State Sen. Rutherford, a
man who likes a bit of adventure, to speak at Lincoln Day event
3/29/2007
Canton Daily Ledger
The Fulton County Republican Central
Committee and slated Friday, April 18, for its annual Lincoln Day Dinner.
The event will be held at the Grand Room of Heritage Grand Inn in Canton.
Social hour begins at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7 p.m.
This year's featured speaker will be state Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-53rd
District) from Pontiac. After spending 10 years in the Illinois House of
Representatives, where he served as the Assistant Republican leader, he has
served as a state senator since 2002. Rutherford has had a long and varied
career in Republican politics in Illinois. He also has enjoyed some
adventures such as leading safaris, spending Christmas on an iceberg, and
eventually visiting every continent of the world.
For tickets and additional information contact Fulton County Republican
Party Chairman Judy Dudek by phone at 647-7968 or by email at
jdudek1955@sbcglobal.net or Craig Zilly at 647-3602 or
cmzilly@hotmail.com.
Here is
some background about Rutherford: As a member of the Senate, he is the
ranking Republican on the Financial Institutions Committee. He also serves
on the Environment and Energy Committee and the bi-partisan Joint Committee
on Administrative Rules.
Rutherford was a leading sponsor of legislation which fundamentally changed
the formula for reimbursing nursing homes. Reimbursement rates now are based
on the medical needs of the resident, instead of their geographic location
in the state. Rutherford said the new system has resulted in better health
care and services for Illinois’ elderly community.
He also has promoted legislation to enhance the use of ethanol and soy
products. An avid conservationist, he uses recycling programs in his home
and offices and has personally planted over 13,000 trees and shrubs on his
own property to promote reforestation, in addition to utilizing stream bank
stabilization practices.
Rutherford has been named Legislator of the Year multiple times, along with being
selected as an “outstanding legislator” by numerous economic, agricultural
and conservation groups. A sampling of some honors he has received includes:
-- Illinois Chamber of Commerce “Champion of Free Enterprise"
-- Livingston County Corn Growers Distinguished Service Award
--
Legislator of the Year, Illinois Association of County Officials
-- Legislator of the Year, Illinois Bankers Association
-- Friend of Agriculture Award, Illinois Farm Bureau
-- Inducted
into Legislator Hall of Fame by Illinois Health Care Association
-- Legislator of the Year, Illinois Health Care Association
-- Recognized for outstanding service to Illinois veterans, Illinois
Association of County Veterans Assistance Commission
--
Recognized by the Illinois Department of Corrections for support of
Corrections and Correctional Officers
Rutherford began his career as a legislative assistant in Springfield after
graduating from Illinois State University, where he served as Student Body
president.
At the age of 24, he coordinated a congressional district for then-Gov.
Ronald Reagan’s campaign. Rutherford reminisces today about driving to
O’Hare airport in Chicago to pick up Nancy Reagan, with one security guard
from the California State Police, and driving her to events in northern
Illinois, before meeting Ronald Reagan and presenting him with briefing
papers when President Reagan came to Illinois.
Following
the election, Rutherford was offered a position on the Presidential
Transition Team. However, within a day of the offer, he received a call from
Gov. Jim Thompson offering him a position on his staff in Illinois. Although
it was a tough decision to make, Rutherford opted to stay in Illinois, later
stating he knew it was the right decision because it provided him with the
opportunity to join the ServiceMaster Company and serve in the General
Assembly.
Rutherford graduated from ISU with a bachelor's degree in business
administration. While on a business trip to Japan in 1984, he became
familiar with the ServiceMaster Co. A year later, he began working for
ServiceMaster, which is headquartered in Downers Grove, DuPage County. He
eventually became responsible for expanding the company’s businesses
internationally, licensing services in Chile, Brazil, Honduras, Japan, Hong
Kong, Malaysia, Guam, Venzuela, South Africa, Spain, Czechoslovakia,
Indonesia, Panama, Italy, Mexico and the Philippines. Today he is a vice
president with the Fortune 500 Company.
He enjoys camping, fishing and adventure. In high school he was a foreign
exchange student to Barbados. After graduating college, he backpacked across
Europe, and in his mid-20s he took a few months to lead safaris in Kenya. He
learned to sail boats and crewed for numerous Chicago-to-Mackinaw Island
races, competed in regattas off of Melbourne and cruised the southern coast
of Australia.
Before his
30th birthday, he joined a small group of 12 adventurers and together they
took three months to cross Africa in their diesel Bedford truck. The trip
involved camping, bathing in creeks, cooking open fire meals, using sand
mats to cross the Sahara, and making sure not to drink from wells that were
poisoned because of the war with Libya. He began in Algeria and went south
through Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Zaire and Burundi.
Having been on all the continents of the world but one, he was determined to
get to Antarctica before his 40th birthday. With luck and a few connections,
he found himself in the Falkland Islands meeting a Russian icebreaker with a
group of naturalists who were exploring the continent. The former commander
of Operation Deep Freeze was a member of the group, in addition to many
other experienced scientists. Whales were a common sight, often accompanying
the ship as it made its way through the icy waters. The breaker crushed the
ice when needed. Rutherford has particularly fond memories of Christmas that
year, which he spent floating on a tabular iceberg in the Antarctic Sound.
Always looking for excitement, he skydived in college and learned to fly at
a relatively young age, before he decided to master scuba diving. He is an
advanced certified diver, logging 200 dives. His most recent trip was to
Curacao, and earlier to Saba Island. He has also taken diving trips to the
Turks & Caicos, Bali, Mozambique, Cape Town and Apo Island, Phillippines.
On the Web:
www.DanRutherford.org
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