Gary Hannig is Illinois's Secretary of Transportation. Hannig was previously a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the Illinois House of Representatives

Illinois House of Representatives

The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...

, representing the 98th District from 1979 to 2009.

Hannig, from Litchfield

Litchfield, Illinois

Litchfield is a city in Montgomery County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,815 at the 2000 census, and 6,588 in 2009. It is located in south central Illinois, south of Springfield and on the northern edge of the Greater St. Louis Metro-East area.-Attractions:The Ariston Cafe is one of...

, was the Deputy House Majority Leader in the later years of his legislative career. and is one of House Speaker Michael Madigan

Michael Madigan

Michael J. Madigan is the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois...

's top lieutenants in the negotiation of budget legislation. In August 2008, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich

Rod Blagojevich

Rod R. Blagojevich is an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat, Blagojevich was a State Representative before being elected to the United States House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago...

 blamed Hannig, who opposed Blagojevich's proposed capital bill, for House Democrats' not passing Blagojevich's budget. Blagojevich asked, “How can Gary Hannig, a good guy, stand in the way and work aggressively to kill jobs in Christian County

Christian County, Illinois

Christian County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 34,800, which is a decrease of 1.6% from 35,372 in 2000...

. How can he justify standing in the way and being part of a leadership team that is prohibiting Route 29 from going from two lanes to four lanes. I love Gary Hannig, but Gary Hannig is a leader in this effort to kill jobs for downstate Illinois

Downstate Illinois

Downstate Illinois refers to all of Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area. This term is flexible, but because it is generally meant to refer to everything outside the Chicago-area, some cities in Northern Illinois, such as Rockford and DeKalb, , are considered to be "downstate".The term...

 and central Illinois.”

Hannig replied, “Is he running against me for state representative, and no one told me yet? I’m going to challenge the residency requirements. He hasn’t lived here 18 months.”

Blagojevich further accused Hannig of intending to raise taxes: “If Gary isn’t going to raise taxes next year after the election, he ought to sign a pledge right now and prove me wrong. I dare him. Sign the pledge, Gary.” Hannig replied to the Governor, “He can send me a copy of it.”

Later the same day, Blagojevich also singled out 10 Chicago Democrats for the failure of the bill.

Political positions

Hannig said that he opposed Blagojevich's capital bill because it did not include what he viewed as necessary items for his district, in Christian County

Christian County, Illinois

Christian County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 34,800, which is a decrease of 1.6% from 35,372 in 2000...

, Montgomery County and Macoupin County

Macoupin County, Illinois

Macoupin County is a county located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 47,765, which is a decrease of 2.6% from 49,019 in 2000. The county seat is Carlinville. Macoupin County is an outlying county of the Metro-East region...

.

Representative Hannig was a member of an Illinois House's Special Investigative Committee, which determined whether or not there was sufficient grounds for impeachment against Rod Blagojevich.

External links

• Illinois General Assembly - Representative Gary Hannig (D) 98th District official IL House website
  • Bills Committees
• Project Vote Smart - Representative Gary L. Hannig (IL) profile
• 2006 2004 2002 2000 1998 1996 Campaign contributions (at Follow the Money)
• Illinois House Democrats profile