Froehlich betrayed his party, his friends

Paul Froehlich used to be the kind of elected official that I looked up to. From my perspective, I wanted to be like Paul Froehlich.

When I wanted to become more actively involved in politics, I turned to state Rep. Paul Froehlich to help get my foot in the door. 2006 was not a good year for Republicans in Illinois and across the nation. We suffered heavy losses such as Terry Parke's loss to Fred Crespo.

At a time when Republicans of Schaumburg Township needed leadership, at a time when we needed somebody to stand up and keep moving forward, Paul Froehlich decided he was in a better position to win re-election by switching to the Democratic Party.

I felt betrayed. Mr. Froehlich turned his back on his most loyal supporters and switched to the Democrats solely for the purpose of guaranteeing his own re-election. That's not leadership. That's taking the easy way out.

The people of the 56th district deserve a representative that will not only represent them and fight for them in Springfield, but a representative who will stay true to their principles no matter what the politics of the day may be.

Springfield is broken. We need elected officials to fight for a new direction in Springfield. The Madigan, Jones, and Blagojevich style of leadership is not acceptable to the people of Illinois any more. We deserve better than that. We deserve better than a representative more concerned about winning an election than about staying true to the principles that put him where he is today.

Ryan Melchin

Hoffman Estates