Hm Herald »nd The Lantern

Wedneedey, October IS, HM

PegeSt

Interview with William Hughea ■

(Pram Pages) President Carter agreee with me «• per cent o( the Unw. and he wee wran* the reel of Die time And, members ot the New Jersey Congressional DelegationRepublican members-supported Mr. Carter more than! did. Thefactofthe matter 1s that If you look at those M per cent of the votes, you’ve got votes on notional defense, votes on water projects that benefit this region, that vote to support our hostages in Iran (which carried unanimously l was one of the votes that were selected Veteran's benefits, senior citizen's programs, cost of living increases for senior citizens were all pert of the votes that are identified as votes that 1 supported President Carter on. So, I think people know that it’s the political season, end that some people running for public office make all kinds' of outlandish statements It s unfortunate, because it confuses people. And that’s one’ of. the reasons why people gel turned off by campaigns

have somebody in Congress who has first -tty that’s essential In

government today at a time when we have the Abaca ms. They have a member of

of ad the Integrity tottayat i. fliay Congress who they feel Is not only working? but who has the integrity to represent this District effectively In Congress They also, I think, recognize that since I've been In Congress, in the short time, 514 yean, there has been a lot happen. I mean, rve been very actively involved in offshore oil and gas legislation; actively involved In the 200 Mile Limit and other fisheries promotion activities. The Inlets and waterways have been dredged every year That doesn’t mean that they're perfect They still shoal on us. But we’ve dredged those inlets and waterways every yeai, primarily thru my efforts at the federal level. About bow often would you say you agree/dieagree with the President on matters of policy?

*../W probably been one of the more outspoken critic* of the Byrne administration, and the Carter administration. ’

Your District, and In particular your home county. U primarily conservative. And you’ have been elected to Congress three limes. Does this prove you are basically conservative? I think that it proves that people like what I'm doing. They believe I'm doing a good job for them. They believe that they

I have had major difference* with this administration on policy Not just with this administration, but with the Byrne administration I find myself on the outs with them many times, I supported Bob Roe against Brendan Byrne in the primary because, frankly, I believe that the Byrne administration, as

we've eeen from Pinetandi and Dune and Shorefront Protection and the Super Agency proposal and the lack of commitment to our shore protection program hasn't been sensitive to our need. And I ve probably been one of the more outspoken critics of the Byrne administration, and the Carter administration. I would be hard put to give you a percentage but the fact of the matter is that I have differed with them on major policy issues over the last 8H years. One example is over Pinelands. The Dept, of the Interior takes the same view as Brendan Bryne on Pinelands, That’s the Carter view. On matters that involved the 10 cent tax on gasoline. I worked against that, to defeat that in the Congress. The President had that as one of his primary planks. And just what we need is another 10 cents on gasoline; we need that like we need another hole in our head. I faulted the administration because on foreign policy matters, they’ve been indecisive. You know, countries are having a hard time understanding our signals at this time because we haven’t developed a clear foreign policy. To send the President’s mother-who is a lovely lady-to Marshall Tito's funeral was absolutely counter productive. The Billygate matter should never have occurred. Once again, it was permitting members of the family to have pretty much a full run of the government. I’ve been very critical of the manner in which the White House has carried out its foreign policy initiatives and permitted, unfortunately, members of the family, and their immediate staff people-noi the professionals that we have in the State Dept-to carry out those initiatives. About how often do you vote along party lines? Not very often. I think the faft that the Congressional Quarterly characterires me as most independent member of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation points out that I don’t vote along party lines. The Speaker of the House of Representatives tells me about it all the time! What was the major achievement of the Ith Congress; and it's major shortcoming? I think that the major achievement was the energy legislation we passed in the first term-The legislation that sets in place a whole host of incentives to be financed out of the Windfall Profit Tax. Of course, the Windfall Profit Tax will recapture a couple hundred billion dollars, and out of that we will be financing all kinds of energy initiatives. Not enough as far as I’m concerned. I would like to have

