John Shimkus

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John Shimkus

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 19th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 7, 1997–
Preceded by	David Phelps
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	February 21, 1958 Collinsville, Illinois
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Karen Shimkus
Religion	Lutheran

John Mondy Shimkus (born February 21, 1958), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997, representing Illinois's 19th congressional district (map). He was born in Collinsville, Illinois. Shimkus earned his bachelor's degree at West Point Military Academy at West Point, New York. Shimkus then attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and received a Master's of Business Administration. He was a member of the United States Army, and was a teacher in Southern Illinois. Shimkus was elected Madison County Treasurer before entering the House of Representatives.

He is currently a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its subcommittees on Telecommunications and the Internet, Health, and Energy and Air Quality. He is also the chairman of the House Page Board and, in accordance with his Lithuanian heritage, is co-chairman of the Baltic Caucus (the other chairman is Dennis Kucinich of Ohio).

Shimkus announced in September 2005 that he will run for reelection in 2008, despite making a pledge when first elected in 1996 not to stay in office for more than 12 years. He said he will run for a seventh term in 2008 if he wins re-election in 2006. "It was a mistake at the time," he said about his 1996 campaign promises. "Unless everyone plays by the same rules, term limits don't make sense."

FEC records show the John S. Fund, the PAC for John Shimkus, contributed to Tom DeLay, who is now facing criminal charges. The fund also made contributions to Peter Roskam, a Republican candidate for the House from Illinois' 6th district, and to David McSweeney a Republican candidate for the House from Illinois' 8th district. [1] [2] [3] Recently the funds treasurer, lobbyist Mark Valente, resigned. Shimkus earlier said he was considering removing Valente, but he didn't want to act too quickly because it might suggest there was something improper about their relationship. [4]

1 2006 House page scandal
2 2006 election
3 Praise for inclusive GLBT anti-bullying bill
4 References
5 External links

[edit] 2006 House page scandal

Main article: Mark Foley scandal

Shimkus said that in late 2005 he learned — through information passed along by the office of Representative Rodney Alexander (R-La) — about an e-mail exchange in which Foley asked about the well-being of a former page, from Alexander's district, after Hurricane Katrina, and requested a photograph."^[1] Shimkus and Jeff Trandahl, the Clerk of the House, responsible for administering the program, met with Foley in 2005 after learning of the emails. Foley was ordered to cease all contact with the former page and assured Shimkus he would do so.

Shimkus did not share the information with Rep. Dale E. Kildee, the only Democrat on the three-person Page Committee,^[2] or Representative Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va), the other Republican. "I became aware of it this afternoon [September 29th] when [Shimkus] came by my office. I think we should have had a page meeting right away," Kildee said, referring to the 2005 discovery of Foley's e-mails. When asked if was upset about being excluded, Kildee said yes, adding, "I've been on the page board for 20 years."

"I'm the chairman of the page board," Shimkus said when asked why he didn't include Kildee. "The Clerk and I addressed this issue." Shimkus said on October 2 that "I think, based on the information I had, what I did was fine. If I regret something, maybe I should have had Dale [Kildee] with me because now it’s going to be a political football."^[3]

Shimkus was also quick to point out that he was the only person who took any action to confront Foley in any manner, including media, the FBI, and others on the Republican leadership [5].

Mr. Shimkus spoke with the current house pages the evening of the news break. He came with the Clerk of the House and Ms. Capito (fellow board members). In his dialog, he talked to the pages about how adults make bad choices. He encouraged the pages to talk to mentors in the system about any concerns they might have. He also told the pages that he had not known anything about the scandal, and that if he had known about it, he would have acted. He later came out with information that he had known about e-mails sent by Mr. Foley to young pages.

[edit] 2006 election

Shimkus ran against city councilman Dan Stover. The AP has declared Shimkus the winner.

[edit] Praise for inclusive GLBT anti-bullying bill

GLSEN, which fights the harassment of GLBT youth, has praised Shimkus for his support for an anti-bullying bill that he introduced in the 109th Congress.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

^ "Sixteen-Year-Old Who Worked as Capitol Hill Page Concerned About E-mail Exchange with Congressman", Associated Press , September 29, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
^ "Michigan Dem who oversees pages was kept in the dark", The Detroit News, 2006-10-02. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
^ Scott Finn, "E-mail case ‘disgusting,’ says Capito, 1 of 3 in House who oversee pages", Charleston Gazette, October 2, 2006

[edit] External links

U.S. Congressman John Shimkus official House site
Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Federal Election Commission - John M Shimkus campaign finance reports and data
On the Issues - John Shimkus issue positions and quotes
OpenSecrets.org - John Shimkus campaign contributions
Project Vote Smart - Representative John M. Shimkus (IL) profile
SourceWatch Congresspedia - John Shimkus profile
Washington Post - Congress Votes Database: John Shimkus voting record
Volunteers for Shimkus official campaign site

Preceded by Richard J. Durbin	U.S. Representative of Illinois's 20th Congressional District 1997-2003	Succeeded by 20th District eliminated after Census 2000
Preceded by David D. Phelps	U.S. Representative of Illinois's 19th Congressional District 2003-	Succeeded by Incumbent