Phil Hare

Phil Hare
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 17th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Lane Evans
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Rebecca Hare
Children	Amy Hare Louis Hare
Residence	Rock Island, Illinois
Alma mater	Black Hawk College
Occupation	political assistant, union leader
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1969-1975
Unit	Reserves

Philip G. "Phil" Hare (born February 21, 1949) is currently the Democratic Congressman representing Illinois's 17th congressional district (map). The district is based in Illinois' share of the Quad Cities area and includes Rock Island, Moline, Quincy, Decatur, Galesburg and part of Springfield. Due to the increasingly debilitating effects of Parkinson's Disease, Lane Evans withdrew from his re-election bid a week after having been renominated in the March 21, 2006 primary, and endorsed Hare, who then was selected by a vote of Democratic precinct committeemen on May 29, Memorial Day 2006. His Republican opponent was Andrea Zinga (who lost to Evans in 2004). He was unopposed in 2008. He will face Republican challenger Bobby Schilling in 2010.

According to a recent poll, a majority of 17th district voters (47%) would vote against Hare if the election were held in November 2009.

Background

Hare was born in Galesburg but was raised in Rock Island. He graduated from Alleman High School in 1967. The son of a mechanist Hare went to work at Seaford Clothing Factory in Rock Island where he stayed for 13 years. He received his A.A. at Black Hawk College, in Moline, Illinois. While working there Phil served as a union leader and was President of the UNITE HERE Local 617. He also served 6 years as a reservist in the U.S. Army. These experiences helped him develop a passion for public service, labor politics, and concern for veteran affairs.

Hare and his wife Beckie currently live in Rock Island and have two grown children, Amy, 34 and Louis, 28.

Political career

Hare began his political career in 1980 when he ran as an Alternate Delegate to the Democratic Presidential Convention in support of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. He was one of 6 candidates running for alternate delegate but the three Kennedy delegates were defeated by the three candidates supporting President Jimmy Carter of Georgia. In 1982 Phil left his union position to help his longtime friend Lane Evans, who was making an attempt to unseat 16-year Republican Tom Railsback in the U.S. Congress. Hare first met Evans in 1976 when the two were volunteers in Senator Fred R. Harris' campaign for President. However, Railsback was upset by conservative State Senator Kenneth McMillan in the Republican primary. Evans defeated McMillan in November, and appointed Hare as district director.

For the next 24 years Hare worked as an aide to Evans, assisting the Congressman primarily on constituent issues and labor problems. During his tenure as an aide to Evans, Phil Hare oversaw the closings of Case International Harvestor plant in East Moline, and the Maytag plant in Galesburg. The closings of these major businesses and many others resulted in a loss of more than 2,200 jobs in the 17th district. In the last few years of Evans' time in Congress, Hare attended several speaking engagements and even debated Evans' opponents in 2002 and 2004 because of the Congressman's Parkinsons disease, which has often prevented Evans from participating in the engagements.

In March 2006, after Evans announced his retirement, Hare announced his candidacy to succeed Evans. In a special Democratic caucus of precinct committee members from across the 17th Congressional District Hare prevailed over the four other candidates and received the endorsement of his former boss. As a candidate for Congress, Hare focused much of his campaign on labor issues and is a strong supporter of unions and a critic of North American Free Trade Agreement, which he blames for a loss of jobs in his western Illinois district.

Hare easily defeated his Republican opponent, Andrea Zinga, in November. Following in the footsteps of his mentor, Hare's voting record has been decidedly liberal; he is a founding member of the LGBT Caucus or the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Caucus, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, of which Evans was a founding member.

Issues

Jobs

Congressman Hare is strong supporter of bringing home funds that will go to put the people of the 17th District back to work. Recently Congressman Hare introduced a bill that would create a hybrid version of FDR's New Deal and the Conservation Corp of the 1970's. The Congressman has consistently opposed trade agreements that have lead to the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs in Illinois.

Health Care

Hare has been an advocate for health care reform since becoming Congressman on Memorial Day, May 29, 2006. During the summer of 2009, Hare took a hard line stance on the Public Option, saying, "I will not support any plan that does not contain a robust public option because, a plan without a public option is sort of like a car without a motor. It may look good on the outside, but in the end it will get you nowhere." After many local health care town halls and public polling, Hare has since backed off of his support of the public option. Hare is quoted as saying that, he ultimately supports a public option but that "It [the public option] is not a deal breaker."

Labor

Hare is an unapologetic supporter of organized labor. He supports measures such as the living wage and the Employee Free Choice Act.

Abortion

Phil Hare has consistently received the endorsement of the National Abortion Rights Advocacy League.. Besides abortion, Hare has voted to fund contraception as well.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Education and Labor
  • Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
  • Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
• Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
  • Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment

Election history

• Nomination of precinct committeepersons U.S. House 2006
  • Phil Hare — 17,011 — 64%
  • John M. Sullivan — 7,530 — 28%
  • Mark Schwiebert — 1,370 — 5%
  • Michael Boland — 612 — 2%
  • Rob Mellon — 98 — 0%
• Election of November 7, 2006 for U.S. House Dist. 17
  • Phil Hare (D) — 114,638 — 57%
  • Andrea Zinga — (R) 85,734 — 43%
• Election of November 4, 2008 for U.S. House Dist. 17
  • Phil Hare (D) —- 220,961—99.77%
  • Mark E. Lioen—517—0.23%

Trivia

Hare appeared on the March 15, 2007 episode of The Colbert Report in the show's "Better Know a District" series. [1]

External links

• U.S. Congressman Phil Hare official House site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Phil Hare profile
• Friends of Phil Hare official campaign site

Articles

• Phil Hare, Illinois 17th Congressional District Democrat candidate survey, Quad-City Times, May 12, 2006
• IL 17: Surprise Open-Seat Race Showing Increased Intensity, CQPolitics, Greg Giroux, June 30, 2006