Greetings,
I am the Democratic Candidate for At Large Circuit Judge for the Second Judicial Circuit. The General Election for this office, the Wexstten vacancy, will take place on November 4, 2008. I respectfully request your support and vote.
The Second Judicial Circuit is comprised of 12 counties which include Jefferson, Franklin, Wayne, Hamilton, Edwards, Richland, Crawford, Lawrence, Wabash, White, Gallatin and Hardin Counties. This position is elected by the citizens of all of these counties. Our Resident Judge, Terry Gamber, is initially elected by our Jefferson County citizens, and then runs for retention every 6 years in the whole Circuit.
As for background, I have lived in Mt. Vernon since I moved here to student teach at 21 years of age. In other words I have spent almost all of my adult life in our community. I met my wife Linda while teaching, and we were married in 1975. We are just celebrated our 33rd anniversary on August 2nd. Linda’s mother and father Leigh and Dr. Raymond A. Alexander have passed. My mother Mida, is 85 years old this year, and still very interested in all of the activities of her children, and grandchildren. My wife and I have two children, Ryan who is attending SIU, and Leslie, who works in hearing aid sales.
I practice law from my current office at 1112 Broadway. I have one associate, Jenna Johnson Buesking, an attorney paralegal Brian Merrell, who is awaiting bar exam results, and two support staff Yvetta Hayes and Jennifer Potts, who work with me. I share office space in the building with T. J. Parrish and his staff. I am in my 25th year of practice, after having taught grade school for five years prior to attending SIU Law School.
Prior to moving to my present location, I was located in the U. S. Bank Building for 27 years. In fact, our offices were remodeled from the former "Top of the First" restaurant. During my 25 years I have had the privilege of working in the same office with many fine attorneys, including Don Musick, Ben Mitchell, Tim Neubauer, Robert E. Shaw, Jack Flood, Keith Smith, Curtis Martin, David Overstreet, David Purcell and Hank Villani.
Many times, because of the similarity of our names, people have confused my name with that of our long time Public Defender James Henson. Jim and his wife Marcia have been long time friends from our early days in the Kiwanis Club. Jim has announced his intention of retiring at the end of the year. I wish him well.
Many of you will know that my wife Linda, is a school administrator with the Mt. Vernon City Grade Schools. She has worked for the district for 33 years, having served as teacher for 19 years, and later as principals of J. L. Buford Grade School and the Mt. Vernon Primary Center.
In closing, I ask that you consider my 25 years of trial and appellate experience in making your decision for your next Circuit Judge. I respectfully request your vote and support on November 4th. I look forward to sharing with you more information about my candidacy, and in doing so, also share with you my passion for all things historical and old, most particularly postcards and pictures. Thank you and God Bless.
L. James "Jim" Hanson