Du Quoin man runs in 116th race against Costello
<pre class="aLF-aPX-K0-aPE aLF-aPX-aLK-ayr-auR">A Du Quoin man, Bubba Harsy, is running as an independent candidate for State Representative of Illinois'116th District, a seat now held by Jerry Costello. "Illinois is in terrible financial affairs and the situation only appears to be getting worse," he says.
Harsy's two biggest objectives are to stop allowing General Assembly members to retire when they turn 55 after just eight years of service, and to stop General Assembly members from retiring when they turn 62 after just four years of service. "It is unfair for Illinois taxpayers to pay for retirement packages after such minimal service."
"My parents are Roger and Launa Harsy of DuQuoin. I was born and raised in DuQuoin and have lived here my entire life excluding time spent away at college.
"I graduated from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, where I received a bachelor's degree in philosophy, a bachelor's degree in political science, and a minor in psychology. While attending SIU-C, I worked for my father's asbestos removal company, A & A Abatement.
"After graduating from SIU-C, I spent a year attending Hofstra School of Law in New York, prior to transferring to American University, Washington College of Law in Washington DC. While attending law school at American University, I was a legislative aide in the Maryland General Assembly, I worked at the United States Department of Education, and I interned at the United States Senate.
"In my last semester of law school, I was involved in a car accident and suffered a concussion. My injury caused me to take a step away from the activities I was a part of and prevented me from taking the bar exam immediately after law school.
"As things improved, I began looking into Illinois politics and what my local legislators were doing to improve the affairs Illinois. Unfortunately, I was not impressed. I began to make a list of ideas that could improve the lives of Illinois residents. At first I wanted to bring the list to local legislators and apply for a position where I could help pass some of the legislation that already occurs in other states. Then, my list grew and I felt like the people of Illinois would be better served if I ran for State Representative of District 116."</pre>