Thread: New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg dies at 89

Updated 5 hours ago

NJ Sen. Lautenberg dies at 89

By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., passed away from viral pneumonia at the age of 89.

New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg passed away on Monday after struggling with health issues in recent months.

NBC News confirmed that the 89-year-old Democratic senator – the oldest member of the chamber – passed away from viral pneumonia that had sidelined him from the Senate for much of this year.

President Barack Obama hailed the late senator as "a proud New Jerseyan who lived America’s promise as a citizen, and fought to keep that promise alive as a senator."

Lautenberg was first elected to the Senate in 1982, and served into that capacity through 2001, when he initially retired. State Democrats beckoned him back into public life, though, in 2002 following the withdrawal of their candidate during a competitive race.

"First elected to the Senate in 1982, he improved the lives of countless Americans with his commitment to our nation’s health and safety, from improving our public transportation to protecting citizens from gun violence to ensuring that members of our military and their families get the care they deserve," Obama said.

Though Lautenberg missed a number of votes over the past few months due to illness, he did return to Washington for several high-profile votes. He made the trip to the Capitol in April for the Senate’s vote on legislation to strengthen gun control laws, and on May 16, he participated in a committee vote to approve President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the EPA.

"Never was Sen. Lautenberg to be underestimated as an advocate for the causes he believed in and as an adversary in the political world," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I think the best way to describe Frank Lautenberg and the way he would probably want to be described to all of you today is as a fighter. Sen. Lautenberg fought for the things he believed in and sometimes he just fought because he liked to."

"I am deeply saddened at the loss of my friend, Frank Lautenberg," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "History will show him to be one of the most productive Senators ever."

The longtime senator was the last remaining member of the Senate to have served in the military during World War II, following the retirement earlier this year of Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and the death of Sen. Daniel Iouye, D-Hawaii. The flags at the U.S. Capitol were ordered to half-staff on Monday in mourning of Lautenberg.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images


NBC News has confirmed that Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., the oldest member of the Senate, has died at the age of 89 of viral pneumonia June 3, 2013.

Lautenberg had announced his intention to retire in 2015, at the conclusion of his current term -- though not before publicly chastising Newark Mayor Cory Booker, D, for readying his own Senate campaign before Lautenberg made that announcement. The task will now fall to Christie to appoint an interim successor to Lautenberg.

This story was originally published on Mon Jun 3, 2013 9:54 AM EDT

http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2...lite&GT1=43001

1. I hope he made peace with his god who ever that was

2. Watch New Jersey Gov. Chris "Crispy Cream" Christie an whom he appoints

3. Me Thinks Lautenberg was Pro Amnesty ... again, read line 2.

http://www.alipac.us/f9/chris-christ...9/#post1347580

http://www.alipac.us/f9/christie-rif...de-you-280028/

some may call this divine intervention

US Sen. Frank Lautenberg dies at 89 [video]

Monday, June 3, 2013 Last updated: Monday June 3, 2013, 4:06 PM
BY HERB JACKSON
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

