Schaumburg Township Republicans get new chairman

Ryan Higgins was appointed Monday as the new chairman of the Schaumburg Township Republicans, filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Mike Adelizzi last month.

“Mike Adelizzi has done an outstanding job of growing the organization in the past three years (to) hundreds of members. My goal now is to take it to the next level,” Higgins said.

Higgins said his key goals are “growing the organization, recruiting outstanding Republican candidates, and assembling a winning coalition of Republicans, independents and deficit-conscious Democrats in the district for 2012.”

Higgins, who in November narrowly lost to Democrat Michelle Mussman in the 56th District state House race for Paul Froehlich’s old seat, is an attorney, former staffer for U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald, and six-year resident of Schaumburg Township.

“Ryan is a proven leader with the experience, energy and intelligence to effectively lead the Schaumburg Republican Organization to a new level of success,” Cook County Republican Party Chairman Lee Roupas said. “He is a strong addition to the Cook County Republican Party.”

Roupas also commended Adelizzi for rebuilding the Schaumburg Township Republicans and growing the organization’s membership. Adelizzi said in his resignation that he had accomplished about all he had set out to and as much as his full-time job allowed.

“Mike took over at a unique time (for) the organization with Paul Froehlich having defected to become a Democrat,” Roupas said. “I think he did an outstanding job to establish a foundation.”

Now, it’s Higgins’ job to get more Republican wins, he added.

“Our state and country right now are facing tremendous challenges,” Higgins said. ‘The budget issues are so pressing right now that it threatens the future of our state and country. Schaumburg Township is a very independent township. You can’t work with traditional coalitions of just Republicans or traditional Democrats.”