Applaud governor for his frugality

The Feb. 21 front-page article titled "Quinn's Super 8 problem," written by Tim Magaw and Joseph Ryan, is a cheap shot of the first order. They write, "Gov. Quinn repeatedly touts his membership in Super 8's VIP Club as testimony to his frugality." They go on to write that "the problem is that these Super 8 VIP cards were discontinued more than five years ago."

So what? They completely missed the point, which is Gov. Quinn saves the taxpayers money by staying at lower-cost hotels rather than splurging on the pricey Hyatts and Marriotts. It doesn't matter if his VIP card was discontinued. Instead, the Super 8 card proves he is frugal with our money. As a frequent business traveler I have numerous travel loyalty cards, some of which may now be discontinued.

Gov. Quinn should be applauded for his frugality and not suffer petty criticism for outdated loyalty cards. Magaw and Ryan should be ashamed of themselves for baseless criticism when there are far more important issues the voters should be focusing on.

As a longtime loyal Daily Herald reader, I am also critical of the editors who take a pithy story like this and use it as their lead article for the Sunday paper. All in all I expect (and hope to see) better from the Daily Herald in the future. And tell Magaw and Ryan that the voters are not interested in any more of their trivial articles.

Larry Schmidt

Palatine