SHAWNEE COLLEGE CHIEF JOINS RACE FOR ILLINOIS STATE REPRESENTATIVE

VIENNA, Ill. -- Shawnee Community College President Jack D. Hill has announced he will run for the Republican nomination for state representative in the 118th District.

Hill and incumbent state Rep. David D. Phelps, D-Eldorado, are the only candidates so far.

Phelps will wait until his traditional Christmas party to announced his candidacy, but said he will run it's "just a little early for an official announcement."

He is serving his sixth term for the 118th District, which comprises all or parts of 10 counties in Southern Illinois, including Alexander, Pulaski, Union, Johnson, Massac, Williamson, Gallatin, Hardin, Saline and Pope.

Hill of Vienna has been president of Shawnee College since 1991.

This is his second venture into the political arena -- he announced two years ago for state representative, but withdraw due to health reasons.

"But, I'm fit and ready now," Hill said this week.

Hill was elected to a school board early in my life, "but that wasn't really politics," he said.

His campaigning would be confined to evenings and weekend until next summer when the college has agreed to give him a leave of absence from June through November.

In his announcement, Hill told a group Saturday night he was ready to put Southern Illinois first in all his decisions and that he will make a positive difference for the district.

A Marion native, Hill said, "I'm tired of politicians forgetting about Southern Illinois."

Hill said he will campaign on five points: jobs, education, taxes, crime and punishment and political reform.

Hill is actively pursuing employment opportunities for the district and has served as a member of the Super-Max Prison Proposal Group, which successfully landed the prison at Tamms.

He has also worked to develop jobs through Shawnee College's Office of Economic Development.

During his 37 years as an educator, Hill served as vice president for instructional services at John A. Logan College in Carterville and various other positions from 1969 until taking the Shawnee job.

Hill criticized Phelps' party-line vote against the governor's recommended capital expenditures for Fiscal Year '96, which contained funding a number of badly needed projects in Southern Illinois, including prison expansions and building projects for Southern Illinois University, Shawnee College, John A. Logan College and Southeastern Illinois College at Harrisburg.

"I will put politics aside and make what is best for Southern Illinois my primary focus," he said. "I will put Southern Illinois first in each and every vote I cast in Springfield."

Hill is a graduate of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, with a bachelor's degree in elementary education, a master's degree in education, and a doctorate in higher education.

Hill and his wife, Mary, live in Vienna. They are have three children and six grandchildren.