N.J. Rep. Donald Payne wins election as Congressional Black Caucus chair

Jet, Jan 9, 1995

A New Jersey congressman who in his first term managed to stage passage of a law to promote literacy was elected the new chairman of the 40-person Congressional Black Caucus.

In three terms, Rep. Donald Payne has excelled as a low-key but effective supporter of measures considered by others too difficult to win House approval.

One of the early backers of the campaign against AIDS and tuberculosis, he also almost single-handedly generated into law a bill to assist abandoned babies.

The ranking Black member of the House African Affairs subcommittee, Rep. Payne led the drive for medical drugs for the sick in Somalia and help for Haitian refugees. By a 23-to-vote 15 over Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings, the determined Eastern Seaboard product was elected to lead the caucus during the first GOP controlled Congress in 40 years.

Previously, he served as a member of the Newark City Council and was elected to the Essex County Board of chosen Freeholders. in 1970, he was elected as the first Black president of the YMCA of the U.S. and visited 75 countries.

Also elected to Caucus posts were Michigan Rep. Barbara-Rose Collins, first vice chair; Alabama Rep. Earl Hilliard, second vice chair; Texas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, secretary; Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson, treasurer; and Pennsylvania Rep. Chaka Fattah as whip.

One of the reasons frosh Rep. Fattah was elected to a post was because he had experienced a legislature dominated by the Republicans -- the Pennsylvania Senate.