Background
Simon is the daughter of former United States. Senator Paul Simon, who had previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Illinois (1969-1973), and his first wife, former Illinois State Representative Jeanne Hurley Simon.
Simon is the daughter of former United States. Senator Paul Simon, who had previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Illinois (1969-1973), and his first wife, former Illinois State Representative Jeanne Hurley Simon.
Georgetown University Law Center.
In 2014, she was the Democratic nominee for Illinois State Comptroller, losing to Republican incumbent Judy Baar Topinka. She was previously a professor of law at the Southern Illinois University School of Law. On September 7, 2015, Simon announced her candidacy for the Illinois Senate seat being vacated by the retiring David Luechtefeld.
Sheila Simon received a Bachelor of Arts in 1983 from Wittenberg University and a Juris Doctor in 1987 from Georgetown University Law Center.
Following law school, she worked as a staff attorney at a legal aid clinic, the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation from 1987 to 1992, providing legal services to indigent clients. Along with several other attorneys and with the support of school faculty, Simon helped to inaugurate Southern Illinois University"s law school domestic violence clinic in 1998.
She worked as a clinical assistant professor at Southern Illinois University School of Law from 2000 to 2005 and was promoted to clinical associate professor in 2005. She taught both lawyering skills and family law in addition to her clinical teaching.
Simon was on the Carbondale city council from 2003 to 2007 and unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Carbondale in 2007.
Subsequently, Governor Quinn selected her to serve on the Illinois Reform Commission, which helped to establish the first political contribution limits in Illinois law. The Reform Commission consisted of 15 members from a wide variety of backgrounds, from attorneys, business owners, academics and even a football coach. The Commission issued a 100-day report after holding hearings across the state and examining ethics regulations in states across the country.
Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
On March 27, 2010, Illinois Democratic leaders, in the form of the 38-member Democratic State Central Committee, selected Simon to be Illinois Governor Pat Quinn"s running mate in the November 2010 general election, despite her not appearing as a candidate in the original primary election, as the candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois.
Among potential candidates, Simon beat out Illinois State Republican Art Turner, who had come in second in the primary to Cohen.
Simon was sworn in on January 10, 2011. Knop is a Political Science professor and the Social Science department chair at John A. Logan College, the Carterville community college that serves the Carbondale area.
In 2010, they had two daughters in college, and hosted a female exchange student from Peru.
Simon has been in the band Loose Gravel for over ten years. She plays banjo and bassoon.
According to the Quinn/Simon campaign, the pairing of Government. Quinn and Sheila Simon was appropriate, as the two worked together successfully in achieving the passage of campaign finance law, and have many shared goals and political viewpoints.