20 Facts About Dick Zimmer

Richard Alan Zimmer was born on August 16,1944 and is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey, who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature and in the United States House of Representatives.

Dick Zimmer was the Republican nominee for the US Senate from New Jersey in 1996 and 2008.

Dick Zimmer attended Glen Ridge High School, where he was selected as the class speaker for his graduation ceremony.

Dick Zimmer's mother, suffering from lymphoma, required paramedics to take her from Columbia Presbyterian Hospital to the school auditorium on a stretcher to hear the address.

Dick Zimmer attended Yale University on a full academic scholarship and majored in political science, graduating in 1966.

Dick Zimmer attended Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Dick Zimmer championed campaign finance reform, working closely with Thomas H Kean, then a member of the New Jersey General Assembly.

Dick Zimmer was the prime Assembly sponsor of New Jersey's first farmland preservation law, resulting in the permanent preservation of 1,222 farms in the state.

Dick Zimmer sponsored the legislation creating the state's radon detection and remediation program, which became a national model.

Dick Zimmer was chairman of the Assembly State Government Committee from 1986 to 1987.

In 1987, following the death of State Senator Walter E Foran, Zimmer won a special election to replace him in the New Jersey Senate.

Dick Zimmer served three terms in the House, winning reelection in 1992 and 1994.

Dick Zimmer introduced "no-frills" prison legislation, requiring the elimination of luxurious prison conditions.

Dick Zimmer was ranked the most fiscally conservative member of the United States Congress three times by the National Taxpayers Union and was designated a Taxpayer Hero by Citizens Against Government Waste every year he was in office.

Dick Zimmer was a member of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology and the Committee on Government Operations.

Dick Zimmer formally announced his candidacy on February 13,1996, having already secured the endorsement of Governor Christine Todd Whitman and other leading Republicans.

Dick Zimmer gave up his House seat to run for the Senate, completing his third term in office on January 3,1997.

Dick Zimmer faced the incumbent, Democrat Rush D Holt, Jr.

Dick Zimmer entered the race for the Republican nomination for the US Senate from New Jersey on April 11,2008, after being drafted by New Jersey Republican leaders.

Dick Zimmer ultimately lost to Lautenberg by a margin of 56 percent to 43 percent.