on 
this issue. As with all of the naming bills, again my deep appreciation 
to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah), the ranking member, 
for not just his cooperation and support but for his leadership as 
well.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I 
rise in support of H.R. 1374.
  First of all I want to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh) 
who serves as the majority chair. The Subcommittee on Postal Service 
has had a great deal of responsibility over the course of this session. 
First, of course, the oversight of the largest postal service anywhere 
in the world and the finest, some 800,000 employees on a whole range of 
issues. Our committee has dealt with postal reform in macro. We have 
been working here more recently on the whole issue of fraudulent 
solicitation for sweepstakes in a bill that we hope to have considered 
on the floor very soon.
  Some might think for the Congress to take time to honor individuals 
by naming post offices is some type of work that perhaps we could do in 
a different fashion, but I think that for this body, the Congress, to 
take the time to honor a mayor of a town in New Jersey, a widow who 
raised her children, saw one rise to be a Member of the Congress and 
another the mayor of a big city, to honor a Republican from Kansas and 
a Democrat from California and a baseball great is appropriate for

[[Page 24970]]

this House, to take and pause a minute, because this country is made up 
of individuals who helped make us what it is that makes the rest of the 
world want to have some small part of the ideals that are represented 
here in America represented in their lives.
  I want to thank the majority chairman for facilitating these bills 
coming to the floor. I would like to say we will be back, I am sure, 
with other legislation that will deal with some of these other matters, 
but today I think it is important that these were brought forward.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Let me respond to the very, I think, appropriate and certainly 
gracious comments by the ranking member. I think these designations are 
worthy of this House floor. Certainly the cooperative effort that he 
and the members on his side bring to these kinds of initiatives very 
clearly underscores that. It has been both a pleasure and an honor to 
work with him. As he noted, we have much work before us that we are 
looking forward to on other endeavors. We will be back indeed.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the primary sponsor on this 
bill.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend 
the chairman from New York for yielding me this time and thank the 
ranking member from Pennsylvania for his very kind remarks about all of 
those great individuals being honored today but also and especially for 
Mayor Rafferty from Hamilton Township.
  Mr. Speaker, as a member of Congress for the past 19 years, I believe 
there is no one in the entire State of New Jersey more deserving of 
recognition and praise than Jack Rafferty, a dedicated mayor, community 
leader, humanitarian and family man.
  Thus, Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to recommend passage of H.R. 1374, 
cosponsored, as the gentleman pointed out, by the entire New Jersey 
delegation, a bill to designate the U.S. postal building located at 680 
U.S. Highway 130 in Hamilton Township, New Jersey as the ``John K. 
Rafferty Hamilton Post Office Building.'' Mayor Rafferty, who will be 
retiring from office in the next few months, has served the people of 
Hamilton with extraordinary distinction and honor as their mayor since 
1976, and for 6 years prior to that time, he served on the Township 
Committee. Additionally, in 1986 and in 1987, Jack Rafferty served in 
the New Jersey State Assembly from the 14th District.
  It is worth noting, Mr. Speaker, that in 1996, Jack Rafferty was 
inducted into the New Jersey Mayors' Hall of Fame. In 1997, the next 
year, the New Jersey Conference of Mayors selected him as the Mayor of 
the Year, another well-deserved accolade and honor. During his 30 years 
of dedicated public service, Mayor Rafferty has always been committed 
to the residents of Hamilton Township for whom he has worked tirelessly 
and effectively. His caring and commitment to the people of Hamilton 
