Yarbrough excludes media from D209 candidate forum

On Tuesday, February 24, 2009, Proviso Township Democratic Organization (PTDO), the political organization of Karen Yarbrough, who is both a state representative and the Democratic Committeeman for Proviso Township, invited me by email to attend the Saturday meeting at 10:00 AM on February 28, 2009.

The invitation listed four candidates for the board of education, Proviso Township High Schools (District 209): E. Chris Welch, Reatha Sue Henry, Dan Adams and Brian Cross. These four are all incumbents and all part of one slate. (See more of the invite below.)

Welch ran against Yarbrough for state representative in 2006. The defining ideology of Yarbrough's political organization seemed to be opposition to former Proviso Democratic Committeeman Eugene Moore and hatred of Welch, who has a knack for making enemies.

Friday, February 27, at 9:59 PM Yarbrough sent me a text, "no endorsements for schools and no media tomorrow." I responded within 10 minutes, "What's that mean for me?" Yarbrough did not respond.

On Saturday, February 28, I arrived about 10 minutes early for the 10 AM meeting. I entered behind Rory Hoskins, a Forest Park commissioner and president of PTDO, and helped myself to a doughnut.

When Yarbrough arrived she didn't greet me, but referred to her text from the night before.

I asked, "Are you asking me to leave?"

Yarbrough responded, "I told you not to come."

Along the way she mentioned Josh Adams, editor of the Forest Park Review also requested to attend the meeting. Yarbrough allying with Welch shakes up the political factions in local politics.

Text of PTDO invitation sent to me:

PROVISO TOWNSHIP DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION
REMINDER
from President Rory Hoskins

Proviso Township Democratic Organization's Saturday Meeting
DATE: Saturday, February 28th, 2009

TIME: 10:00 AM

LOCATION: 2301 W. Roosevelt Road

Broadview, IL 60155

Phone: 708-344-7062

Agenda Items:

* Meet District 209 Incumbent Candidates

E. Chris Welch

Reatha Sue Henry

Dan Adams

Brian Cross


PTDO Mission Statement
The Proviso Township Democratic Org., in coordination with the state and national Democratic Party, is committed to the principles of honest, open and progressive government and to increasing voter participation in the electoral process. PTDO is open to all persons, regardless of their race, age, gender, creed, religion, sexual orientation or economic status. [emphasis added]

Message from Karen:

It's been a busy time for all of us however we must do our due diligence in making selections for endorsement. The next few meetings will be spent hearing from candidates who's name will appear on the April 7th election. In the case of local elections, those who are members of the organization will be able to present their candidacy to the group.

Please note that all of these elections are
NON-PARTISAN. (meaning neither Democrat or Republican)


See you there!


PS: Only paid up dues members will be eligible to vote.


Karen A. Yarbrough
Commiteeman

Karen Yarbrough wants you to meet the candidates

Proviso Township Democratic Organization, the political organization of Democratic Committeeman Karen Yarbrough, has invited members to meet four candidates for the Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education.

When? 10:00 AM, Saturday, February 28, 2009
Where? 2301 W. Roosevelt Road, Broadview, IL

The candidates:

Emanuel "Chris" Welch
Reatha "Sue" Henry
Dan Adams
Brian Cross

To participate in the meeting, call Readith Ester, 708-344-7062.

It's time for Welch and co. to own their failure

Between 1:30 and 1:40 into this video there's a quote from Senator President-elect Barack Obama, "George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for. It's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America."

After eight years of George W. Bush being President of the United States, the voters got sick of lies and failures and voted for change.

Emanuel "Chris" Welch has been on the District 209 board of education for eight years, most of the time as president of the board. Will the voters of Proviso decide after eight years it's time for change?

Chris Welch and his allies have a lot to answer for. It's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change Proviso.

There's a website inspired by Obama's words, Own Your Failure. What failures should Welch own?

BTW, the Forest Park Review has an editorial criticizing District 209.

Was the DelGaldo Group beneficiaries of statements about Sterk on Proviso Insider?

Forest Park Review (Josh Adams):

In an expanding war of words being waged online and in court, District 209 school board President Chris Welch won a temporary restraining order against a Forest Park man, forcing him to remove allegedly slanderous material from an Internet site.

The judge's July 16 ruling was handed down just two days after Welch filed a lawsuit against Carl Nyberg, claiming that he is the victim of libelous statements posted on Nyberg's blog. Welch, who is being sued by the school district's former attorneys for slander, filed the paperwork with the Cook County Circuit Court.

If you haven't seen the Forest Park Review coverage of Welch's lawsuit against me, follow the link.

I thought it was odd that Michael DeBartolo, the District 209 lawyer from the DelGaldo Group, makes the claim that District 209 is paying for part of Welch's defense in the Odelson & Sterk v. Proviso Insider case and implies that the district isn't paying for the counter suit. This claim seems non-sensical to me. Also, note DeBartolo picks his words carefully.

As a point of clarification, DeBartolo said the $22,400 paid by the district does not cover any of Welch's expenses for the counterclaim filed by the school board president in January. The money expressly pays for Welch's defense in the Odelson and Sterk case.

What I think DeBartolo is saying here is that Welch hasn't submitted his bills for the counterclaim lawsuit. Those are yet to come.

If the logic behind paying Welch's legal bills is that the case is intertwined with his duties as a school board member--a bullshit claim, but let's pretend for a little bit--then the one part of the suit that touches on Welch being a school board member is the countersuit, about Welch getting fired from Roche & Associates because he stopped giving taxpayer money to James Roche's buddies, Odelson & Sterk.

The part of the lawsuit DeBartolo says taxpayers should pay for revolves around Proviso Insider making statements about Mark Sterk and Melrose Park police officers. How is the responsibility of District 209 taxpayers that Welch and Emily Robinson wrote probably slanderous statements about Mark Sterk on a blog? Welch had his identity concealed. What part of the case involves District 209?

One conflict-of-interest that might not be immediately apparent is the role of the DelGaldo Group. The claim Proviso Insider (Welch and Robinson) made was that Sterk was coaching Melrose Park police officers to lie to the federal grand jury that subsequently indicted seven, including the chief of police and deputy chief.

Someone familiar with Village of Melrose Park politics speculated if any law firm was involved in coaching these cops it was the DelGaldo Group. The firm is very close with Melrose Park village president Ron Serpico. If the feds indicted Vito Scavo, the chief of police, he would be tempted to give them a bigger fish to reduce his sentence. (I'm a bit of a contrarian on the issue of who is the big fish in Melrose Park. Scavo was chief of police before Serpico was village president. I think Scavo has his scams going and ran the patronage in the police department and he agreed to bring in Serpico as his flunky. The counter argument is that Ralph "Babe" Serpico, Ronnie's dad, was a big fish when Scavo was just a kid.)

We don't know if any lawyers were involved in coaching those police officers to lie. But it seems a potential conflict of interest that a lawyer from the DelGaldo Group is deciding whether Welch was acting in the scope of his D209 duties while anonymously spreading gossip, if not lies, on his blog.

July board meeting D209

Last night the Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education held its monthly (regular) meeting at Proviso West High School.

The agenda proposed cutting a number of support staff positions. Only one person was terminated when the superintendent withdrew the proposal.

Two attorneys (Myron Mackoff and __ Travis) who are representing Emanual "Chris" Welch in two civil matters (Odelson & Sterk v. Proviso Insider and Welch v. Nyberg) attended the board meeting and made the case in executive session that Welch being sued for defamation (O&S v. PI) was sufficiently intertwined with his duties as a member of the board of education that District 209 should pay his legal bills. Board member Theresa Kelly registered a concern to me that this presentation was not on the agenda distributed in advance.

In open session Welch floated the idea that since he didn't bill the district for defending himself against past ARDC complaints that this somehow makes it alright to bill the district for his legal defense in the case of O&S v. PI.

Kelly questioned hiring a PR firm for $8,000 for one month as a temporary measure until a contract can be written.

The Proviso West cafeteria was quite hot, maybe 10-20 degrees hotter than the outside temperature. The board went into closed session (another location, presumably cooler) for close to three hours. One woman fainted while the board was in executive session and the paramedics were called.

Both Chuck Fieldman, of the Pioneer Press, and Josh Adams, of Forest Park Review, left before the board reconvened in open session. Before Fieldman left he suggested that the meetings be scheduled so that the July and August board meetings are at Proviso East and PMSA. At those locations the meetings are in rooms with air conditioning.

When I relayed this suggestion to Proviso West Principal Alexis Wallace she responded that she wanted to have people see how hot Proviso West is without air conditioning. Although, it seemed like most of the building was fine there's something that causes the heat to be higher in the cafeteria.

I raised the issue of paying deans hourly money on top of a salary with Wallace. She explained that since the deans were on 10-month contracts they got paid hourly for participating in the student registration process. I said that this made no sense. If registering students is part of their duties every year then it should be part of their contract. Wallace argued the deans were undercompensated because they didn't get certain perks and schools like Oak Park and River Forest High School pay more ($24,000 per year more). Wallace also used the argument that it's been that way since she arrived in the district over 20 years ago. Wallace's sister is one of the deans.

Board member Reatha "Sue" Henry is normally a reliable vote for the board majority, although she usually votes against terminations. When the minority had three votes Henry sometimes saved a person getting fired. Last night Henry abstained from the termination vote and the hiring of the public relations firm.

D209 paid his legal bills, what's to stop Welch from having district pay to settle case against him?

Question for District 209 Superintendent Nettie Collins-Hart and the Proviso Township High Schools board of education: if District 209 paid the legal bills for Emanuel "Chris" Welch in the case of Odelson, Sterk and Odelson & Sterk vs. Proviso Insider (Welch and Emily Robinson), what's to keep Welch from buying-off Odelson & Sterk with a big settlement and sticking it to the D209 taxpayers?

Should we have confidence that the D209 board members will protect us from wasting taxpayer money this way?

Has anyone explained to Collins-Hart how the board paid a $500,000 judgment against Melrose Park Village President Ron Serpico with taxpayer money?

Who will stop the inappropriate diversion of taxes paid for education to bailing Welch out for his own bad behavior? The Cook County State's Attorney?

Judge grants temporary restraining order against Proviso Probe

Emanuel "Chris" Welch has sued me for defamation (again). He is represented by Myron Mackoff, of Richardson & Mackoff.

Today Cook County Judge Martin Agran granted a temporary restraining order that required me to remove one paragraph of the original entry. While I'm not happy about this, I don't feel it substantially changes the meaning of what I wrote.

I disagree that Judge Agran's interpretation of the law is a good interpretation of the law, but I'm not sure that it's incorrect.

Under Illinois law, as Judge Agran explained it, accusing someone, including a public figure, of a crime is sufficient to constitute defamation, even if it's couched in what a former boss called "weasel words". For example, "I believe X committed a crime," "I speculate X committed a crime" and "The State's Attorney should prosecute X for a crime" would all be potentially defamatory.

And, according to Judge Agran, it would be proper to issue a temporary restraining order to remove these statements irrespective if they were true.

I was representing myself. I'll post the gist of my arguments later. So, maybe if I quoted some case law and had an attorney I would have prevailed.

Based on Judge Agran's ruling, if a blogger wrote, "Based on the testimony at the Rezko trial Governor Rod Blagojevich should be prosecuted for corruption," Blagojevich could get a temporary restraining order to get the sentence removed.

Of course, the downside for Blagojevich would be that he'd be opening himself to depositions. Welch has the same problem. I don't think he will want to be deposed on the issues in question.

I disagree with the interpretation Judge Agran is using, but I'm not sure he's misinterpreting the case law incorrectly. I think public figures should be open to being accused of criminal activity, especially politicians.

Whether someone gets prosecuted or not is an intrinsically political decision. Prosecutors (the Illinois Attorney General and county state's attorneys) are elected.

This is a system that tilts criminal justice in favor of political bosses. Why would a county state's attorney prosecute people who can cause him/her problems in the next election?

Local officials, like Welch, Eugene Moore, Ron Serpico and Karen Yarbrough, can do stuff that looks like it violates Illinois law. And regular citizens need to be able to afford a lawyer to call-out the public officials who are already getting a massive benefit-of-the-doubt from the state's attorney.

Who writes the Proviso Insider?

Myron Mackoff, the lawyer for Emanuel "Chris" Welch and Emily Robinson, in the matter of Odelson & Sterk vs. Proviso Insider have filed court documents that reveal the identities of all the people who write on the Proviso Insider blog.

Drum roll please....

The first two names you already knew:

Welch and Robinson (duh!)...

More drumroll...

There are two others....

More drumroll...

Ron Anderson, a member of the District 88 board of education and, last I knew, a D209 employee.

and...

Agarnon Stamps, D88's director of technology.

One time I was research all the cases of Proviso Insider defaming local figures. The person who was attacked the most on Proviso Insider was not Karen Yarbrough, Charles Flowers, Arnie Bryant, Mike Manzo, Tony Peraica or myself. The person who was attacked the most often, and arguably the most unfairly was, Nichelle Rivers, the D88 superintendent.

In hindsight it makes sense that two and a half D88 people were involved, since there was so much written about D88.

I believe Odelson & Sterk's strongest argument that Proviso Insider defamed Welch is regarding the claim Sterk counseled Melrose Park police officers to lie under oath to the federal grand jury that ultimately indicted seven, including then chief of policy Vito Scavo, then deputy chief Gary Montino and officer Ric Cervone, a member of the District 89 board of education.

From the response to the interrogatory:

Algarnon Stamps told Chris Welch in a casual conversation what he had heard about SD89 Board member Ric Cervone and attorney Mark Sterk. Welch mentioned this information to Emily Robinson in a casual conversation.

Earlier the interrogatory said Robinson wrote the entry in question.

I guess the interrogatory makes it necessary to depose Stamps. Stamps saying he told Welch the original story doesn't get Welch and Robinson off-the-hook so much as it puts Stamps on-the-hook.

I suppose I can see a scenario where Stamps thought he was making some conjecture or floating a scenario.

(I was in a room where a politician who was backing the late Penny Severns for Secretary of State was floating the scenario that Tim McCarthy, one of her two opponents in Dem primary, was not shot protecting President Ronald Reagan, but instead was at a hot dog stand at the time of attack and shot himself to cover his negligence. So, there's a tradition of circulating some scurrilous rumors in Illinois politics.)

And Welch played the game disseminating the rumor. But maybe Stamps did have a source for his information. It's still clear from the interrogatory Welch did not contact Stamps' source, and he doesn't seem to have cared enough to ask who it was. But this might be covered in a later interrogatory.

analysis of Welch's counter suit

Forest Park Review (Josh Adams) covered Emanuel "Chris" Welch's counter suit against Burt Odelson and Mark Sterk.

Background:

• Welch was president of the Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education.
• Odelson & Sterk is a politically connected law firm. At this point O&S's most important patron is Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.
• The D209 board of education hired Odelson & Sterk.
• Odelson & Sterk made campaign contributions to Welch.
• The D209 board of education terminated Odelson & Sterk (and hired another politically connected firm Giglio & Del Galdo, now known as the Del Galdo Group).
• Proviso Insider wrote a blog post accusing Odelson & Sterk of criminal activity in the federal probe of the Melrose Park Police Department. (Proviso Insider defamed many other people, including, me (Carl Nyberg)).
• The identity of Proviso Insider was technically unknown, but based on the subject matter and perspective it was widely assumed Proviso Insider was either Welch or people working on his behalf.
• To identify Proviso Insider, the plaintiff in Sterk vs. Proviso Insider had to subpoena computer records that showed the computers used to post to Proviso Insider were at Sanchez & Daniels, Welch's employer. Sanchez & Daniels further provided that the addresses corresponded to computers at the work stations of Welch and Emily Robinson.
• Welch has now filed a counter suit claiming his former employer, James Roche, fired Welch for objecting to over billing by Odelson & Sterk.

In the original post on Proviso Insider (now removed) Welch included details of Odelson saying the over billing was going to campaign contributions.

I'm pretty sure the biggest recipient of Odelson & Sterk contributions in Proviso Township were elections where Welch was running (school board or state rep) or elections where school board candidates loyal to Welch were running.

The fact that Welch was the recipient of Odelson & Sterk campaign contributions for years, makes me highly skeptical that Welch didn't know the bills were being padded earlier. If the system worked for years with Welch being perfectly ignorant (an incredible premise in the first place) what happened that caused Welch to see the system for what it was?

Also, Welch is alleging Odelson & Sterk defrauded District 209. Has Welch filed criminal charges against Odelson & Sterk? Why not?

Has Welch initiated a District 209 suit to recover the money Odelson & Sterk billed illegitimately?

If Odelson & Sterk acted unethically in its conduct with District 209, an attorney who was aware of this unethical conduct was obligated to report this conduct to the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois. Welch is an attorney. Why didn't he file an ARDC complaint against Odelson & Sterk?

And when did Welch learn he had been sacked from Roche for firing Odelson & Sterk? Why did he wait until now to file this suit?

Here is some speculation on my part.

1. [This paragraph was removed as a result of Judge Martin Agran granting a temporary restraining order ICO Emanuel C. Welch v. Proviso Probe and Carl Nyberg (2008) on July 16, 2008.]
2. Welch is feeling the heat of the Sterk v. Proviso Insider suit. Welch knows the facts and the law are on Sterk's side. And the only way Welch can avoid the consequences of losing the case is to delay the resolution of the case or to convince Odelson & Sterk they have too much to lose pursuing the case.
3. In the deleted post on Proviso Insider there were anonymous that included further dirt on Odelson & Sterk. One of the posts provided details about a mistress of one of the parties involved. I think Welch was clearly saying, "I will make this painful for you [Odelson & Sterk] even if I lose."
4. The counter suit also allows Welch to make a weak claim, but a claim nonetheless that Sterk v. Proviso Insider does peripherally touch on his duties as president of the D209 board of education. This is an important fact to create since Welch and three of his allies have already voted over $22,400 of tax payer money to pay Welch's legal bills (delaying legal consequences is expensive work, y'know?) in the Sterk v. Proviso Insider case.

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.

Trib covers Welch legal bills story

Chicago Tribune (Jo Napolitano) published an article about Chris Welch, the president of the Proviso Township High Schools board of ed, having the school district pay his legal bills.

What's new in the Trib story?

Welch--I believe for the first time--publicly acknowledged he is one of the writers for Proviso Insider. He denies writing the allegations that are the basis for Mark Sterk's defamation suit.

Board member Theresa Kelly filed a complaint with the regional superintendent of schools, Charles Flowers. Flowers was formerly a board member with Kelly and Welch. Flowers is a politically enemy of Welch.

There's some discussion of the possibility Welch was acting in the scope of his duties as a member of the board of education.

I don't like the way the article handled this. One, it omits that Welch denied being involved in Proviso Insider. It seems impossible to reconcile the claim Welch's writings on Proviso Insider were part of his duties as a member of the board of education and the fact that he was doing the writing anonymously.

Two, Welch is never required to give a cogent explanation how his writings were in the scope of his duties.

If a claim isn't reasonable, I have a problem will journalists printing it. People who are doing things that are illegal shouldn't be able to offer untrue justifications without a clear explanation the claim is untrue.

Welch called his service as board president "a 24-hour-a-day job." He said that he has been sued three times before and that his legal fees were covered by the district on each occasion.

This is a logical fallacy. Welch has been sued for his actions as a board member. But that doesn't mean that everything he could get sued for is somehow related to his position as a board member.

In fact, Welch has filed a suit of his own against the firm, alleging the attorneys put pressure on his former employer to try to convince Welch that the board shouldn't dismiss Odelson & Sterk.

This is an interesting wrinkle in the story. For more info, see Proviso Insider.

Board members Bob Cox and Dan Adams are quoted defending their votes to pay the legal bills in question.

There's also a discussion on Forest Park Forums.

[UPDATE, June 25, 2008: Forest Park Review (Josh Adams) has more details and there's a tough Forest Park Review editorial.]

Welch gets D209 to pay his legal bills

On Monday the Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education approved paying over $22,000 in legal bills to the law firm representing board president Emanuel "Chris" Welch. Forest Park Review (Josh Adams) has the details.

There are seven members of the board of education. There are six votes in the block controlled by Welch and Eugene Moore. There is one member of the opposition: Theresa Kelly.

I know that a number of "Whites" who follow D209 matters are suspicious of Kelly. They argue that she's just like the political hacks running the district; the difference is that she's not on their team.

Kelly deserves credit for being on the board of education and raising issues. If Kelly didn't get elected in 2007, the Welch-Moore block could conceivably have a 7-0 majority.

Being in a 6-1 minority is a lonely place. And Kelly could have just given up. Instead she keeps reading the information presented to board members and she keeps asking questions.

Illinois law prohibits school board members from being compensated for their service. Also, they are supposed to spend the taxpayer's money educating students, not paying their personal legal bills.

While Welch's behavior was almost assuredly illegal, let's not overlook the board members who voted with Welch. Are they clueless?

Also, the Forest Park Review article shows what a toady Libka is.

Superintendent Robert Libka said he did not question Welch's attempt to pass the expense on to taxpayers, but said after the meeting that Kelly's argument against paying the bill merits a second look. According to Libka and Kelly, Welch informed board members several weeks prior that he intended to seek reimbursement. With Kelly offering the only objections, Libka said he did not see a reason to disturb the apparent harmony on the matter.


"It seemed appropriate at the time," Libka said of reimbursing Welch's legal bills. "I probably have more questions now, but I still feel the same."

Go read the FPR article for further details.

Libka simultaneously claims paying Welch's legal bills seems appropriate because it was somehow related to his duties as a board member and that Libka didn't know the details of the case.

Here's a quick recap.

Welch was blogging anonymously as Proviso Insider.

Proviso Insider accused attorney Mark Sterk, of Odelson and Sterk, a firm that had respresented D209 in the past, of counseling Melrose Park police officers to obstruct justice.

Sterk filed a defamation suit against Proviso Insider. See this Proviso Probe entry for a starting point.

Libka's explanation for paying the personal legal bills of a school board member shows that the man is ignorant of the law and just a go-between. When Libka is speaking on issues of import he's a wind-up toy given words by the board president.

Welch gets sensitive over questions posed to asst supt/girlfriend

On February 25 at Proviso Math and Science Academy the Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education held its regular meeting. The meeting included discussions of various items like standardized tests, attendance and graduation details. Also, Board president Emanuel “Chris” Welch treated former board president Theresa Kelly rudely. And the unpleasantness escalated when Kelly asked questions about Assistant Superintendent Nikita Johnson.

The first tiff between Kelly and Welch in open session was over approving the January minutes. Kelly thought there were enough abstentions to keep the minutes from being approved. Welch rudely told her that she didn't know Roberts Rules of Order. Since the incident happened first thing after executive session it is possible the bad blood was carry over from the closed session.

Welch really lost his cool when Kelly raised the issue of whether Assistant Superintendent Nikita Johnson was going to be working at District 99 (Cicero Elementary Schools) next year. Johnson confirmed that she had interviewed for the position. She issued a non-denial, saying that she hadn't signed a contract with District 99. Johnson said, “I have not been offered the position... I have not received an offer.... I'm employed at this district. I work hard every day.”

Johnson was on the agenda as “Authorize Asst. Superintendentto begin FY09 Budget process”. Kelly claimed this was properly the purview of the superintendent. Welch responded that the board could delegate it to someone else under Illinois law.

A fairly widely discussed rumor holds that Welch and Johnson have been dating since at least summer, 2006, shortly after Johnson was hired.

Johnson explained with she was a highly sought after “young professional” and claimed to be frequently recruited for positions. This may be true. But if she was so highly recruited, why isn't she taking a position at a school district without financial and political connections to her boyfriend? Welch is primarily connected to Cicero through District 209's law firm, the DelGaldo Group.

Welch got quite angry with Kelly over asking whether Johnson would actually be implementing the budget she'd be writing. I was taking notes, not videotaping, so below is a partial transcript of Welch's response to Kelly's questions.

“All you do is grandstand and do things that are inappropriate.... Shame on Mrs. Kelly.... [Johnson] is qualified.... You're questioning her professionalism. Why don't you become a professional?” At one point Welch called Kelly “ignorant.”

After the meeting I exchanged some friendly words with Welch. He asked if I thought Kelly's questions should have been raised. I responded that it was fair to ask if the person writing the budget would be around to implement the budget. Welch said it should have been raised in closed session. I sorta shrugged. After thinking about it, I'm pretty sure Kelly raised the issue in the right place.

From one perspective it's kinda a personnel issue. But it's definitely a budget issue. The district is already stretching Illinois law to delegate the budget away from the superintendent and to an assistant. This unusual practice is compounded by the irregularities that the board is delegating the budget to the board president's girlfriend (who happens to be the neice of board member Robin Foreman) and that Johnson's leaving before the budget is implemented. These are both issues that raise concerns about if the budget will be legitimate, or just some gobbledygook to appease the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). Because of ongoing poor management District 209 has to provide its budget to the ISBE.

So, holding a discussion of the budget in executive session (closed session) would violate the Open Meetings Act. While Welch and Johnson may have preferred not to discuss Johnson leaving to work at a smaller elementary school district in open session, it seems to me Illinois law prohibits discussing it as a budget issue in closed session.

Chicago Daily Observer covers Proviso

Bill Dwyer (Chicago Daily Observer) muses about Proviso Township High Schools and board president Emanuel "Chris" Welch.

the rumor about Sterk vs. Proviso Insider trial being soon is NOT true

There's a rumor circulating that the Sterk vs. Proviso Insider (aka Welch, E.C. & Robinson, E) will start imminently. I spoke to Mark Sterk Friday and he said this is not true. The trial is far enough in the future Sterk declined to give a specific estimate of when it would happen.

See Proviso Probe.

