A former Michigan state representative has announced his candidacy for the Seventh District of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Tim Walberg, who spent 16 years as a Republican in the Michigan House from 1983-1999, is running for Congress from the platform of a "truly conservative Republican."

Walberg, 52, and his wife, Susan, have been married for 29 years. They have three adult children, Matthew, Heidi and Caleb.

As a member of the Michigan House, Walberg served on several committees, including appropriations, agriculture, corporations and finance, economic development and energy, and education. He served as the chairperson of the Appropriations Committee.

Prior to his tenure in the legislature, Walberg was a pastor for some 10 years.

From September 2000 to the present, he has been the manager of the Moody Bible Institute’s Strategic Partners Division in Chicago.

Walberg, who lives in Tipton, recently outlined his campaign platform.

"Government should be our servant, not our master," he said. "Our individual freedoms embodied in the Constitution should be preserved, and traditional values encouraged. Overburdened taxpayers and over regulated segments of our economy should be granted relief so that jobs will be created and traditional families will prosper."

In announcing his candidacy Sept. 8, Walberg provided a general idea of how his campaign would be run.

"If we stay the course, follow the economic and political systems that established and sustained this country as the greatest nation on this earth, and encourage the vitality of the greatest resource of this land, its people, we will come through stronger than ever," he said. "That is true conservative Republicanism."

Walberg promised to battle against any effort to raise taxes.

"I have opposed and will continue to oppose any plan to raise taxes. More growth, more jobs, low interest rates and less government spending is the only true path to balancing the federal budget," he said.

Walberg cited social security reform as one of his top priorities and said "national health care crisis" needs to be addressed. He also laid out his opposition to abortion.

"America needs a rebirth of respect and compassion for the value, dignity and sanctity of each and every human life," he said. "… We need leadership and laws that honor and encourage adoption."

Walberg graduated from Taylor University in Fort Wayne, Ind., with a degree in religious education in 1975. He earned a master’s degree with honors in communications from Wheaton College in Illinois in 1978.

He is a member of the National Rifle Association, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Christian Cradle Adoption Agency Board, Lenawee Habitat for Humanity, Lenawee Youth Center, Tecumseh Kiwanis Club, American Motorcyclist Association, Christian Family Foundation Board, and the Lenawee Chamber of Commerce, among other organizations.