never wavered during that service.
  Mr. Speaker, Hamilton is a very large community. It is comprised of 
approximately 90,000 people, covering 39 square miles. Amazingly, Jack 
knows just about everybody in town and, significantly, he has always 
treated everyone, friend, acquaintance, stranger, even political 
opponents, with respect and dignity. He has always had a kind word for 
everybody and nobody has a better sense of humor than Jack Rafferty.
  Mr. Speaker, as Hamilton's first full-time mayor, Jack has blazed a 
trail unsurpassed in accomplishment while he significantly improved the 
quality of life in the township, making it an example for other 
communities in New Jersey and around the country. And he always did it 
with style, good humor and class. Jack Rafferty was a mayor ahead of 
his time. In fact he was forging ahead with action items like 
preserving open space years before other politicians discovered the 
benefit of this enlightened initiative.
  Almost everywhere you look in Hamilton Township, you will recognize 
Jack Rafferty's legacy and handiwork. From Hamilton's 310-acre Veterans 
Park, which Mayor Rafferty made a reality soon after being elected, to 
the botanical beauty of Sayen Gardens, Hamilton today is an oasis in 
New Jersey, a place set apart, a wonderful community to live and to 
raise a family.
  Mr. Speaker, like other lawmakers at the County, State, and Federal 
level, I have worked very closely with Mayor Rafferty for years on 
joint Federal and local project initiatives to improve Hamilton's 
enviable quality of life. These initiatives include his determined 
effort to establish a single postal identity for his community to unite 
its various neighborhoods. In 1992, Mayor Rafferty accomplished this 
goal when the U.S. Postal Service finally recognized Hamilton as the 
name to be used when addressing letters to people and businesses. Mr. 
Speaker, that is why it is so fitting to name this postal facility on 
Route 130 in Hamilton after the mayor, if it were not for Jack, this 
postal identity, like scores of other things, would never have become a 
reality.
  Most recently, Jack worked to bring a Northeast Corridor line train 
station to Hamilton. During the dedication ceremony for the station, 
Mayor Rafferty spoke with pride about meeting the needs of the growing 
number of commuters who live in our area, not just in Hamilton but in 
surrounding communities as well, and he also talked about the big 
landscaped hedge sign along the Northeast Corridor route that lets 
people know that they are in Hamilton Township. Quite literally, he put 
Hamilton on the map.
  Mayor Rafferty worked hard, effectively and with a can-do type of 
vision to develop Hamilton's infrastructure, including its award-
winning water pollution control system which has attracted ecology 
students and teachers from universities along with officials from other 
municipalities. He knows that a well-built, forward-thinking and 
properly maintained infrastructure is the key to balancing development, 
environmental protection and local prosperity.
  While Mayor Rafferty realized the importance of roads, highways, and 
mass transit, he never forgot the life-enhancing advantages that open 
space and recreation bring to a community. Hamilton now operates 
several major parks, along with 25 baseball fields, 19 soccer fields, 
38 tennis courts, 41 basketball courts and 39 neighborhood playgrounds 
to serve its residents. Veterans Park itself contains the State's 
largest municipal playground and the largest public tennis facility and 
it is the site of the annual SeptemberFest celebration to which over 
100,000 people a year visit to enjoy the community of Hamilton. These 
things do not happen by accident. They are the result of careful 
planning and careful execution. We have our mayor to thank for it.
  Keeping Hamilton beautiful, bursting with trees, shrubs and flowers 
and fostering a high standard of living has been another Jack Rafferty 
hallmark. Hamilton has planted 4,000 shade trees since Mayor Rafferty 
took office and the township continues to plant about 300 per year. 
Overall, Hamilton now has 3,500 acres of parkland. The infrastructure 
and open space improvements made by Mayor Rafferty have sparked 
important nonpolluting commercial growth and provide for a diverse and 
stable economy in Hamilton.

