David Gill (D-IL-13)

Dr. Gill: citizen legislator

I am an Emergency Room doctor – not another career politician. We have far too many career politicians in Washington, D.C. We need citizen legislators with common sense who understand the conflicting pressures of daily life and the needs of people as they struggle to pay bills, get access to health care, and make a better life for their children. Citizen legislators who know that to fix our economy we need to be creating good paying jobs as the first step to rebuilding the American Dream.

My interests are wide-ranging, with a firm grasp of economics and international issues. I have read newspapers since I was seven years old, and I have followed politics since high school. Most pertinent to my qualifications, I fully appreciate and apply the values of persistence, dedication, integrity, and hard work.

Dr. Gill’s History

Born into a family of modest means, I assumed personal responsibility at an early age. When I was 13, I took a job as a bus boy and dishwasher shortly after my father passed away. I worked my way through college and medical school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

After earning a B.S. in Mathematics, I worked one year for an actuarial company in Chicago, prior to starting medical school back in Urbana-Champaign. During medical school I met my first wife, Polly. We settled in Clinton in the heart of DeWitt County to raise our three children. Since 1988, I have served both rural and urban communities across Central Illinois, first as a family practice doctor and then in emergency departments.

No place for partisanship in the emergency room.

As a physician, I work with people in need every day. When patients come into the E.R., I do not ask about their political views before I treat them. I identify and examine each problem, offering solutions based on my experience and the best medical practices available.

I ran for Illinois’ 15th Congressional District seat in 2004 and 2006, putting 90,000 miles on my car from Livingston County near Kankakee to the edge of the Shawnee National Forest. I made steady progress, and looked forward to continuing the campaign’s groundswell momentum in 2008. Plans changed, however, when my beloved Polly was lost to colon cancer. I have since remarried and moved to Bloomington.

My second wife, Elaine, is as passionate as I about the urgent need to change our political process. We have six children between us, but our blended family took to the campaign trail in 2010, once more trying to effect change in the political process with a true grassroots campaign. In 2010, we outpolled several well funded Democratic candidates at the state and federal level by connecting with the voters in our district one voter at a time, a practice I enjoy and am continuing as we look to 2012.

Elect a citizen legislator to Illinois’ 13th District

Now, voters in Illinois’ newly redrawn 13th Congressional District have a chance to choose between a citizen legislator with common sense and real world experience or yet another career politician. If I am elected, I intend to represent your interests. I will listen attentively to your concerns and I will work tirelessly to improve the quality of life for people in our district and protect our basic rights. I will fight to eliminate waste and help return common sense to the halls of Congress.