Froehlich re-elected as a Democrat

State Rep. Paul Froehlich was heading toward re-election Tuesday as a Democrat - a different political party than when he ran two years ago.

With incomplete results at press time Tuesday night, Froehlich was leading his Republican challenger Anita Forte-Scott.

With 82 of 87 precincts reporting, Froehlich had 22,280 votes, or nearly 58 percent of the total ballots.

"Voters supported the person. They didn't simply vote for party," Froehlich said of his victory. "I did knock on thousands of doors over the last six months. There's a lot of economic hardship going on in the Schaumburg area. I think people want someone to work hard on their behalf and that's what I'm prepared to do."

While Froehlich and Forte-Scott discussed their fair share of issues during the campaign, including the impact on Illinois of the nation's financial crisis, their rivalry also got personal.

Much of the ill will stemmed from Froehlich's 2007 defection from the Republican party and its local Schaumburg Township organization, which Forte-Scott did and still does belong to.

Froehlich accused Forte-Scott of being a tax deadbeat for the federal liens against the private school she owns and runs in Elgin. The Kane County recorder's office shows they're still in effect.

Forte-Scott said she believed the tax issues on her business had been cleared up but that she would consult with her accountant about why liens on her property are still recorded. She said the problems were caused in part by the freezing of her and her husband's personal assets because he'd been the victim of identity theft.

She in turn called on Froehlich to return $6,500 he was paid to chair a House Disparities in Educational Achievement Special Committee which has met only twice without conducting any real business. Froehlich's response was that not every committee is equally busy, but that he remains a very active legislator who donated his recent cost-of-living increase to charity.