                              {time}  1600

  Along with serving as Hamilton's mayor, Jack has always found the 
time to be active in numerous civic associations as well, the 
township's VFW post, the Knights of Columbus, the YMCA, and the Grange 
Society. Mayor Rafferty also served as president of the New Jersey 
Conference of Mayors from 1984 to 1986, and as I indicated earlier, was 
the conference Mayor of the Year in 1997.
  Mayor Rafferty received more awards than time permits me to mention 
on the floor today during his service to Hamilton, but just to name a 
few: the Young Mens Christian Association Man of the Year in 1992, the 
Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen Award

[[Page 24971]]

in 1996, and Project Freedom's Angel Award in 1998.
  Mr. Speaker, finally just let me say that I have known Jack Rafferty 
and his wife Doris and their children, Megan and Daniel, for many 
years. They have been and are today a great first family. They are 
caring people. They epitomize what is good and honorable about public 
service, and they are class personified.
  As mayor, Jack will be missed, but always appreciated. I believe that 
designating the post office on Route 130 as the John K. Rafferty 
Hamilton Post Office is the least that our citizens can do to say 
``thank you'' to someone who has done so much for so many.
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time but 
yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I cannot imagine any way in which I can add to the 
eloquence and the depth of the very appropriate comments by the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), and with that I would simply 
urge all of our colleagues to join with the ranking member and myself 
and all of the committee members in sponsoring the gentleman from New 
Jersey's very worthy initiative.
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be an original co-sponsor of 
H.R. 2591, legislation designating the United States Post Office 
located on Elm Street in Wakefield, Kansas, as the ``William H. Avery 
Post Office''. Let me commend Congressman Moran for sponsoring this 
legislation which is an appropriate honor well deserved by the 
recipient.
  Mr. Speaker, my wife Vicki and I have enjoyed our friendship with 
Governor Avery over the past several years, and we are both excited 
that this honor is being bestowed upon a great public servant and good 
friend who has always placed the people of the great State of Kansas 
first.
  When I think about the tremendous reputation Governor Avery still 
enjoys, I think about the moniker given to a past politician: The Happy 
Warrior. You cannot talk to Bill without feeling his zest for life and 
his indomitable spirit. It is not unusual to see Governor Avery at an 
event in Kansas, shaking hands, kissing babies and talking about the 
latest Republican strategy. Sometimes a few of us in this esteemed Body 
get tired and frustrated. At those moments I think of Governor Avery, 
his quick smile, his knowing wink, his kind words, his all-encompassing 
heart. Always smiling, always moving, always hopeful of the future, but 
respectful of the past. Governor Avery is truly Kansas's Happy Warrior.
  Mr. Speaker I realize that at times the floor of the House can be 
partisan, and with your indulgence I am going to add to that partisan 
flame, just a bit. There is one memory I will always cherish, and it 
occurred in January of 1995. I was a new Member of Congress, full of 
hope, a little overwhelmed, and flush anticipation of the job ahead.
  I had some friends and family in my office and in came Governor 
Avery. He came up to me and shook my hand, and told me why he had 
traveled back to D.C. You see Governor Avery is also appropriately 
called Congressman Avery. He served in this House from 1955-1965. He 
related to me that when he won his election in 1954, he thought he 
would be entering a Republican Congress, but he soon learned that the 
Democrats had regained the majority. Congressman Avery was destined to 
serve all his tenure in the minority. He always felt a little jilted by 
history, and that is why he wanted to be on the floor of the U.S. House 
when the gavel passed. At that moment I realized how fortunate I really 
was to be entrusted with a job representing the Fourth Congressional 
District of Kansas, and I realized just how historic a shift in 
Congress can be.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope Governor Avery is enjoying the beautiful Autumn 
evening back home in Wakefield, Kansas. I want to thank him for all his 
words of inspiration, his dedication and his enduring attitude. When 
the history of Kansas is written, it will be as kind to Governor Avery 
as he has been to anyone who has had the good fortune to know him.
  Mr. Speaker, I am honored to be able to call Governor Avery my friend 
and to help recognize him this day for the many accomplishments he has 
provided the people of Kansas and this great country.
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Stearns). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1374, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to 
designate the United States Post Office building located at 680 U.S. 
Highway 130 in Hamilton, New Jersey, as the `John K. Rafferty Hamilton 
Post Office Building.'.''
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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