Personal issues a factor in 56th District race

While many political contests don't take long to get personal, the race for the 56th District state House seat has been personal from the very start.

Schaumburg Township District Library Trustee Anita Forte-Scott is running as the Republican challenger of Democratic incumbent Paul Froehlich, who headed the local GOP until he switched parties last year.

Forte-Scott said she started thinking about running against Froehlich the day he made that move.

"I immediately wanted to be considered," said Forte-Scott, a 39-year-old Schaumburg resident.

For the first few years of Froehlich's tenure as state representative, Forte-Scott said she'd been a happy volunteer for the Schaumburg Township Alliance of Republicans, which he ran.

"I felt good about having him as a representative," she said. "He was accessible to people. And our organization was strong. It felt good to be part of an organization of people who were like me."

But she said her image of Froehlich started to sour after her 2005 election to the library board. She claims Froehlich attempted to use his influence with her to create patronage jobs on the library staff for his supporters, and pressured her to award the vendor contract for the library cafe to his political ally.

Forte-Scott said she not only refused, but began to see her entire past association with Froehlich in a different light.

"It was everything that every normal person hates about politicians," Forte-Scott said.

Froehlich vehemently denied what he called her "baseless accusation."

He said he merely questioned the library board's decision to extend the vendor contract a year before it expired, without competitive bidding - and a day before the election in which his wife, Marilyn, won a seat on the board in spring 2007.

As for him trying to get political supporters library jobs, Froehlich said: "Name just one person who's on the library staff or who I tried to get on the library staff. If her accusation had any validity, she'd be able to produce one name."

At the time, board members said they renewed the contract of the current vendor for 10 years because of the success he'd had in making the cafe viable after others had failed.

"If anything is questionable, it's renewing a contract a day before an election," Froehlich said. "I think competitive bidding serves the public interest. Ten-year contracts are not unheard of, but they're unusual. The record shows who was involved in that. If there's anything questionable in the public record, that's what's in the public record."

During much of the time after the election, Forte-Scott was board president. She and Marilyn Froehlich had frosty exchanges early on when Froehlich expressed opinions contrary to the board majority.

This fall, Paul Froehlich, 57, is facing his first contested general election, and his first as Democrat, as state representative. As Schaumburg Township Republican Committeeman, he and other party leaders appointed Froehlich to the office in 2003 to succeed Kay Wojcik, but has since won a Republican primary in 2006 and the Democratic primary last spring.

He said he's looking forward to another term, which be said could be very productive and positive because of his experience as a legislator and because Senate President Emil Jones' imminent retirement could alleviation of some political gridlock in Springfield.

Forte-Scott also is optimistic about the possibilities of the years ahead, but believes it can only come from fresh thinking and new approaches.

"I'm just looking for a positive new direction for our district and the state of Illinois," Forte-Scott said. "There are people out there who won't believe in any politician, but I'll still believe in them."