Who is Billy Szych?

He's running for Congress as an indepedent, taking on incumbent U.S. Rep. John Olver in the 1st District.

We note Szych's campaign only because we saw the red-and-gold lawn signs up this morning near the Twin Cities Mall. Go get 'em, Billy.

We spent a few minutes at Szych's website, and if you want to learn more about him it will tell you a bunch of things. Here's the quick rundown: Lives in Hatfield (where he was the town administrator). UMass grad, Air Force veteran who served from 1975 to 1995. After Sept. 11, he rejoined the Air Force, and did a tour in Iraq. With the Air Force, he worked with command and control features like AWACS.

We were particularly intrigued by his contribution section. It includes the standard independent talk about politics being full of big-money interests and so on and so forth, and seeks individual contributions.

According to the FEC, Szych has raised $14,365 for his campaign as of June 30. Of that, $6,726 has come out of his own pocket. The reports do not include individual donations, so we're not sure who's giving him cash.

Szych notes he needs a lot of money to compete in the campaign. Compared to Republican challenger Steven Adams, Szych is in good shape. Adams had but $793 on June 30. Olver, of course, is comfortable with $372,109 in the bank.