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Joseph Minish

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Joseph George Minish
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey's 11th district
In office
January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1985
Preceded byHugh J. Addonizio
Succeeded byDean A. Gallo
Personal details
Born(1916-09-01)September 1, 1916
Throop, Pennsylvania
DiedNovember 24, 2007(2007-11-24) (aged 91)
Livingston, New Jersey
Political partyDemocratic Party
ResidenceWest Orange, New Jersey

Joseph George Minish (September 1, 1916 – November 24, 2007) was an American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey who represented New Jersey's 11th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.

Early Life

Born in Throop, Pennsylvania, Minish was the son of a coal miner.[1] He graduated Dunmore High School in 1935, and served in the United States Army from 1945 to 1946.[2]

Labor Leader

Minish spent his early career in organized labor. He was the Executive Secretary of the Essex-West Hudson Council, Congress of Industrial Organizations, from 1954 to 1960, and the Executive Director of the Essex-West Industrial Union Council, AFL-CIO, from 1960 to 1962.[3]

Political Career

In 1962, seven-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Hugh Joseph Addonizio gave up his Essex County, New Jersey-based House seat to run for Mayor of Newark. Essex County Democratic leaders picked the 46-year-old Minish to defend the seat, which was considered to be politically competitive, especially in the mid-term election of President John F. Kennedy. The district included tenements and low-cost housing in Newark, New Jersey, as well as wealthy suburbs like South Orange and West Orange.[4] He was unopposed in the Democratic primary.[5] In the general election, he faced Republican Frank A. Palmieri, a lawyer who had won 36% of the vote against Addonizio in 1960.[6] Labor leaders rallied behind Minish, who as a first-time candidate pledged to support the Kennedy Administration. His campaign platform included advocacy of "Federal aid for education for construction and teacher salaries; extension of the Social Security Act to provide medical care for the aged; 'long-term loans and technical assistance to emerging nations; and the establishment of a cabinet-level Department of Urban Affairs."[7] Minish won by a large margin, 48,102 (59.45%) to 30,244 (37.28%) for Palmieri.[8]

Minish spent 22 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, winning re-election easily. In 1964, he beat William L. Stubbs, who had been the first African American to win a major party nomination for Congress in New Jersey. He beat: attorney Leonard S. Felzenberg in 1966; George M. Wallhauser, Jr., the son of a former Republican congressman, in 1968; businessman James Shue, the father of actors Elisabeth Shue and Andrew Shue. in 1970; and in his first seriously contested re-election bid, former State Senator Milton Waldor in 1972. Later, easily defeated attorney William Grant in 1974; former Essex County Young Republican Chairman Charles A. Poekel, Jr. in 1976; businessman Julius George Feld in 1978; conservative activist Bob Davis in 1980; and businessman Rowley (Rey) Reddington in 1982.[9]

As a Congressman, Minish served on the House Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee, and was the Chairman of the Subcommittee on General Oversight. [10] The Newark Star-Ledger, which covered Minish's entire political career, said that he was a staunch party loyalist and supporter of organized labor who ran a strong consituent service operation but had no real impact on legislation.[11]

In early 1984, a court-ordered redrawing of New Jersey's congressional districts radically altered Minish's district. Most of the Democratic-leaning areas were cut out, replaced with heavily Republican areas to the west--most notably, most of Morris County, one of the most Republican counties in the state.[12] Although Minish now found himself in one of the most Republican districts in the Northeast, he opted to run for reelection in the reconfigured 11th. He lost by 11 points to State Assembly Minority Leader and Morris County resident Dean Gallo.

Later Life

Minish was a longtime resident of West Orange, New Jersey.[13]

By executive order of Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine, United States and New Jersey flags were flown at half-staff at all state departments, offices and agencies on December 5, 2007, "to honor the memory and the passing of Representative Minish".[14]

References

  1. ^ "Labor Leader Faces G.O.P. Lawyer in Campaign in 11th". New York Times. 15 October 1962. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  2. ^ "Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress". BioGuide.congress.gov. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  3. ^ "Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress". BioGuide.congress.gov. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  4. ^ "Labor Leader Faces G.O.P. Lawyer in Campaign in 11th". New York Times. 15 October 1962. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. ^ "Results of the Primary Election" (PDF). New Jersey Division of Elections. State of New Jersey. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  6. ^ "Frank Palmieri". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  7. ^ "Labor Leader Faces G.O.P. Lawyer in Campaign in 11th". New York Times. 15 October 1962. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  8. ^ "NJ District 11". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  9. ^ Edge, Wally (26 November 2007). "Minish won easily in potentially competitive district". PoliticsNJ.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  10. ^ Minish, Joseph G. (1978). Report on overseas military banking facilities : report of the Chairman of the Subcommittee on General Oversight and Renegotiation. Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, House of Representatives, 95th Congress, second session. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  11. ^ Ryan, Joe (24 November 2007). "Joseph Minish, NJ congressman for 22 years, dies at 91". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  12. ^ Sullivan, Joseph F. (26 February 1984). "DEMOCRATS TAKE DISTRICTING FIGHT BACK TO COURT". Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  13. ^ via Associated Press. "Joseph G. Minish, Ex-New Jersey Congressman, Dies at 91", The New York Times, November 26, 2007. Accessed November 26, 2007. "Mr. Minish, a longtime West Orange resident, died at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J., said Michael Brown of the Quinn-Hopping Funeral Home in Livingston."
  14. ^ Governor Corzine Orders Flags to Fly at Half-Staff to Honor United States Representative Joseph George Minish, Governor of New Jersey press release, dated December 4, 2007.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey's 11th congressional district
1963–1985 		Succeeded by


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