HR1549 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1549 LRB096 24549 GRL 44370 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to honor our esteemed colleague, Illinois State Representative Careen Gordon, for her years of dedicated service to the people of Illinois and the Illinois House of Representatives; and

WHEREAS, Careen Gordon was born and raised in Morris; she is the youngest of the 3 children of her loving parents, Tom and the late Diane Gordon, from whom she learned the value of hard work, dedication, and giving back to the community; and

WHEREAS, Representative Gordon graduated from Morris Community High School in 1990; she went on to attend Purdue University and the University of Illinois, earning 2 bachelor's degrees in 1994; she returned home to begin practicing law after graduating from John Marshall Law School in 1998; and

WHEREAS, Representative Gordon began her career in public service as a prosecutor in the Grundy County State's Attorney's Office; she later served as an Assistant State's Attorney in Kankakee and Will Counties; due to her success as a local prosecutor, Gordon was recruited by Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan to serve as an Assistant Attorney General in 2000; and

WHEREAS, As a prosecutor, Representative Gordon fought on behalf of crime victims, working both to bring their attackers to justice and to ensure their victims' future safety; and

WHEREAS, Representative Gordon was appointed to serve in the Illinois House of Representatives in December of 2003 to complete the term of retiring Representative Mary Kay O'Brien; she was first elected to serve as the State Representative of the 75th District in November of 2004; she subsequently won re-election in 2006 and 2008; and

WHEREAS, Representative Gordon used her knowledge as a prosecutor to stand up for victims of violence and crack down on the most dangerous criminals in Illinois; she spearheaded legislation to require lifetime registration for the most dangerous sex offenders and fought to increase penalties for methamphetamine producers; she also worked to increase penalties for domestic abusers and routinely worked with law enforcement to make it easier to track, catch, and prosecute criminals of all kinds; and

WHEREAS, Growing up in a working family, Representative Gordon always understood the need to create and keep jobs in Illinois; she led the charge to restore important sales tax exemptions for manufacturing and trucking companies to help spur their growth and fought against attempts to increase taxes and fees on businesses and individuals; and

WHEREAS, Representative Gordon made education one of her top priorities; she frequently brought home more money for rapidly growing schools in her district and worked to make sure that more education dollars were going into the classroom; and

WHEREAS, During hard economic times, Representative Gordon led by example, repeatedly cutting her own pay and donating salary increases to charitable causes in her district; and

WHEREAS, Representative Gordon has worked extremely hard to provide the people of Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, LaSalle, and Will Counties with effective representation in Springfield; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we thank Representative Careen Gordon for her service to the State of Illinois and wish her great success in all of her future endeavors; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Representative Careen Gordon as a symbol of the esteem and respect we have for our colleague and friend.