[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5349-5351]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO FORMER CONGRESSMAN JOHN ADLER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is 
recognized for 17 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Thank you, Mr. Speaker; and I want to continue making 
this tribute and joining my colleagues, Congressman Lance and 
Congressman Holt, in this tribute this evening to John Adler, a good 
friend and one of our colleagues.

[[Page 5350]]

  I don't want to repeat some of the things that my colleagues have 
already said, but I would like to talk a little bit about some 
instances of my own life that also involved John.
  I think Mr. Lance mentioned how difficult his political life was in 
the sense that he was always running in areas that were primarily or 
historically Republican. When he was elected to the State senate back 
in the early 1990s, he won in an upset against an incumbent. Of course, 
when he ran for the congressional seat which adjoins mine in the south 
in Ocean County, he was very much running against the odds. That seat 
had been held by Congressman Saxton, who was also a good friend for 
many years, and was Republican as far back as anyone can remember. And 
he still won. I think he won by 51 or 52 percent of the vote. He just 
always faced challenges like that.
  It was mentioned when he was growing up that his father died also of 
a heart condition at a young age, I think 47 years old; and I don't 
even know if John was in high school at that time. He would often talk 
on the campaign trail about growing up and having to depend on Social 
Security benefits, and he was able to relate to people because of his 
upbringing, those who were struggling and those who had a hard time 
because maybe they had lost a father or didn't have a parent or grew up 
in circumstances where they didn't have much money.
  I think that the energy and the willingness to always take on the 
fight very much characterized John. As was mentioned, he really was one 
of the smartest people that I have ever met. I remember on another 
occasion when we were at a campaign event and I was introducing him, 
and I mentioned he graduated undergraduate from Harvard University and 
then went on to Harvard law school and how impressed I was with that. 
After the event was over, he came up to me and said, Frank, don't 
mention I went to Harvard; I have to be humble. And that certainly 
doesn't indicate any kind of humility if you mention Harvard. Not that 
he wasn't proud of it, he certainly was, and he had reason to be.
  But he always wanted to relate to the average person, to the middle 
class person, to the little guy because that was his upbringing. That 
is what he was really all about. That is why he wanted to come to 
Congress.
  As Mr. Lance mentioned, anybody who graduates from Harvard 
undergraduate and law school could easily spend the rest of their life 
making money and doing well financially, but he decided he wanted to go 
into politics. He wanted to help people. And even if it meant he had to 
run in a district and work hard and raise a lot of money to campaign in 
order to win, he was determined to do that because he really believed 
that that is what life is all about, giving back, giving to the public, 
giving back to his country.
  I want to just mention a couple of other things that I thought were 
kind of interesting. John would always talk about his family. I don't 
know how long it takes to go back and forth to where he lived in Cherry 
Hill exactly, probably a couple of hours, maybe a little more, but he 
was always determined to go back and forth as much as possible. Even 
when he was here, in order to make sure that he was able to help his 
family and not spend a lot of money, he would spend the night in his 
office because he wanted to make sure that he had enough money to pay 
for his family.
  He always talked about his kids; he talked about their education. He 
was so proud of the fact of where they were going to college and talked 
to me many times about them and their education and wanted to go back 
home so he could go to an athletic event with them or just be with them 
and his wife, Shelley.
  The one thing that everyone comments about is not only John's 
humility but also his sense of humor. I have to tell you that many 
times I would come to the floor and sometimes I always remember him 
over in that set of chairs or standing up in that part of the House 
floor. I would always come up to him and ask him if he wanted to do a 
1-minute Special Order or if he wanted to do this or that. I was always 
nagging him to do different things. And sometimes he would do, and 
sometimes he wouldn't; but he would always tell a joke. He always would 
make me laugh.

