William J. Hughes Congressional Papers

William J. Hughes was born October 17, 1932, in Salem, New Jersey, the son of William W. Hughes and Pauline (Mehaffey) Hughes. In 1950 he graduated from Penns Grove Regional High School and went on to Rutgers University, graduating in 1955. He married Nancy Lucille Gibson the following year and eventually had four children.

In 1958 Hughes graduated from Rutgers Law School in Camden and became an Associate in the law firm of Loveland, Hughes and Garret in Ocean City. He later served as a partner in the firm (1967-1982) and also as the firm’s president (1972-1976). Hughes was admitted to practice before the New Jersey Supreme Court and Federal District Courts in 1959 and before the United States Supreme Court in 1963. He served as Township Solicitor for Upper Township from 1959-1961 and as the first Assistant Prosecutor for Cape May County during the years 1960-1970. During the latter ten year period his office had a record of never being reversed on appeal. From 1970-1974 he was the City Solicitor for Ocean City and also served on the New Jersey Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics in 1972.

In Hughes’ 1972 bid for a seat in the House of Representatives, he narrowly missed defeating incumbent Charles W. Sandman (R) by less than 4,000 votes. A second attempt in 1974 was successful when Hughes was elected to the United States House of Representatives, defeating Charles W. Sandman and Andrew Wenger (Independent) to represent New Jersey’s Second Congressional District, which then consisted of Salem, Cumberland, Cape May and Atlantic Counties, most of Ocean County and three townships in Burlington County.

During his first term in Congress, Hughes served on the Judiciary Committee (including its subcommittees on Crime and on Monopolies and Commercial Law) on which he continued to serve throughout his career. He also served on the Select Committee on Aging (including its subcommittee on Home Services and Retirement Income and Employment) from 1975-1990, as well as the Ad Hoc Select Committee on Outer Continental Shelf during the years 1975-1976.

Concerned about a recent shortage of natural gas, he led investigations into its cause, including an inquiry into the operations of the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company (Transco) which was unable to supply enough natural gas to southern New Jersey during the winter of 1975 despite the fact that plentiful amounts of gas were apparently available. Hughes also championed environmental preservation, and successfully opposed the installation of floating nuclear power plants off the coast of New Jersey.

In 1976, Hughes defeated Republican James R. Hurley to secure a second term. In addition to his existing committee positions, Hughes also began serving on the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, including its Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Navigation; its Subcommittee on Oceanography; its Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation and the Environment; its Sub-committee on Oceanography, Great Lakes, and the Outer Continental Shelf; and its Subcommittee on Fisheries Management (1991-1992). He continued to do so until the end of his Congressional career. As a member of this committee, Hughes took an active interest in legislation affecting the preservation of wetlands and coastal resources. Hughes also drafted his own bill to preserve the New Jersey Pinelands (H.R. 9539) as did his colleague Rep. Edwin Forsythe (H.R. 9535). Their efforts were finally successful when Hughes co-authored an amendment to the omnibus National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 along with Senators Harrison Williams and Clifford Case and Representatives Forsythe and James Florio which set aside 26 million dollars for acquisition of land in the Pinelands. During the implementation of this legislation, Hughes continued to carefully monitor the situation and to take action when necessary to insure that the true spirit of the law was adhered to.

Hughes defeated Rev. James H. Biggs (R) in 1978 to win his third term in the House. During this period Hughes introduced legislation on many issues, including bills to combat ocean dumping, promote the purchase of gasohol and to implement a moratorium on licensing of nuclear plants. He also assisted local garment workers, sought to increase staffing at the Lakehurst Naval Air Facility and resisted pro-posed cutbacks at Fort Dix. In 1980 Hughes also prevented the Department of Housing and Urban Development from constructing new low-income housing units on undeveloped land in Vineland at a cost of $72,000 each, instead convincing it to rehabilitate the over 100 of the town’s abandoned houses already owned by the Department.

Hughes successfully ran for re-election against Beech N. Fox (R) in 1980. During this term several pieces of Hughes-initiated legislation were passed, amending Title 18 of the United States Code (Crimes and Criminal Procedure): H.R. 5228, passed as Public Law 97-351, amended the Code with regard to criminal acts involving nuclear weapons as mandated by the Convention of the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material; H.R. 6454, passed as Public Law 97-298, clarified the applicability of the code to offenses involving explosives and fire; and H.R. 6946, passed as Public Law 97-398, provided penalties for certain false identification related crimes.

