SPRINGFIELD - Three state lawmakers have announced they're not running for re-election in 2016, and another leaked Friday that he's joining them and yet another GOP House member says he's thinking about moving to Florida.
State Rep. Adam Brown from downstate Champaign said instead of running for re-election in 2016, he's returning to work his family farm. The 30 year old and his wife just announced the birth of their second child. He told the Times Bureau "My plate has been beyond full for some time."
Keith Erickson reports that Brown is supporting Edgar County Republican Party Chairman Randy Peterson, a construction manager from Paris, to succeed him.
But not only is Brown leaving, freshman GOP state Rep. Reggie Phillips from Charleston is actively preparing to open a business in Florida, and seriously considering leaving the state.
"We're very actively looking at it," Phillips told the Quad-City Times Springfield bureau. "I'm a practical businessman. I can't stay here and allow myself to be strangled by incompetence."
State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld of Okawville and state Reps. Mike Tryon of Crystal Lake and Ed Sullivan of Mundelein announced earlier this summer that they're also not seeking re-election in 2016.
