Skip to content

Bill Reedy Announces Candidacy For 13th Congressional District

With Downers Grove North High School, where his two children graduated, in the background and his family standing behind him, this afternoon Bill Reedy declared his candidacy for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District. Emphasizing the importance of education as an issue in the campaign, today is the fourth anniversary of President George W. Bush signing into law the “No Child Left Behind” Act that U.S. House GOP member Judy Biggert, the 13th district incumbent, took a high level role in crafting and sponsoring. Biggert, a former school board president for local School District 86, has since suggested that the law “needs some tweaking,” an understatement for many upset parents in the district who go to top notch schools like Hinsdale South, a school in District 86 that the law labeled a “failure.” Aside from criticism of how the law works, “No Child Left Behind” has never been fully funded by the federal government.

Candidate Bill Reedy with Cathy Reedy.jpg
[Bill and Cathy Reedy at Bill's Official Announcement in front of Downers Grove North High School]

Bill Reedy engaged the crowd, emphasizing his campaign was about “common sense and the common good.” The crowd of over 100 responded with “it’s just common sense” to Bill’s statements that we need fully funded public education, national healthcare and retirement security. Reedy said he looked forward to engaging voters in the upcoming Democratic Primary campaign, where he faces a challenge from Woodridge lawyer Joseph Shannon.

Comments 2

  1. Gary Kleppe wrote:

    I heard that the original plan was to give the speech inside the school, but they weren’t allowed to. Any idea who kicked them out, or why?

    Posted 09 Jan 2006 at 12:28 pm
  2. Hiram Wurf wrote:

    Hi Gary,

    I asked someone I know involved in the Reedy campaign and received the following:

    “It was an administrative glitch. The person who said we could sign the contract for the room was not aware of a school board policy that prohibits political parties from having events inside the school. The lawyers for the district looked at the contract and notified the folks who had okayed it that neither Republicans nor Democrats could hold a political meeting there, so we took the meeting outside, which is a permitted activity. The school was actually very nice and they were apologetic when they called to let us know of the mistake.”

    Sounds pretty straightforward to me – and innocent, if unfortunate. I agree it was worth finding out why the event was moved.

    Posted 09 Jan 2006 at 7:40 pm