Richard P. "Rich" Myers (December 27, 1947 – December 1, 2010) was a Republican member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

, having represented the 94th district from 1995 until his death in 2010. Representative Myers was a conservative Republican, who valued the importance of

fiscal responsibility A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budget ...

Early life and career

He graduated from Colchester High School in 1966 and received a bachelor's degree from

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. Once West ...

in Macomb in 1973. He spent six years in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Legislative career

In the 1994 general election, Myers defeated Democratic incumbent

Bill Edley Bill Edley (born March 16, 1948) is an American businessman and Democratic politician from Illinois. Early life Bill Edley was born March 16, 1948, in Canton, Illinois. He attended Spoon River College and received his bachelor's degree in invest ...

to represent the 95th district. During his last term, Myers was minority spokesman on the House Appropriations-Higher Education Committee and also served on the Agriculture and Conservation, State Government Administration, and Elections and Campaign Reform committees. Representative Myers had expected to survive in acceptable health long enough to serve another term despite his struggle with ill health, but he died December 1, 2010, after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was lauded on his death for his contributions to the district, to its schools, and to

. The Republican Representative Committee of the 94th Representative District appointed Norine Hammond, the Emmett Township Supervisor and a longtime aide to Myers, to fill the vacancy created by his death until the next regularly scheduled election.

Other political involvement

During the

2008 Republican Party presidential primaries From January 3 to June 3, 2008, voters of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party chose their nominee for President of the United States, president in the 2008 United States presidential election. United States Senate, Senator J ...

, Myers worked on behalf of the

presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

of former U.S. Senator

Fred Thompson Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as a Unite ...

serving as a congressional district chair for

Illinois's 17th congressional district The 17th congressional district of Illinois is represented by Democrat Eric Sorensen (politician), Eric Sorensen. It includes most of the northwestern portion of the state, with most of its population living on the Illinois side of the Quad Citi ...

References

External links

Illinois General Assembly - Representative Richard P. Myers (R) 94th District
official IL House website
BillsCommitteesProject Vote Smart - Representative Richard P. 'Rich' Myers (IL)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Richard P (Rich) Myers
200620042002200019981996
campaign contributions
Death Announcement- Richard Myers
Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives 1947 births 2010 deaths Deaths from prostate cancer in Illinois 20th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly {{Illinois-Ilrepresentative-Republican-stub