                              {time}  2150

  I have to be honest that oftentimes after a long day here in the 
House of Representatives, that's really what you need. You need someone 
to tell a joke or to make you laugh with his wit, with his sense of 
humor. It was a very special thing. I'm not sure that I can really 
describe it well.
  Also, on the campaign trail, Jon Runyan, his successor in Congress, 
was here speaking the other night. You couldn't help when you saw John 
Adler and Jon Runyan together, Jon is this huge guy, a football player, 
big, tall, and, of course, John Adler was so slight. He always 
exercised. I don't even know how much he weighed, but he was very 
slight. The contrast between them was sort of interesting. John would 
always poke fun at that as well, the fact that he was a slight guy and 
that Jon Runyan was such a big guy as a football player.
  I heard Mr. Lance talk about Ocean County and John representing Ocean 
County. I can't help but mention one aspect of that, and that is the 
fact that when he first was running in Ocean County, because I used to 
represent it at one time, he would remark to me about how beautiful it 
was, how wonderful the beaches were, and he was very concerned to 
preserve the quality of the beaches, the quality of the ocean, and also 
protect the industries that used them, particularly the fishing 
industry. There was an organization called the Recreational Fishing 
Alliance that was very supportive of John because he was very concerned 
about the fishing industry. It was historically part of Ocean County 
and part of New Jersey going back to even Colonial times, and that he 
felt he had a special role to play in trying to protect the industry.
  They appreciated it. Fishermen, maybe unlike some people, they can 
kind of see whether you're really on their side and whether you really 
are truly supportive of them and understand their concerns. They 
understood that John did, and they really appreciated all the help that 
he gave them.
  I know our time is running out. I did want to first recognize my 
colleague, Mr. Pascrell, and then after that, I wanted to read a 
statement from former Governor Jon Corzine into the record because he 
had asked that I do that this evening.
  At this point I would yield to my colleague from New Jersey.
  Mr. PASCRELL. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I really am honored to be on the floor with two great congressmen, 
Congressman Pallone and Congressman Lance. I know the three of us 
served in the New Jersey legislature. John Adler was a great New Jersey 
Senator. He was everything but a Harvard man. In other words, he didn't 
act like a Harvard man. You could connect with him. He was a human 
being, above everything else. He was tenacious on the campaign trail, 
but he was more valuable as a public servant. He took what he did very 
seriously. He was sincere, very hardworking. He did his homework before 
each vote. He would never allow anyone to lead him by the nose to vote. 
Very independent thinker. Not unlike Pallone and Lance. He was not a 
Trenton guy. He was not a Washington guy. He came here to do a job.
  I could not believe when I heard the news, a 51-year-old young man. 
Compared to me he's a young man. He had so much to give and he gave it. 
He really loved the public that he served. He will be greatly missed by 
Democrats and Republicans on this floor. To his wife, Shelley, and 
their four beautiful sons, Jeff, Alex, Andrew, and Oliver, you have 
friends here. This is by no means the end.
  Growing up in Haddonfield and coming to Washington, it was no 
difference to John Adler. He truly loved his fellow man. He truly did 
what he was supposed to do here on his mission. Folks voted him here. 
Even when things didn't go well in the last election, he rose above. He 
was a winner in every sense of the word. God bless him. God

[[Page 5351]]

bless our beautiful State. God bless the best country in the world. We 
remember John Adler this evening with fond memory.
  Thank you, Frank.
  Mr. PALLONE. Thank you, my colleague.
  I mentioned, Mr. Speaker, that former Governor Corzine, who worked 
with John Adler for many years on judicial and law enforcement issues 
while Adler served in the State senate as chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee and Corzine, of course, was the Governor at the time, he 
asked that I read this statement on the passing of Congressman John 
Adler:
  ``Congressman John Adler was a dedicated public servant whose wit, 
intelligence, and drive enriched the public debate in both the New 
Jersey statehouse and in our Nation's capital. For nearly half his 
life, Congressman Adler committed himself to the truly noble idea that 
our government and our great country can be a force for good in the 
lives of so many citizens.
  ``Today, we owe a debt of gratitude to Shelley Adler for sharing John 
with countless New Jerseyans who, whether they know it or not, are 
better off because of her loving and generous husband.
  ``John's true legacy, however, as Shelley would certainly attest, is 
found in four wonderful boys who will undoubtedly enrich their 
communities with the same spirit of compassion and commitment to the 
greater good found in their father.
  ``While we mourn John's passing, may we also celebrate him by 
remembering that our own lives are defined by those moments when we 
decide to stop and help someone else.''
  Those are the comments by former Governor Corzine.
  Mr. Speaker, I know that Congressman Holt before mentioned some of 
the statements that were made by friends and relatives at John Adler's 
funeral this afternoon in Cherry Hill. I did want to, if I could, just 
take a couple of excerpts here, as I know we only have a few minutes 
left, that I would like to enter into the Record, some parts of the 
narrative of the funeral that are mentioned in PolitickerNewJersey.com.
  It starts out by saying:
  They came Wednesday to honor the memory of John Adler, a New Jersey 
exemplar, a self-made man of Horatio Alger levels, a man of law, a 
family man, and a man of the people.
  Rabbi Jerome David said, ``John died--too soon, too young--after a 3-
week battle in the hospital surrounded by his family, surrounded by a 
very dedicated circle of friends. But he died knowing he used his 
intelligence and skills to help people--to really make a difference.''
  Another rabbi spoke of his humble leadership, reading a passage in 
Hebrew and translating to English: ``It is not the position that honors 
the man; rather it is the man who has honored the position. He saw 
himself as a public servant in the best sense.'' The rabbi recalled a 
particular moment that exemplified John's joie de vivre, when the 
Harvard-schooled pol would exit a stage--ignoring completely the half-
stack of steps attached to the side--and he would bound off the front 
onto the people's floor.
  Two of his sons spoke at the funeral. The eldest, Andrew, emotionally 
recalled how much his father would get from doing the mundane family 
things, like attending soccer games, yelling some absurdity onto the 
field at tense moments. ``I will always miss him,'' his son said. ``But 
I know he was always proud of the ones he loved.''
  Lastly, Mr. Speaker, the rabbi concluded the ceremony with a poem 
that ends:
  Perhaps my time seemed all too brief
  Don't lengthen it now with undue grief
  Lift up your hearts and share with me
  God wanted me now, he set me free.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I would yield back the balance of my time.

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