Senator Frank R. Lautenberg accepts an award on behalf of New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.
The Foreign Minister of Jordan, Salaheddin Al-Bashir, discusses the prospect of peace in the Middle East.
Bio
Salaheddin Al-Bashir
Salaheddin Al-Bahir is the Foreign Minister of Jordan and former Managing Partner of
IBLAW (International Business Legal Associates)
His education includes University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan (LL.B., honors, 1987), Harvard University, (LL.M., Bankruptcy, 1988) and McGill University where he received his Ph.D. in Civil Law in 1996.
His practice areas include Policy, Trade, Corporate, IP rights, Projects, and Information.
Stanley M. Bergman
Stanley M. Bergman is Chairman and CEO of Henry Schein Inc., a Fortune 500 company and the largest distributor of dental, medical, and animal health products and services to office-based health care practitioners in North America and Europe, with nearly 12,000 employees and operations or affiliations in 22 countries. Henry Schein Inc. has been included in the Fortune list of America’s Most Admired Companies for three consecutive years, and each of those years the company has led its industry in social responsibility.
Mr. Bergman, his wife, Marion, and their two sons, Paul and Eddie, are active supporters of organizations fostering the arts, higher education, cultural diversity, and grassroots health care and sustainable and entrepreneurial economic-development initiatives in the United States, Africa, and other developing regions of the world.
Mr. Bergman also serves on a number of boards in related areas, including the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, the University of Witwatersrand, Tel Aviv University, the Metropolitan Opera, the Business Council for International Understanding, the American Dental Association (where he was awarded honorary membership) and the Forsyth Institute, the premier oral-health research institution in the United States.
Senator Frank R. Lautenberg
Senator Frank Lautenberg was born on January 23, 1924 in Paterson, New Jersey to poor Jewish immigrant parents.
After graduating from Nutley, Lautenberg enlisted and served in the Army Signal Corps in Europe during World War II. Following the war, he attended Columbia University on the G.I. Bill and graduated with a degree in economics in 1949.
With his military service completed and his education secured, Lautenberg began his career. He joined with two boyhood friends from his old neighborhood to found the nation's first payroll services company, Automatic Data Processing. Lautenberg served as chairman and CEO, and along with his partners developed ADP into one of the largest computing services company in the world.
He decided to launch a new career in politics and - running for his first public office - was elected to the Senate in 1982. He was re-elected in 1988 and 1994, and returned to win a fourth term in 2002 after two years away.
Lautenberg retired from the Senate in 2000 after 18 years of service, but returned in 2002 to once again serve the state and nation.
Richard Sideman
Richard Sideman, Chairman of Sideman & Bancroft, concentrates his practice on the full spectrum of federal tax issues, including tax planning and tax controversies involving both civil and criminal claims. With almost 40 years' experience in handling tax controversies, Mr. Sideman works closely with clients to identify Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and related tax compliance issues before they occur.
For twelve years before founding Sideman & Bancroft LLP, Mr. Sideman served as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice Tax Division and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Tax Division for the Northern District of California. In these posts, he represented the IRS and the Department of Justice in civil and criminal matters relating to federal taxation in the Federal District Courts and the Superior Courts of the State of California.
Mr. Sideman helped found the Close Up Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to citizenship education for young students. Mr. Sideman recently retired as the Foundation’s chairman after serving over 25 years. He also served for a number of years on the Board of Clausen House, an organization dedicated to providing independent and assisted living opportunities for developmentally disabled people.
Currently Mr. Sideman serves as President of the American Jewish Committee, an organization dedicated to advancing democracy, pluralism, and mutual understanding.
Harold Tanner
Harold Tanner is an investment banker and philanthropist.
Tanner graduated from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1952 and earned an MBA from Harvard University in 1956.
Tanner, an investment banker, is a former managing director of Salomon Brothers, where he headed the firm's corporate finance department. He currently is president of Tanner & Co., a private investment banking firm founded in New York City in 1987. He served as a director of TIG Inc.
Tanner and his wife live in New York City and Scarsdale, New York and have three children and eight grandsons.
New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg claims that the 3 billion dollars America gives Israel is "not a high cost" in comparison to a good relationship between the countries.
A good relationship is vital, Lautenberg states, to protect American interests in the volatile and violent Middle Eastern region.
He continues by saying America needs Israel just as Israel needs America and primarily good will come from this symbiotic relationship.
Jordan Foreign Minister Salaheddin Al-Bashir points out the time crunch which the Middle East peace process faces and the critical role the United States must play in facilitating negotiations before the end of the year.
Salaheddin Al-Bashir verifies Jordan's interest in achieving peace between Israel, Jordan, and the "future Palestinian state."
Although Al-Bashir commends American intervention and Israel's peace-making measures, he advises Israel to "cease settlement activity" and "improve Palestinian standards of living."
Al-Bashir stresses that we are the children for whom our parents worked for peace and hopes that our children will achieve that dream.