Chuck Schumer: “I just want to add my words of condolence and consolation to Mary Ann, whose my good friend, Ham, who was my college…”

“I just want to add my words of condolence and consolation to Mary Ann, whose my good friend, Ham, who was my college classmate; Nick, who I have met in West Side politics; and to the rest of the Fish family. Let me just say that Ham was the best. He was the best of the old school, he was the best of this Congress, he was the best of America. I served with Ham for a long time before jerry Nadler came. We were the only New Yorkers on the Committee on the Judiciary, so we would have to spend a great deal of time together. On that committee, Ham was the swing vote. The way Ham went, the committee usually went, and not for any accident. Ham was thoughtful, he was decent, he was rarely pulled in any direction by any special interest. So when Ham voted a certain way or spoke a certain way, people followed. Ham was what a legislator should be. He had the interests of the people of his district at heart in Westchester and Putnam and Duchess County, but he also had the interests of this country at heart. He was a true patriot, and that is why he cared so much, I think, about civil rights. It really was not a big issue in his district. He just cared about it. That is why he cared so much about having fair and reasonable immigration laws, and would often resist the tide of those who were trying to just cut back for cutting back's sake.”