Bobby Schilling (born January 23, 1964) is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Schilling defeated incumbent Phil Hare in the 2010 election by a margin of 53%-43%.
Early life, education and career
Schilling was born and raised in
Rock Island, Illinois. He graduated from
Alleman High School and attended
Black Hawk College.
He worked at Container Corporation of America and served as a union steward in the local chapter of the International Paper Workers Union for four years. From there he worked at Prudential Financial insurance company. His website says "he was ranked number 315 out of over 13,000 agents during his last full year with the company."
In 1997, Schilling started Saint Giuseppe's Heavenly Pizza in East Moline. The restaurant is closed on Sundays for him to "spend more time with [his] family".
Political positions
Schilling is
pro-life, pro-gun rights, is fiscally conservative, and believes in small government. He is a
tea party candidate. He supports
term limits for members of Congress. He opposes the
bailouts of 2008 and President Obama's
stimulus plan. He supports lowering the corporate tax rate.
Schilling supports a troop surge in the War in Afghanistan and expanding and updating missile defense systems. He does not support proposals to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to nearby Thomson, IL, writing a piece on BigGovernment.com expressing this view. He supports trying said detainees in military courts as opposed to federal courts.
Schilling views health care reform as a top priority. However, he says the Democrats' version of health care reform, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, "isn’t so much about health care reform, it’s about control, it’s about the government taking over...I just believe that we have got one of the best health care systems in the world and it just needs to be tweaked." He supports repealing the Democrats' version of health care reform, believing it is unconstitutional. He supports tort reform and legalizing the purchase of insurance across state lines.
Schilling believes the federal government should stop regulating education.
Schilling is a "9/12 candidate", a candidate who supports the nine principles and twelve values of the Founding Fathers as laid out by Fox News host Glenn Beck in his 9-12 Project.
U.S. House of Representatives
Schilling took office with the rest of the
112th Congress on
January 5,
2011. He brought his entire family, including his wife and 10 kids, to
Washington for the swearing-in. Schilling voted for
John Boehner for
Speaker of the House. Schilling hired Republican political consultant Mike Roman as his
chief of staff.
2010 campaign
Schilling had been a Democrat for much of his early life, but now considers himself a "Reagan Republican." Schilling announced his candidacy in April 2009 and officially filed for the Republican nomination in October 2009.
Schilling vowed not to participate in the congressional pension program, to keep his private health insurance instead of the congressional plan, to donate any pay raises he receives, to limit himself to no more than 8 years in Congress, and not to vote for any bill he hasn't read. "I'm not going to make a career out of this," he says.
After being widely considered a safe Democratic seat early in the campaign, Schilling's campaign gained enough momentum to force political websites to re-rate it a toss-up or lean-Republican. The race was rated leans-Republican by RealClearPolitics, Cook Political Report, CQ Politics, and the New York Times.
The race was profiled on CNN as one of the country's top 100 House races, in which they said, "Schilling trails in the overall money race, but he's raised enough to get his message out and give the incumbent something to worry about."
In September 2010 Schilling was named to the National Republican Congressional Committee's "Young Guns" program.
In October 2010 Schilling was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune.
Hare criticized Schilling for living 0.99 miles outside the 17th District, though the Constitution does not require members of Congress to live in the district they represent. She also says the family fell out of the district because of gerrymandering. The campaign also raised more money in individual donations in the 4th quarter in 2009, receiving $53,567 in individual donations compared to Hare's $49,420. The campaign raised $72,402 in the first quarter of 2010 compared to $114,598 raised by Hare's campaign. However, all but $14,000 of Hare's contributions came from political action committees, whereas all but $350 of Schilling's came from individual donors. They raised $138,847 during the second quarter of 2010; Schilling raised around $125,000 in individual donations compared to about $48,000 in individual donations for Hare. They raised $375,262 in the third quarter of 2010, and had $420,962 cash on hand as of the end of the quarter.
Schilling ended the campaign with a total of $1,095,167 raised and $1,078,911 spent.
Quincy Tea Party group (conditional)
Congressman Aaron Schock
Congressman John Shimkus
Joe the Plumber (Joe Wurzelbacher)
Sgt. John F. Baker, Jr., recipient of the Medal of Honor.
Rep. Michelle Bachmann
CatholicVote PAC
Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney
John Deere PAC
Chicago Tribune
United States Chamber of Commerce
Personal life
Schilling has been married to Christie Schilling for 24 years and they have ten children (the youngest of which was born in February 2010) and one grandchild.
References
External links
Congressman Bobby Schilling official U.S. House site
Bobby Schilling for Congress official campaign site
Political positions questionnaire at The Chicago Tribune
Category:1964 births
Category:Living people
Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois
Category:Illinois Republicans
Category:American Roman Catholic politicians
Category:American political candidates
Category:People from Rock Island, Illinois
