releases: http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=397787
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| http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=397787 | <span class="kicker">Trenton Times Article</span>U.S. Rep. Chris Smith named grand marshal of 30th annual Hamilton St. Patrick's Day Parade | 2014-12-16 | 2014 | 2014-12 | Republican | House | NJ | Christopher Smith | S000522 | chrissmith.house.gov | legacy | BY MIKE DAVIS, TIMES OF TRENTON STAFF - U.S. Rep. Chris Smith on Tuesday was named grand marshal of the 30th annual Hamilton St. Patrick's Day Parade. "I'm honored and humbled to be a grand marshal," Smith (R-4th Dist.) said on Tuesday. "I look forward to marching with you and celebrating our Irish heritage. It's a tremendous culture that we celebrate, and a saint who is second to none." Smith was selected to lead this year's parade, scheduled for March 14 at 1 p.m., because of his legislative work scheduling hearings and markups on human rights abuses in northern Ireland since the mid-1990s, parade organizers said. Smith, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, said it was Irish-American communities in the 4th District, which includes Hamilton and Robbinsville, that prompted him to push for peace in Northern Ireland. "In many cases, our hearings were carried live in the republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to tell this story that had to be told," Smith said. "We made a difference, but you made a difference. You provided the guidance and the sense of where to go on these very important issues." Since the Good Friday Agreement, which outlined peace in Northern Ireland, was signed in 1998, Smith has continued trying to hold accountable those who committed violence during the 30-year conflict, said Sean Pender, a past president of the Trenton Ancient Order of Hibernians and director of the national organization. "As he continues to shine a light on what needs to be done in the north of Ireland to fully implement the Good Friday Agreement, Congressman Smith continues to push to have all signatories of the agreement live up to their obligations, especially our friends in the British government," Pender said. "I can think of no better person suited to lead us in the St. Patrick's Day Parade than Chris Smith, a tireless advocate of peace, truth and justice in Ireland." Smith joins a long line of Hamilton politicians and Irish-American community leaders to have served as grand marshal of the township's St. Patrick's Day Parade, including Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton), former mayors Jack Rafferty and John Bencivengo, current Trenton AOH president Vince McKelvey and Pender himself. Smith said the work of St. Patrick -- a Catholic missionary who brought the faith to Ireland -- continues to ring true. Smith said he met Irish missionaries in Nigeria, where he visited earlier this year as part of U.S. partnership with that country to combat the Boko Haram terrorist group. "Everywhere I go, Irish priests are doing missionary work," Smith said. "They're everywhere and have made a huge difference, and it all came out of the preaching of St. Patrick." Most recently, Smith's role with the House Foreign Affairs health and human rights subcommittee came into play when a four-year-old Hamilton boy died of enterovirus-68, the first in the country whose death was directly attributed to the virus. Smith helped expedite lab results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, turning a timeline of months into 72 hours, Mayor Kelly Yaede said. "Our Congressman cleared his schedule and came into an elementary school in Hamilton Township to provide information and literature," Yaede said. "He left no stone unturned and was part of a team that got Hamilton through a very dark day." The original story can be found at: http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2014/12/us_rep_chris_smith_named_grand_marshal_of_30th_annual_hamilton_st_patricks_day_parade.html | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |