Dear Mr. Robert McNeily, president, UIUC College Republicans,

In the past few days, members of the College Democrats executive board and I have sat with you on several panels discussing voting rights and the upcoming election. During these times you have continuously turned the conversation to attack Senator Obama by reading from Jerome Corsi’s book designed to swiftboat Senator Obama. In addition to this you have misled both the campus and my leadership by claiming to have had conversations on topics that we have never discussed. These false statements are unacceptable to me, and I believe they are unacceptable to this campus. Although we may disagree on many political principles, I believe that we owe it to our campus to be honest and to educate them on the positions of our parties and our candidates for office without resorting to unethical actions.

With a troubled economy, 47 million Americans without health insurance, a war without end, and an underfunded education system, using swiftboat attacks is exactly what we do not need. Students here at the University of Illinois and Americans across the county want a new kind of politics, a politics where their interests are the interests of our leaders, a politics where there is just as much emphasis on the needs of Main Street as there are on those of Wall Street. In the month between now and the election, I hope you will join the College Democrats in trying to focus the election discussion on campus to the issues that matter to Americans.

Eric Preston

President

College Democrats