Longtime Ill. congressman won't seek re-election

ST. LOUIS -- Longtime Democratic congressman Jerry Costello abruptly announced Tuesday he won't seek another two-year term next year, setting the stage for potential jockeying for the southwestern Illinois seat that a top state Republican figures is up for grabs.

Costello has held the 12th District seat since 1988 and wielded considerable clout, helping secure federal funding for a new Mississippi River bridge linking St. Louis to his district while pressing legislation meant to stave off property owners from having to buy mandatory and perhaps expensive flood insurance.

"I want to move on," the 22-year incumbent, 62, told reporters in announcing his retirement at St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia, Ill., just southeast of St. Louis.

Insisting that he long has said since being first elected he'd never be a career congressman, Costello added that "you can't go from 100 mph every day and just stop. I intend to continue to go full speed pursuing other interests and opportunities that may come along," perhaps including consulting, teaching and charity work.

"I will miss the people but not the weekly commute from home to Washington, D.C.," he said.

The Illinois Republican Party's chairman cheered the news, insisting that replacing Costello -- a former St. Clair County board chairman who has been the longest-serving Democrat in Illinois' congressional delegation -- with a GOP candidate would be one of that party's top priorities next year.

"The district has been trending Republican for several years," Pat Brady said, noting Republican Bobby Schilling's defeat of Democrat Phil Hare last year in Southern Illinois' 17th Congressional District -- turf that hadn't been held by a Republican previously since 1980. A Republican also snared a state senate seat in downstate Illinois that had eluded the GOP since 1975.

The top national Democrat waved off such Republican optimism.

"This is a strong Democratic district that both President Obama and Sen. Kerry (as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004) won, and we look forward to electing a Democrat next November who will represent middle-class families and fight to create local jobs and grow the economy," said Steve Israel, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Costello said Tuesday's announcement should give Democratic and Republican candidates ample time to gear up their campaigns and get on next year's ballot. He said was deferring any endorsement.

Even before Costello's retirement announcement, opponents were lining up against the former court bailiff, sheriff's deputy and investigator for a prosecutor's office. Republican Roger Cook, a former Belleville mayor, threw his hat into the ring last week, and Theresa Kormos -- a nurse who last year sought to unseat Costello -- says she expects to seek the Republican nomination for the job.

Costello's son, Army veteran and former policeman Jerry Costello II, was sworn in in July to fill a vacant seat in the Illinois House in a district that includes parts of Monroe, St. Clair, Randolph and Perry counties. That term expires in January 2013, though it's not immediately clear if the younger Costello plans to succeed his dad.

The elder Costello has been in office since August 1988, when he was picked to fill the term of the late U.S. Rep. Melvin Price and represent the district that includes Belleville, East St. Louis and Alton -- Illinois suburbs of St. Louis -- and a southern swath of Illinois turf that includes Carbondale.

Republican Rep. John Shimkus called Costello's planned retirement "a great loss for Southern Illinois and a personal loss for me," never mind their opposing political affiliations.

"I have counted Jerry as one of my closest friends and confidants," Shimkus said, lauding Costello's productivity and persistence in securing U.S. taxpayer money for projects in his district, including millions of dollars for Scott Air Force Base about 25 miles east of St. Louis.

"Many have heard me call him the patron saint of Scott Air Force Base," Shimkus said. "Well even patron saints retire, which will cause all of us to work a little harder to fill this gap."

Costello is the senior Democrat on the House's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the second-ranking Democrat on the Science, Space and Technology Committee.