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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to honor our esteemed colleague,
4Illinois State Representative Careen Gordon, for her years of
5dedicated service to the people of Illinois and the Illinois
6House of Representatives; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Careen Gordon was born and raised in Morris; she
8is the youngest of the 3 children of her loving parents, Tom
9and the late Diane Gordon, from whom she learned the value of
10hard work, dedication, and giving back to the community; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Representative Gordon graduated from Morris
12Community High School in 1990; she went on to attend Purdue
13University and the University of Illinois, earning 2 bachelor's
14degrees in 1994; she returned home to begin practicing law
15after graduating from John Marshall Law School in 1998; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Representative Gordon began her career in public
17service as a prosecutor in the Grundy County State's Attorney's
18Office; she later served as an Assistant State's Attorney in
19Kankakee and Will Counties; due to her success as a local
20prosecutor, Gordon was recruited by Illinois Attorney General
21Jim Ryan to serve as an Assistant Attorney General in 2000; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, As a prosecutor, Representative Gordon fought on
2behalf of crime victims, working both to bring their attackers
3to justice and to ensure their victims' future safety; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Representative Gordon was appointed to serve in
5the Illinois House of Representatives in December of 2003 to
6complete the term of retiring Representative Mary Kay O'Brien;
7she was first elected to serve as the State Representative of
8the 75th District in November of 2004; she subsequently won
9re-election in 2006 and 2008; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Representative Gordon used her knowledge as a
11prosecutor to stand up for victims of violence and crack down
12on the most dangerous criminals in Illinois; she spearheaded
13legislation to require lifetime registration for the most
14dangerous sex offenders and fought to increase penalties for
15methamphetamine producers; she also worked to increase
16penalties for domestic abusers and routinely worked with law
17enforcement to make it easier to track, catch, and prosecute
18criminals of all kinds; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Growing up in a working family, Representative
20Gordon always understood the need to create and keep jobs in
21Illinois; she led the charge to restore important sales tax
22exemptions for manufacturing and trucking companies to help
23spur their growth and fought against attempts to increase taxes

 

 

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1and fees on businesses and individuals; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Representative Gordon made education one of her
3top priorities; she frequently brought home more money for
4rapidly growing schools in her district and worked to make sure
5that more education dollars were going into the classroom; and
 
6    WHEREAS, During hard economic times, Representative Gordon
7led by example, repeatedly cutting her own pay and donating
8salary increases to charitable causes in her district; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Representative Gordon has worked extremely hard
10to provide the people of Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, LaSalle,
11and Will Counties with effective representation in
12Springfield; therefore, be it
 
13    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
14NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
15thank Representative Careen Gordon for her service to the State
16of Illinois and wish her great success in all of her future
17endeavors; and be it further
 
18    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
19presented to Representative Careen Gordon as a symbol of the
20esteem and respect we have for our colleague and friend.