Video and photos at the page link

Frank R. Lautenberg, who rose from a poor Paterson boyhood to become a multimillionaire businessman and New Jersey’s longest-serving U.S. senator, died Monday at 89 of viral pneumonia, his office said.
The oldest member of the Senate and its last World War II veteran, Lautenberg had struggled with health problems since late last year, when he missed several weeks of votes because of what he said was flu and bronchitis.
Photos: Sen. Frank Lautenberg through the years
President Obama sent his condolences to the family and called Lautenberg "a proud New Jerseyan who lived America’s promise as a citizen, and fought to keep that promise alive as a senator."
In the Senate, Lautenberg's desk was draped in black Monday morning.
The death of Lautenberg, a Democrat, creates a vacancy that Republican Gov. Christie will fill through appointment. How long that appointee would serve is unclear, but much of the decision rests with Christie.
There are two conflicting state statutes that refer to Senate vacancies, one of which says there would not be an election until 2014. But Christie also could call a special election this year.
Related: NJ lawmakers react to Lautenberg’s death
Possible choices include state Sens. Thomas Kean Jr. and Joseph M. Kyrillos, both of whom ran previously, and Assemblyman John Bramnick. Christie also could appoint a personal confidante, such as attorney William Palatucci, to fill the seat while others vie for the nomination in next year's primary.
Lautenberg returned to Washington in February and announced he would not seek re-election in 2014, but hoped to complete a series of accomplishments before his term ended. He had a breakthrough last month on one of them, a bill to overhaul the law that regulates chemicals used in household products, when a bipartisan compromise bill was unveiled.
But he also experienced weakness in his legs throughout the year, and missed several more weeks of votes. On May 16, he returned in a wheelchair and said he was feeling better and hoped to be in Washington more regularly.
Though his illness and weakness were widely known, his death came as a surprise to staff and the state political establishment.
"I'm still shaken up" said Brendan Gill, the state director at Lautenberg's Newark office. "This is a private time for the family."
After he fell in the shower of his Cliffside Park home in February 2010, Lautenberg was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his stomach. He continued to come to Washington for votes while receiving chemotherapy, and declared in June of that year he was "cancer free."
Related: Timeline of Sen. Frank Lautenberg's life and career
Environmental regulation and transportation were centerpieces of the five-term liberal's political career, which began when the co-founder of payroll-processing giant Automatic Data Processing won an open Senate seat in 1982.
“There was no greater champion for protecting children from toxic chemicals than Senator Frank Lautenberg," said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. “There was no greater champion for protecting children from toxic chemicals than Senator Frank Lautenberg."
A fierce partisan, Lautenberg also worked with Republicans when there were shared New Jersey interests at stake.
"I often looked to partnering with Senator Lautenberg on critical issues for our state, whether it was fighting to keep the [Federal Aviation Administration] Technical Center and the Coast Guard Training Center in South Jersey or protecting beach projects vital to our coastal communities," said Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-Ventnor. "I was proud to call Frank Lautenberg a friend.
Lautenberg is probably best known for his crusade against smoking, including a ban on smoking on airplanes enacted through a series of bills first adopted in 1989. He also battled repeatedly to prevent the privatization or de-funding of Amtrak.
He retired from the Senate in 2000, but later said he immediately regretted the decision. In 2002, when a corruption investigation derailed the re-election campaign of then-Sen. Robert Torricelli, Lautenberg leapt at the chance to get back in the game when party leaders offered it and returned to the upper house.
A train station in Secaucus and a federal courthouse in Newark are just some of the institutions that have been named in his honor.
Lautenberg also battled for gun control, sponsoring the law that barred domestic abusers from possessing guns and for years tried to reinstate the ban on semiautomatic "assault" weapons and to expand criminal background checks for gun purchases.
Frank Raleigh Lautenberg learned to be scrappy in Paterson, where he was born on Jan. 23, 1924, the eldest child of Eastern European immigrants Sam and Molly Lautenberg. Sam Lautenberg worked in the silk mills and tried his hand, not very successfully, at owning a tavern. The family, which included a daughter, had little money and moved often. Lautenberg recalled attending 13 schools in 12 years before he graduated from Nutley High School.
Soon after his father died, Lautenberg entered the military and was shipped off to Europe. He came home from war and continued his education at Seton Hall University and then Columbia, where he received a degree in economics. He began his career hawking insurance for Prudential. His life’s turning point came when he joined a couple of Paterson brothers he knew, Henry and Joseph Taub, in their fledgling payroll services firm, Automated Payrolls.
Lautenberg came on in 1953 as the company’s first full-time salesman. Automated Payrolls catered to Paterson’s textile dyeing company’s, and Lautenberg immediately convinced other businesses to use the paycheck service. His rainmaking was successful beyond any measure. The company, renamed Automated Data Processing, went public in 1961 and Lautenberg ascended to CEO. Today, Roseland-based ADP describes its service as business outsourcing solutions and has nearly $9 billion in annual revenue and more than 570,000 clients.
“There’s no end to what can be accomplished if you work like the devil,” Lautenberg told The Record in 1978, reflecting on his work at Automated Data Processing.
The company made Lautenberg spectacularly rich, and Lautenberg used his wealth to support Jewish causes and Democratic politics. A $90,000 contribution to George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign landed him on President Richard Nixon’s so-called enemy’s list and his backing of New Jersey Gov. Brendan T. Byrne led to a coveted appointment to the Port Authority board.
"He was not born with a silver spoon, and Paterson is not a place of silver spoons," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a fellow Democrat from the Silk City. "Paterson is a place for tough, rough, dirty faces - you pick yourself up and do what you have to do. Frank Lautenberg did."
Pascrell said Lautenberg "was very proud of his birthplace, very proud of his heritage, very proud of his religion, very devoted to various philanthropic issues," Pascrell said. "He was a guy who wanted to make his mark in New Jersey."
Lautenberg was a reliable – some might say predictable – Democrat. He was pro-choice and pro-gun control and fierce in his opposition to the war in Iraq launched by a Republican president, George W. Bush.
A favorite conservative target was Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney. In a scathing 2004 Senate speech, Lautenberg – who served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II — called Cheney the “lead chicken hawk” among Republicans questioning the military credentials of Democratic presidential candidate and Vietnam War veteran John Kerry.
“We know who the chicken hawks are,” Lautenberg said. “They talk tough on national defense and military issues and cast aspersions on others. When it was their turn to serve, where were they? AWOL, that’s where they were.”
More recently, Lautenberg has been one of Gov. Christie’s most vocal critics. He roundly criticized the Republican governor’s decision to cancel a planned commuter rail tunnel in late 2010, and also butted heads with Christie over the governor’s 2012 bid to reorganize higher education in New Jersey.
But the two leaders were also able to put their feud aside in the wake of superstorm Sandy, joining forces with other members of the state congressional delegation in the bid for billions of dollars in federal disaster aid.
Lautenberg died at 4:02 a.m. at New York-Presbyterian/Cornell-Weill hosptial.
He is survived by his wife, Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg; six children and their spouses, Ellen Lautenberg and Doug Hendel, Nan and Joe Morgart, Josh and Christina Lautenberg, Lisa and Doug Birer, Danielle Englebardt and Stuart Katzoff, Lara Englebardt Metz and Corey Metz; and 13 grandchildren.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/nati....html?page=all

1 Amnesty Supporter less than the 60 votes needed to pass Amnesty in the Senate

Christie Looks to Replace Sen. Lautenberg

http://www.alipac.us/f9/mark-levin-t...5/#post1347600