Pritchard, Johnson among Manzullo endorsements

Congressman Don Manzullo's campaign issued the following news release Monday. Manzullo is facing Congressman Adam Kinzinger in the 16th Congressional District Republican primary.

ROCKFORD – The mayor of Rockford, the largest city in Illinois' new 16th Congressional District, came forward Monday with many other top elected officials and business leaders in northern Illinois to announce their strong endorsement for U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo (R-IL) to continue serving the region in Congress.

Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey, an Independent, headlined an impressive list of elected officials and business owners who spoke at a news conference in Rockford Monday to explain why Manzullo's re-election is vital to the future of their communities. Those endorsing Manzullo included:

* State Senator Tim Bivins (R-Dixon)
* State Senator Dave Syverson (R-Rockford)
* State Senator Christine Johnson (R-Shabbona)
* Former State Senator Brad Burzynski
* State Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford)
* State Rep. Bob Pritchard (R-Hinckley)
* Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen
* Boone County Board Chairman Bob Walberg
* Ogle County Board Chairman Jim Barnes
* Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey
* Loves Park Mayor Darryl Lindberg
* Machesney Park Mayor Tom Strickland
* Rochelle Mayor Chet Olson
* Oregon Mayor Thomas Stone
* Genoa Mayor Todd Walker
* Mt. Morris Village President Greg Unger
* Rockton Mayor Dale Adams
* Roscoe Mayor Dave Krienke
* Franklin Grove Mayor Bob Logan
* Jason Anderson, Director of Economic Development, City of Rochelle
* Bob Trojan, President of Rockford Linear Acuation
* Jeffrey J. Kaney, Sr., CEO, Kaney Group, LLC

"Congressman Don Manzullo has been a strong advocate for our region and is constantly back in the communities he represents working closely with local officials, business owners and citizens," Morrissey said. "We need to continue the strong representation that Congressman Manzullo provides to us. I can assure everyone in the new areas of the district that Congressman Manzullo will work just as hard for north central Illinois as he has for northern Illinois while maintaining his strong, fiscal conservative principles."

In announcing their endorsements Monday, the local officials and business leaders hailed Manzullo's involvement in many job-creating initiatives in northern Illinois, including

* helping to convince Union Pacific Railroad to establish an Intermodal Hub in Rochelle, spawning 5,000 jobs at distribution and manufacturing facilities over the last several years;
* working in Congress to prevent huge tax hikes on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the United States, which would have discouraged job creation by foreign companies operating in northern Illinois (more than 6,000 jobs in northern Illinois are due to Foreign Direct Investment). Chrysler, owned by Italy's Fiat, just completed a $700 million investment at the Belvidere Assembly Plant that will create another 1,800 direct jobs at the Boone County plant and another 3,400 indirect jobs by this summer;
* transforming the Chicago-Rockford International Airport into a world class cargo and passenger air facility. Manzullo helped convince UPS to locate a hub at the airport in the 1990s and he convinced the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to open an International Terminal at the airport that has allowed overseas flights;
* creating the EIGERlab advanced manufacturing center and small business incubator in Rockford.
* working on issues in Congress to help aerospace manufacturers in northern Illinois and helping to convince Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to locate its third residential campus in Rockford.