BTW, this what Proviso Insider originally wrote:

Will Odelson & Sterk Be Indicted Next???

Sources tell the Insider that Burt Odelson and Mark Sterk of Odelson & Sterk, Ltd law firm will be indicted next by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Sources tell the Insider that Mark Sterk was the attorney advising SD89 Board member Ric Cervone on how to lie to a grand jury. Sources also say Sterk was passing on fees for helping Cervone to Maywood SD89. According to sources close to the situation, all the parties involved knew the indictments were imminent, and the indictment is one of the reasons why Odelson & Sterk has been getting fired by all of their clients. In recent months, in order to help save face in numerous govermental entities, Odelson & Sterk has been fired by SD89, SD209, the Village of Oak Brook, the City of Berwyn, and many other places. Sources say Cook County Board President Todd Stroger will be the next to dump Odelson.

Are Burt Odelson and Mark Sterk crooks? Will they be indicted next?

Sterk has denied coaching Melrose Park police officers to lie to the grand jury and Proviso Insider backed-off the claim once it was challenged. Proviso Insider initially responded to the lawsuit by removing the defamatory claims. Now the updated entry has been removed.

Proviso BOE meeting for December

On Monday, December 17, Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) held the regular meeting of the board of education at Proviso East High School. Board member Brian Cross was absent, as was his boss, Eugene Moore.

What happened that was noteworthy?

Board member Robert Cox and Superintendent Robert Libka talked about accountability. Cox expressed that the board would be working for the betterment of the district; Libka said he wanted the community to “look to proof of strategies and achievement” in the electronic newsletter.

Below you can read the follow-up questions on improving the district and accountability.

The meeting agenda included some terminations. Board president Emanuel “Chris” Welch said that the board would take action that would make it unnecessary to eliminate any jobs. How this was accomplished was not explained.

Board member Theresa Kelly was not happy with how the board meeting was conducted. She got a different agenda than the rest of the board members. Kelly is the lone opposition board member. People including the district's attorney became impatient as Kelly complained in closed session. Eventually, the district's attorney realized the problem and apologized for the misunderstandings.

When the board returned to open session board president Welch had everything as part of the consent agenda. I did not hear him call for items to be pulled from the consent agenda. After the vote on the consent agenda Kelly asked for items that she wanted pulled and discussed separately. Welch refused to call items separately, which is somewhat out of character. Normally, he's a reasonably flexible with board members. He let's the opposition ask questions. This time Welch offered to let Kelly switch her vote on the consent agenda, but he wouldn't open any individual issues for discussion.

Kelly probably should have realized that it was an omnibus consent agenda, but I don't think Welch ever clearly asked for items to be pulled from the consent agenda.

Kelly wanted to raised the issue about employees, especially support staff employees, who had already been terminated. Kelly thought it would be fair to undo the terminations already conducted since the terminations on the December agenda were being canceled.

(Normally board member Reatha “Sue” Henry, Eugene Moore's cousin and chief of staff, is willing to vote against the majority to prevent terminations. However, Henry's daughter, Shavonne Henry, is a secretary who was spared termination even though secretaries of equal or greater seniority were let go or forced to retire.)

Proviso West Dean Dylester Palm, sister of Principal Alexis Wallace, has retained a law firm to contest the furlough she was forced to accept.

Below are the questions I posed to Libka and the board of education in an email.

Last night both board member Robert Cox and Superintendent Robert Libka expressed intent to make District 209 better and a desire for the community to hold the district accountable.

By what measures does the board and administration want to be judged? I am particularly interested in learning your ways of measuring student performance and financial health of the district.

Also, some of the metrics only happen once a year, like standardized tests and the budget. Based on what information should taxpayers judge the academic and financial performance of the district quarter-to-quarter and month-to-month?

Sterk's lawyers finger Welch and Emily Robinson as Proviso Insider

Today Mark Sterk called me and told me the following.

Either today or Monday Sterk's attorneys will amend the lawsuit against Proviso Insider to name Emanuel "Chris" Welch and Emily Robinson as defendants. (Emily Robinson is pictured above with Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board member Brian Cross.)

Sterk sued Proviso Insider for defamation based on this entry.

Robinson has been active in Proviso politics as a campaign worker for Welch. She was the press secretary for his 2006 state representative campaign and played a less public role in the 2007 school board race.

Welch & Johnson should come clean

Yahoo (David Crary, AP):

NEW YORK - The American Red Cross ousted its president, Mark Everson, on Tuesday after learning that he had engaged in a "personal relationship" with a subordinate employee.

