As further bad news for the Illinois Republican Party, State Representative Paul Froehlich is becoming a Democrat.

Froehlich is also the elected Schaumburg Township Committeeman for the Republican Party.

During the 2004 primary election Republican Jack Ryan—the man who won the primary election before stepping down in Chicago Tribune-induced sort-of sex scandal—had his headquarters in Froehlich’s Schaumburg Township office.

Froehlich defeated long-time Schaumburg Township Republican Committeeman Don Totten in the 1998 primary election. Totten was elected state representative when I was in 1972, becoming a state senator prior to running unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor against George Ryan and Susan Catania, both of whom were also elected to the Illinois House in 1972. (That was also the year I unsuccessfully ran for state comptroller.)

The Daily Herald posted a story by Eric Krol on its web site yesterday that contains the details.

Kroh lays out the changing political landscape:

Froehlich watched Schaumburg Township vote for Democrat Melissa Bean over Republican David McSweeney last fall. (Bean scored 58.4 percent and McSweeney 37.6 percent.) President Bush also lost Schaumburg Township to Democrat John Kerry in 2004 by about four percentage points.

Froehlick supported McSweeney over Kathy Salvi in the GOP primary election.

Last year Hoffman Estates’ Republican State Representative Terry Parke was defeated for re-election by a Democrat who switched parties before running.