Do your legislative steads sometimes go against yoar personal twbefs; for example might you favor mandatory returnable bottle legislation were the glass ladastry not a major maBafactnrer/employer in South Jersey? If I hove very strong personal beliefs on an issue, I vote my strong personal belief. I probably get around my district as well as any member of Congress. I’m bock here every weekend, sometimes thru the week. I use my questionnaire as an opportunity to set opinions from the people. I have a mobile office that gets around my district quite often. So, I have a pretty good feel of the pulse of people, and 1 can't recall any instances off the top of my head where my own personal convictions, or principles, have been at variance with the consensus of people. On the bottle legislation that you mention, there's no. question in my mind but (hat the fact that we have some 29,000 glass-related jobs in my district is a factor. I mean, I would not be doing my job if I didn’t take the impact upon a whole industry that employs so many people into consideration. But I can tell you that I’ve honestly looked at both the Washington and the Oregon Experience, and I personally believe that a program that would address all litter, not just glass, is a better program. I, frankly, think that the way we have to go is thru resource, recovery and recycling. We’ve got to put in place facilities that will begin to recycle glass and other products. You just don’t pick out glass, for instance, and say well, we’re going to treat that differently. That’s not going to address the Utter problem. How. in fact, do you weigh such regional differences with personal views on nation issues? Do you always vote for what most of your constituency favors? When it comes to decision making, if there’a a conflict — and I can’t think of any off hand - between my regional interests and the federal Issue’s interest. I’ll vote the federal interest. One does come to mind: I have voted against water projects in my District that were part of a bUI that carried with it projects that should not be built. You conduct opinion polls periodically. How do you use such surveys? Do the results usually bolster your own views; do they sometimes change your stand on a particularly issue? Can you give an example? I suspect that the best example is the abortion issue. My view on abortion has 'always been rather restrictive. I’ve always felt that abortion should not be a

'Experts seem to agree that it’s costing us upwards of $100 billion a year just because of the unnecessary regulatory red tape that exists in this country. ’

seen a bigger share of the Windfall Profit Tax go to developing alternative energy sources. But. at least as far as I’m concerned, that was one of the major accomplishments of the Carter ad-

ministration.

And let me say that I don’t want to sound entirely negative about the Carter ad-

ministration. They've done some things . .

right. I think that that's one example of a — carried to term — unde# those cir-

substitute for birth control. And, frankly, as a result of polling, I was able to develop my present position. But in those instances, where if the fetus is carried to term, the life of the mother would be in jeopardy; if the woman is raped or a victim of incest; or if t\m doctors certify that she would experience significant physical harm if the fetus were

piece of legislation that was right. I think one of the major shortcomings (of the 96th Congress), and I hope we can address it when we go back, is that we have not passed the Super Fund for hazardous wastes and for oil. That’s important to our region. We haven’t passed the Fast Tract legislation, which is a necessary component of the Energy Bill. My bill, Regulatory Reform, a bill that I’m a prime sponsor of and one of the main architects-whlch will require the agencies and departments of government to be more responsive to Congressional intent; to look at rules and regulations from a cost effecUveness standpoint, to determine whether they’re going to duplicate other rules and regulations already in existenceis an important piece of legislation. Experts seem to agree that it’s costing us upwards of 9100 Ullion. a year just because of the unnecessary regulatory red tape that exists in this country. And that’s stifling productivity. One of the reasons that we see the inflationary spiral is not just because we haven’t been balancing our budget-that’s certainly one reason; not because we haven't gotten our act together with regard to energy-and that's certainly another factor-but because of a whole host of other things, not the least of which is that our businesses are bogged down in red tape and rules and regulations that are not coat effective; that have good goals but are

very costly to implement.

cumstances, I would permit an abortion. That’s one instance where polling has

given me a great deal of direction. Your opponent's campaign seems more

comprehensive than previous efforts to unseat you. Is the Republican National Committee behind the Fox campaign

effort? What do you take that to mean? I don’t really know. I don't think so, but

I'm not really sure.

Frankly, I had a strong challenge out of Jim Hurley in 1976, a very strong challenge.. I have to say that I’m happy that he wasn't in better finances than he was, but he ran a strong campaign.

Where does your greatest financial and otherwise-come from in this campaign? People back here at home. Last time, I suspect that between 92 and 96 per cent of my contributions were small ones-under MOO-from people back here. I tried a fund raiser in Washington my first year, and it didn't work. Yqp see, when I tell you that I'm the most independent member of Congress, that means that I've voted against everybody one time or another. If you could personally go door to door, what would you moat want to aay to the voters in 39 seconds about BUI Hughes? T'm Bill Hughes. I just hope that you like tie work I’ve done in Congress. I want to go Urit ^nd finish what I've begun.'