Keith Farnham: Elgin’s new state representative

Legislators will be sworn in today for 96th Session of the Illinois General Assembly. Ruth Munson is out and Keith Farnham is in. Mr. Farnham is a native of Bangor, Maine, and his hometown paper did a recent story:

Though Farnham has been a businessman in Illinois for three decades and is now a state politician, he said he never strays too far from his Maine roots. He was born in Shirley, grew up in Bangor and graduated from Bangor High School in 1967, around the same time as some other Maine politicians, including former Gov. John McKernan and former state Sen. W. Tom Sawyer.

“The town I come from, Elgin [Ill.], is so similar to Bangor,” Farnham said in a recent phone interview. “It’s a river town; there are distinct east and west sides; it has an old industrial base; and a downtown went away and wants to come back.”

Farnham admitted he got into politics almost by accident.

For 25 years, he was a commercial painting contractor in Greater Chicago. The more involved he became in painting association lobbying, the more his reputation grew. When the Illinois Democratic Party was looking for candidates to challenge Ruth Munson, a Republican incumbent, for the House District 43 seat in 2008, Farnham’s name came up.

“There was a lot of attention paid to my race,” he said. “We knew it would be an uphill battle to unseat Ruth Munson. Nobody thought I would win.”

Munson had name recognition as a two-term Republican in a heavily Republican area, Farnham said. “Once I committed to running, they put some staff around me, and my job basically was to walk the neighborhoods for eight months.”

When the votes were counted on Election Day, the Maine native’s margin of victory was just 322 votes.

Farnham described his political leanings as socially progressive but fiscally conservative.

The following is the statement left by Ruth Munson on her website after the election:

It has been an honor to represent you in the Illinois General Assembly for the last six years. It has been a remarkable experience and one that I will always cherish. I served at your will and did my best to be your voice in Springfield.

I am very proud of our accomplishments and even prouder still of the types of campaigns we have chosen to run over the years. While it was not successful in this historic year, our campaign was most certainly earnest and honest!

I am grateful to the hundreds of people who believed in me and worked hard to make it possible for me to have the opportunity to serve in the statehouse. However, this year the voters have chosen a different direction and I will respect their decision by working with your new state representative to make a smooth transition.

One never knows what the future will bring. For now I continue to serve as your State Representative until the end of the year. After that, I look forward to spending time with my family.

Thank you for having afforded me the awesome opportunity to be your representative. It has been an incredible privilege.

Thank you to Ms. Munson for her service. Can there be a Munson v. Bean match-up in the future?

As for Mike Noland’s plans for the new session, he told the Courier he will continue fighting for his tax hike.

Possibly related posts:

• Keith Farnham at the LWV Forum
• Keith Farnham should reject tax hike
• Farnham defeats Munson
• Former state Rep. Ruth Munson takes ownership in BocaJump
• State gives $8M it doesn’t have for Elgin project