Dick Zimmer, former congressman and U.S. Senate contender, dies at 81
Richard A. Zimmer, a three-term Republican congressman from Hunterdon County and longtime state legislator who ran a competitive race for U.S. Senate in 1996 and built a career as an advocate of fiscal conservatism, transparency in government, and the safety of children – and a lifelong opponent of wasteful government spending — died on December 31 after an extended illness. He was 81.
While Zimmer spent most of his adult life on a small farm in Hunterdon County, he grew up working class in a garden apartment in Bloomfield that he called New Jersey’s version of a log cabin. His father died when he was three, and his mother worked in a factory until marrying a postal worker from Glen Ridge, where he grew up in a blended family.
After the rape and murder of murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994 by a neighbor with two previous convictions for sexually assaulting young girls, Zimmer became the sponsor of Megan’s Law, a federal law that required law enforcement to make the public aware of registered sex offenders who lived in their neighborhoods. Zimmer’s bill passed both houses unanimously and was signed by President Clinton in 1996.
As chairman of New Jersey Common Cause in the 1970s, Zimmer advocated for the passage of New Jersey’s Sunshine Law and pushed Democrats and Republicans to reduce the number of “fat cat” campaign contributions and replace them with small donors. He also pushed for a Sunset Law that would require the legislature to review agencies that are no longer effective, and for personal financial disclosures for all elected officials.
https://newjerseyglobe.com/in-memoriam/dick-zimmer-former-congressman-and-u-s-senate-contender-dies-at-81/
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