Hughes won re-election after defeating Republican John J. Mahoney in 1982. In August of 1983, Hughes and Congressman Hal Sawyer (R-MI) traveled to Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia and Jamaica in order to review efforts by the United States State Department and Drug Enforcement Agency to reduce Latin American drug production and traffic. Many more of Hughes’ anti-crime initiatives also became law during this period: a House Joint Resolution introduced by Hughes (H.J. Res. 548) was passed as Public Law 98-368, “authorizing the President’s Commission on Organized Crime to compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of information.” Hughes’ bill H.R. 2173 was also passed as Public Law 98-236, authorizing appropriations to carry out the Contract Services for Drug Dependent Federal Offenders Act of 1978; under this legislation the Federal Substance Abuse Treatment Program was created. H.R. 4901, also introduced by Hughes, called for the strengthening of penalties for controlled substances offenses. The text of this bill was inserted into H.R. 3398 and passed as Public Law 98-573. During this period Hughes also successfully introduced legislation to amend Title 18 of the United States Code, prohibiting certain tampering with consumer products (H.R. 2174, passed as Public Law 98-299).

Hughes won his sixth term in 1984 by defeating Raymond Massie (R). In addition to his other committee duties, Hughes also began serving on the Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse Control during this term. During this period he authored H.R. 5560 to amend Title 18 of the United States Code to ban the production and use of advertisements for child pornography or solicitations for child pornography (passed as Public Law 99-628). He also introduced several other pieces of anti-crime and drug control legislation.

In 1986 Hughes was successful in his re-election bid against Alfred J. Bennington, Jr. (R). During this period in Congress, Hughes advocated legislation to prohibit firearms that are “especially useful to terrorists” (H.R. 4445, passed as Public Law 100-649) and to increase penalties for certain major frauds against the United States (H.R. 3911, passed as Public Law 100-700), as well as legislation designating certain parts of rivers in New Jersey for potential inclusion in the national wild and scenic river system (H.R. 14, passed as Public Law 100-33). Hughes also received the Arthur Armitage Distinguished Alumni Award in 1987 from Rutgers-Camden Law Alumni Association.

Hughes defeated challenger Kirk Conover (R) in 1988 to once again win re-election. During this term Hughes initiated several more anti-crime bills, including a bill to amend Chapter 96 (relating to racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations) of Title 18 as well as an amendment to Title 18 prohibiting the possession, transfer and certain exports of restricted weapons, the manufacture of weapons capable of accepting a silencer or bayonet without alteration and possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices. His amendment to the Drug Dependent Federal Offenders Act of 1978 was passed, providing additional authorizations for appropriations (H.R. 3007, passed as Public Law 101-421). Also, his successful efforts to combat sewage sludge dumping at sea resulted in the passage of the historic Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 (PL 100-688).

In 1990, with the lack of a Republican nominee to oppose him, Hughes had only to defeat Populist Party candidate William A. Kanengiser to win re-election to his ninth term in Congress. This period saw an increase in the amount of legislation introduced by Hughes concerning copyright and intellectual property, most notably his amendment to Title 17 of the United States Code, relating to fair use of unpublished material (H.R. 4412, passed as Public Law 102-492). He also continued his anti-crime endeavors, including writing a bill to amend Title 28 of the United States Code with respect to witness fees (H.R. 2324, passed as Public Law 102-417), as well as his interest in environmental conservation in New Jersey. In 1991 Hughes was also awarded the Rutgers Presidential Citation for “consistent interest in the public welfare.”

Hughes defeated Frank A. LoBiondo (R) in 1992 to win re-election following a controversial campaign in which Hughes accused his opponent of distributing flyers which likened Hughes to Adolph Hitler, which resulted in Hughes filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission. After securing his congressional seat once again, Hughes continued his environmental work, such as introducing H.R. 2650, passed as Public Law 103-162, which designated portions of New Jersey’s Maurice River and its tributaries as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. He also continued to be concerned with copyright law, and crafted legislation to amend Title 17 of the United States Code to establish copyright arbitration royalty panels to replace the Copyright Royalty Tribunal (H.R. 2840, passed as Public Law 103-198). He also served as the Chair of the Aging Committee from 1993-1994.

Always a proponent of term limits, Hughes announced in 1994 that he would not seek another term and left office at the end of the year.

On October 25, 1995, William J. Hughes was sworn-in as the United States Ambassador to Panama. A year later, on May 6, 1996, the Federal Aviation Administration’s Technical Center in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, was renamed the William J. Hughes F.A.A. Technical Center in honor of the Congressman’s continuous support of the facility throughout his time in office.

After returning from Panama in 1998, Hughes served as a Professor at Rutgers University and also as a Visiting Distinguished Scholar of Public Policy at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. He then returned to practicing law, serving in the firm of Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti in Trenton, New Jersey. In 2001, for example, Hughes was serving at the firm as a specialist in federal and state legislative and regulatory issues as well as a mediator and arbitrator in international disputes.