Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I have a lot of Don Payne stories. I wanted to tell one which I think says a lot about the man. I listened to what Sheila Jackson Lee said before about how he was always humorous and telling jokes, but also about New Jersey politics and how he was so well respected and had the ability to basically tell other Members or indicate to other Members what they should do. I also listened to Hansen Clarke when he mentioned Don being a gentleman. Don was a gentleman, and people respected him as such in the city of Newark and throughout his district. There was an occasion after the redistricting when I gained an area-- I won't mention the name necessarily--in my new district that was mostly African American, and Don Payne was very well-known there, and I wasn't known at all. I actually lived at the Jersey shore. Some of you may know that the people that are down at the Jersey shore, the people from north Jersey and Newark often refer to us with names like ``clam digger'' and other things to indicate that we're not as sophisticated as the people from Essex County. I was at a meeting with African American ministers in this new area of my district. And of course the purpose of Don being there was to tell them it was okay; in other words, it was okay that this guy from the shore, the clam digger, so to speak, was now going to represent you because he was okay.…”