details of Welch suit against Odelson and Sterk

Proviso Insider (Chris Welch*) has posted the details of Welch's suit against Burt Odelson and Mark Sterk.

* I'm going to assume that Proviso Insider is Emanuel "Chris" Welch on matters pertaining directly to Welch. Emily Robinson and perhaps others post as Proviso Insider, but I think they are mostly working on behalf of Welch.

the big news?

[UPDATE: Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore was neither arrested nor indicted today. He was served with a subpoena for information connected with his insurance brokerage business.

[There are two main areas it would make sense for investigators are scrutinizing: Proviso Township High Schools (see Forest Park Review (Josh Adams)) and the Maywood Police Pension fund. Last I check EMM, Moore's front company, is not properly registered as a business in Illinois, but this seems too small an issue for a subpoena.]

I have been told be two sources who have talked with members of the State's Attorney's office that Eugene Moore will be arrested or indicted today for misconduct connected to Proviso Township High Schools (District 209).

I've also been told (yesterday) be a source that, “If it was going to happen tomorrow I think I would have heard about it.”

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Burt Odelson of Odelson & Sterk is closely linked to County Board President Todd Stroger. District 209 fired Odelson & Sterk in May, 2007. Subsequently the president of the D209 board of education, Emanuel Chris Welch, was let go by his former law firm, James J. Roche & Associates. Roche & Associates and Odelson & Sterk feed each other business.

It may be that personal issues caused the friction between Welch and Odelson. But it's also easy to paint a scenario where the grand jury testimony made it clear that the noose was tighening for some people connected to District 209.

Maybe Welch asked Odelson to make some phone calls to the State's Attorney to take the pressue off. Odelson could have told Welch, I can't help you.

Maybe Odelson saw the D209 house of cards was about to come crashing down. And Odelson encouraged Welch to fire his firm to minimize the damage and involvement of Odelson & Sterk.

Also, last night District 209 cut its relationship with Anthony Scariano's law firm. Scariano may be politically connected, but his firm is actually respected within the field of school law. Most of the law firms that get used in Proviso politics have minimal expertise beyond cashing checks and making political contributions.

One theory holds that both Melrose Park village president Ron Serpico and perhaps others are trying to bank favors with Giglio & Del Galdo in preparation for criminal litigation.

Cutting the relationship with Scariano's firm would be consistent with giving Giglio & Del Galdo more hours.

GOV, zoning application for Westchester strip club [BV, W]

On Wednesday evening the Village of Broadview will hold hearings into a proposal to open a 24/7 adult entertainment venue (aka strip club) south of the Eisenhower and east of Gardener Road. h/t to Westchester Trustee Rick Fox and Westchester Progressive Party for helping to publicize this story.

Under the earlier entry on this story I drew attention to the fact that the owner, Chicago Joe's Tea Room LLC, is represented by James J. Roche & Associates. Roche is the boss of Emanuel "Chris" Welch, the president of the school board of Proviso Township High Schools.

Someone claiming to be James J. Roche denied that his firm represented strip clubs. Technically, I suppose he has a point. The corporation hasn't become an adult entertainment venue yet, it's just an Illinois corporation.

However, the application to the Village of Broadview seems to show James J. Roche as the attorney. The only contact information provided on the application for the owner is Roche's contact information. And Roche is listed as the agent on the Secretary of State's website for the corporation.

A Proviso Probe source informed me that Burt Odelson is the attorney for the Village of Broadview. Odelson is a partner at Odelson & Sterk. Odelson & Sterk and James J. Roche & Associates find ways to enrich each other. So this looks like a situation where the attorneys are smoothing things out behind the scenes. Everybody can make money.

It seems likely that Broadview Village President Henry Vicenik is nervous about losing control of the board in this election. The Broadview TEA Party is running an opposition slate. While granting permission for a strip club will probably lose Vicenik's candidates some votes it will probably score them some major campaign contributions.

Below are the forms filed with the Village of Broadview so you can evaluate Roche's denials.




BTW, Roche denied that he will be at Wednesday's hearings. But his firm has other lawyers: Welch, Leeann Marie Crow, and Kelly Kathleen Kachmarik. Technically, Roche's law firm could represent the corporation without Roche being present.

A07, cheating alleged in two ballot lottery drawings [D89, D209]

Candidates who file nominating petitions at the beginning of the filing period enter into a lottery for top ballot position. Yesterday Mark Sterk and Burt Odelson did the drawings for ballot position for Distrit 89 (Maywood and Melrose Park elementary schools) and District 209 (Proviso Township High Schools). Odelson & Sterk are the partners at the politically connected law firm, Odelson & Sterk. They are campaign contributors and political allies of Emanuel "Chris" Welch, the president of the District 209 board of education.

Proviso Insider--whom many assume to be Chris Welch--reported the results of the lotteries: District 89 and District 209.

Amazingly Welch's allies ran the table on getting top ballot position. The odds of doing that in District 89 is 1 in 140. The odds of doing it in District 209 is 1 in 56. The odds of doing it in both districts is 1 in 7840.

According to two observers Sterk failed to say what it meant when he drew the first number. The assumption, based on state law, is that the first number corresponds to the person in that position when the names are ordered alphabetically. And that person gets #1 ballot position. Sterk had some other interpretation which was not explained to the audience in advance.

At District 209 a fairly simple cheat was attempted and detected by Theresa Kelly, a board member running for re-election. The numbers were placed 6" X 9" envelopes. Kelly detected that three of the envelopes the hasp was used to close the envelope and the other five the flap wasn't even folded over. Kelly succeeded in getting all the envelopes shut with the hasp. Odelson's subordinate, Felicia, did the drawing.