| Phil Hare | |
| Image Name: | Phil_Hare_Official.jpg |
| Birth Name: | Philip Gary Hare |
| Birth Date: | 21 February 1949 |
| Birth Place: | Galesburg, Illinois, U.S. |
| State: | Illinois |
| District: | 17th |
| Term Start: | January 3, 2007 |
| Term End: | January 3, 2011 |
| Preceded: | Lane Evans |
| Succeeded: | Bobby Schilling |
| Party: | Democrat |
| Spouse: | Rebecca Hare |
| Children: | 2 |
| Alma Mater: | Black Hawk College |
| Residence: | Rock Island, Illinois |
| Occupation: | political assistant, union leader |
| Allegiance: |  United States |
| Branch: | United States Army Reserves |
| Serviceyears: | 1969–1975 |
Philip Gary Hare (born February 21, 1949) is an American politician who was U.S. Representative for, serving from 2007 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district was based in Illinois's share of the Quad Cities area and included Rock Island, Moline, Quincy, Decatur, Galesburg and part of Springfield.
Hare was born in Galesburg but grew up in Rock Island. He graduated from Alleman High School in 1967. The son of a machinist, Hare went to work at Seaford Clothing Factory in Rock Island, where he stayed for 13 years. He received his A.A. degree at Black Hawk College in Moline, Illinois. While working there Hare served as a union leader and was President of HERE Local 617. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1969 to 1975.[1]
Hare began his political career in 1980 when he ran as an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention in support of the presidential candidacy of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. He was one of six candidates running for alternate delegate but the three Kennedy delegates were defeated by the three candidates supporting President Jimmy Carter.
In 1982 Hare left his union position to help his friend Lane Evans, who was running for the U.S. House of Representatives in an attempt to unseat 16-year incumbent Republican Tom Railsback. Hare first met Evans in 1976 when the two were volunteers in U.S. Senator Fred R. Harris's campaign for president. Railsback was upset by conservative State Senator Kenneth McMillan in the Republican primary, and Evans defeated McMillan in November, and appointed Hare as district director.
For the next 24 years, Hare worked as an aide to Evans, assisting the congressman primarily on constituent issues and labor problems. In the last few years of Evans's time in Congress, Hare attended several speaking engagements and even debated Evans's opponents in 2002 and 2004 because of the congressman's Parkinson's disease, which often prevented Evans from participating.
Evans decided to retire in March 2006 and Hare announced his candidacy shortly afterward. In a special Democratic caucus of precinct committee members from across the 17th Congressional District, Hare received his former boss's endorsement and prevailed over the four other candidates to replace Evans as the Democratic nominee. In the November election, Hare defeated his Republican opponent, Andrea Zinga, with 57% of the vote.
Hare ran unopposed in 2008.
Hare was challenged by Republican nominee Bobby Schilling and Green Party nominee Roger K. Davis. The race was rated a tossup by the Cook Political Report, CQ Politics, and the New York Times.[2] [3] [4] By October, RealClearPolitics rated it "Leans Republican".[5]
In the November 2 election, Schilling defeated Hare 53%-42%. Hare lost his home county, the normally solidly Democratic Rock Island County, by 9 percentage points.
Hare's voting record was generally liberal, mirroring that of his former boss, Evans. Hare is also a founding member of the LGBT Equality Caucus[6] [7] and was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, of which Evans was a founding member.
In June 2010, Ken Moffett, a Vietnam veteran and supporter of Hare's Republican challenger Bobby Schilling, called Hare a "draft dodger" during a Memorial Day ceremony in East Moline, Illinois. The mayor of East Moline said that Moffett "accosted" Hare during a "solemn day and ceremony". Moffett accused Hare of ordering a staffer to follow Moffett to his car and get Moffett's license plate number; Hare described the encounter as: "I teased him by saying if he didn't want to tell me his name I'd just go get it off his plate."[16]
At an April 2010 town hall meeting, Hare stated on camera, "I don't worry about the Constitution on this to be honest," in relation to Congressional health-care reform efforts.[17] The cameraman, who was affiliated with the St. Louis Tea Party, was heard to say "jackpot, brother!" after Hare said this, to which Hare responded, "Oh, please." Hare's communications director, Tim Schlittner, later explained that Hare's quote was "taken out of context" and he meant that "he is not worried about this health care law being ruled unconstitutional."[18] However, in the same interview, Hare said, "I believe it (the Constitution) says 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'" When it was pointed out to him that was actually from the Declaration of Independence, Hare said, "It doesn't matter to me."
Hare and his wife Beckie currently live in Rock Island and have two grown children, Amy and Louis.
Hare appeared on the March 15, 2007 episode of The Colbert Report in the show's "Better Know a District" series.[19]