A07, Proviso First Party probably in violation of law [D209]

Thursday I visited the Illinois State Board of Elections and learned a couple facts about the Proviso First Party. The committee has only filed a statement of organization. Robin Foreman is the chair of the party and Bob Cox is the treasurer.

The statement of organization was filed April 3. Since it was filed less than thirty days before the election the party wasn't required to file a pre-election report.

However, the requirement to declare all contributions over $500--monetary or in-kind--still applies. These contributions are required to be reported within 48 hours.

The committee has sent at least five mailings. I have received at least three. Mailing to the entire district costs about $8,000. Obviously the committee has bought a large number of signs too. I seems likely the Proviso First Party has spent $25-50,000.

The party could be in compliance with all election laws if it raised all this money in contributions of less than $500.

I stopped by the Citizens for Better Schools campaign office yesterday. One of the projects on which they were working was submitting a formal complaint to the state board of elections.

A07, Yarbrough/Flowers school board candidates have website [D88, D89, D209]

Citizens for Better Schools has a website. Citizens for Better Schools is the umbrella organization supporting the Yarbrough/Flowers candidates in District 88 (Bellwood & Stone Park elementary schools), District 89 (Maywood & Melrose Park elementary schools) and District 209 (Proviso Township High Schools).


Rep. Karen Yarbrough is also the Proviso Township Democratic Committeeman. Charles Flowers, EdD, is a member of the District 209 board of education and was elected as the Cook County Regional Superintendent of Education in November. He takes office in July.

The alliance between Yarbrough and Flowers grew from their opposition to Emanuel "Chris" Welch, the current president of the District 209 board of education.

Flowers leads the minority block on the District 209 board. If his candidates sweep the election (three seats) he will be able to form a majority and replace Welch as president of the school board.

Welch ran against Yarbrough in the Democratic Primary for state representative in March, 2006. The coalition that coalesced to support Yarbrough included many people who had grievances against Welch. Welch had been the school district attorney at District 88. So, various people who opposed his actions at District 88 and 209 joined Yarbrough's organization.