The Privilege of Having Been There - My Eleven Years as an Illinois State Representative

Starting in my first year as a State Representative I wrote an article every week within Illinois' 89th District. It was a great district with roughly 60-40 rural-to-urban making up the 105,000 citizens. My effort with these articles was simply to inform the citizens what was happening politically in their District. I started as a neophyte, and I wanted them to be informed with what I learned from serving. I saw the position as an opportunity to help the citizens of the district. I certainly lean conservative, but my efforts were always to represent the 89th district as best I could without political bias. When I started writing my articles, shortly after being elected in November 2002, I marveled at how well they were received. I was not aware of any representatives or senators who had a weekly column at that time, and I believe that mine were the impetus for several others in years to come. My effort with this book, and by utilizing the articles that I wrote throughout my eleven-year journey as a state representative, will be a 'primer' for those wanting to gain knowledge of the position for whatever reason. My hope is also for you to understand why I literally loved my job. Having been an FBI Agent for 28 years prior to becoming a state representative I had always believed that I had had the best job in the world and my book 'NOT IN MY WILDEST DREAMS, MEMOIRS OF A VETERAN FBI AGENT' I believe reflects my love for the job. But here I am, arguably loving this job even more than my years as a Special Agent.