TROY – Donald Moore, a retired U. S. Marine and current Madison County Board member, today announced his campaign for State Representative in the 108th district to strengthen conservative leadership and conservative convictions in Springfield.
Moore is running to provide voters with a principled and fiscally conservative alternative to incumbent Representative Charlie Meier. Moore said Meier, a registered Republican, joined the ranks of Speaker Mike Madigan and Chicago Democrats to pass a 32 percent income tax hike built into a budget that does not recognize that Illinois continues to spend more money than you already send them in taxes.
“I’m running for office to bring our conservative values and principles to state government,” said Don Moore. “Our families deserve to be represented by a leader who will stand up and not waiver when it comes to seeking a fiscally conservative approach to solving Illinois’ debt problem.”
Charlie Meier voted in opposition to Governor Rauner and with Speaker Madigan to pass a 32 percent tax hike that will cost the families of Madison County an additional $70 million in higher taxes. It will cost the families of Clinton County $9.6 million, St. Clair County $56.5 million, and Washington County $3.8 million in more taxes.
Meier’s vote of “Yes” for a budget that shows no signs of changing course, was in essence telling all residents of Illinois that they can afford to pay more in taxes each year: Carlyle families will pay $591 more on average, Highland $699, Lebanon $592, Okawville $627, and Troy $708.
“Our politicians failed to balance the state budget, so they are demanding more money from us. I don’t believe our families, friends and neighbors should be forced to cut their personal budgets to make up for the lack of political backbone to address and recognize Illinois’ runaway debt. A debt problem that we will be passing on to our children if they should decide to continue to live in Illinois,” said Moore.
“The only budget solution that Speaker Madigan and now Rep. Meier have brought to the table is to force you to pay higher taxes each year. What will our political representatives propose next? A retirement tax? Higher property taxes? A working class tax to subsidize others’ inability to pay higher taxes? We can no longer trust Rep. Meier when he has shown he’s willing to abandon us and stand with Democrats like Mike Madigan to increase our taxes. Mr. Meier campaigned against higher taxes. He told us ‘no new taxes and less government’, he told us that he had the ‘courage and willingness to be a leader…to get Illinois back on track’. Instead he received tens of thousands of dollars from public sector unions and voted to force us to pay higher taxes,” said Moore. “We need a fiscally conservative reform leader we can trust to go to Springfield and fight for our values, for our families, and for the State of Illinois.
“For 30 years, I served our country as a U. S. Marine, both enlisted and commissioned, and in the Department of Defense. I applied and utilized Marine Corps values that are necessary for survival on and off the battlefield, some of which are Honor, Courage, and Commitment. Here is one of my takeaways from my career as a Marine and a Budget Analyst, ‘As good stewards of our customers’ and ultimately the taxpayers’ dollars, we must be more precise about forecasts, cost comparisons and cost reductions.’ When I look at Springfield, it is difficult to find these values being exercised, and I certainly don’t see my understanding of courage or integrity to stand by a promise to us, a promise made by Representative Meier to ‘lower taxes, exercise courage, and get Illinois back on track.’ Honor, Courage, and Commitment are the values by which I’ve lived my life by and the values I’ll take on your behalf to Springfield.”
Moore was born and raised in Caseyville, Il (St. Clair County). He attended Collinsville High School and worked on a local farm for three years before joining the U. S. Marine Corps in 1975 at the age of 17.
After four years of enlisted service working with the collection of highly sensitive intelligence information he returned home to Caseyville and attended Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. He received a B.S. in Geography/Minor in Business with the intention of being commissioned in the Marine Corps.
Upon being accepted and completing Officer Candidates School (OCS) he was commissioned a 2nd Lt. and trained as a Logistics Officer. During his Marine Corps career he was ordered to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, CA where he completed the Graduate level Financial Management program.
From there he was sent to Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC) assigned to the Programs and Resources Division managing the multi-billion dollar Operations and Maintenance Budget. Upon completion of this assignment he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and assigned to the Marine Corps Recruiting Command at HQMC as the Asst. Chief of Staff for Logistics (ACS/L).
After this final tour of duty and 20 years of service he retired from the Marine Corps with his second Meritorious Service Medal in the year 2000. He then interviewed with and was hired by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) near Washington D.C. as a budget analyst. He progressed from DLA’s Information Technology (IT) Division and was promoted to work with the entire DLA budget of hundreds of billions of dollars. These dollars supported warfighters with everything they needed to win on the battlefield from weapon systems to uniforms. After more than three decades as a logistician and a budget expert, Mr. Moore returned to the mid-west in 2011 with his wife and two daughters to live in Troy, IL.
In 2016 he ran for a seat and was elected to the Madison County Board. Since then he has been working with all County Board Members in support of fiscally conservative principles to keep government from unstainable growth and lowering taxes for residents of Troy and Madison County.