The woman was not identified, but I expect if she was the one in charge of the Red Cross' money that would have been part of the story.

When I asked Emanuel "Chris" Welch, president of Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education if he was dating Nikita Johnson, who was then the business manager and has since been promoted, Welch responded with, "I don't discuss my personal life with the media."

It's time for the board of education and Superintendent Robert Libka to ask the question of both of them. "Are you two dating?"

District 209 is a district with a history of crony politics in both jobs and contracting. The FBI is investigating the district for something.

Five of the seven board members are quite passive, letting themselves be bossed by Welch and political boss Eugene Moore (Brian Cross and Reatha "Sue" Henry work for Moore at the Cook County Recorder of Deeds). One of the passive board members, Robin Foreman, is Johnson's aunt. Foreman has been pushing for D209 to hire Johnson for years, going back to when Foreman was active with the boosters.

On top of that the district the superintendent, Libka, is very much a "go along, get along" kinda guy who avoids confrontation.

Libka and the board need to ask Welch and Johnson what's the story. There are rumors they are engaged. And they have been dating since summer 2006.

If they are involved, one of them should resign to remove the conflict of interest. Remember, being a school board member is an unpaid position that is supposed to be about serving the community.

If the president of the Red Cross had to resign because of a relationship with a Red Cross employee, it seems like Welch should resign if he's involved with the person overseeing all the money at the district.

This is especially true since it's likely that there are serious questions about how Johnson spent some of the money.

video details how Daley's organization uses clout

A Proviso Probe reader sent me a link to a video from the blog/video blog Chicago Clout. The video is titled, "Connecting the Dots Patrick McDonough" which isn't very self-explanatory.

McDonough is a whistleblower about corruption in City of Chicago contracting. If I followed the story correctly in the video, McDonough was the person who got the ball rolling in the Hired Truck Scandal.

The video portrays Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) as a politician who is being influenced by campaign contributions to vote against his constituent's interests.

The northwest portion of Harmon's Senate district included Bensenville. Bensenville is one of the communities that would be adversely affected if O'Hare Airport were expanded.

(The Harmon-O'Hare connection does provide a reason why Harmon was carrying Mayor Richard M. Daley's water on legislation affecting Midway Airport.)

The video explains how Daley or his allies used union members as political workers under the auspices of the unions having their own political operation.

Q: What did you have to do politically, Pat, to keep your job?

Pat McDonough: We were expected to work precincts. We mainly worked through Plumbers Local 130. We were sent to assigned targeted areas which is called the Political Action Task Force of Plumbers Local 130. So we were sent to any area throughout the city that was targeted by what the Mayor wanted.

Union members who did the political work were rewarded with promotions, overtime and benefits.

To me this sounds quite a bit like the unhealthy--illegal?--relationship between SEIU 73 and Eugene Moore and Emanuel "Chris" Welch. Moore is the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, former Proviso Township Democratic Committeeman and political boss with significant influence at Proviso Township High Schools (District 209). Welch is the president of the D209 board of education.

D209 has a regular and special meeting on the same night

Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education had a regular and special meeting last night.

The most significant points:

1. The district will borrow from its reserves to meet payroll on Friday. This is necessitated by Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoing the property tax legislation last week. This delayed the county sending out bills. And the delay sending bills will cause the county to delay paying school districts.
2. During public comment a freshman at Proviso East said she does not feel safe in school. Another woman raised the issue of class sizes.
3. Bill Kirchner of Forest Park pointed to a number of non-educational areas where D209 spends lavishly compared to Morton and New Trier. And then he pointed out that on educational salaries and expenses D209 spends less than these districts.
4. Kevin McDermott of Westchester raised a number of questions about the budget. He pointed to discrepancies between the budget online and the one briefed to the board at the meeting. He pointed-out that the budget has grown 13% a year for the last two years while former superintendent Stan Fields and business manager Nikita Johnson have been crowing about deficit cutting. McDermott also criticized the budget for having large amounts of money under "other".
5. Barbara Cole of Maywood questioned the move to dismiss the foundation. She alleged the board ended the foundation project b/c the people working on it were insufficiently loyal (in a political sense) to the board of education. Cole also expressed a preference that the district conduct a nation-wide search for a new superintendent.
6. Robert Libka was given a one-year contract for $160,000 to be superintendent.
7. I raised the issue of the president of the board of education, Emanuel "Chris" Welch, dating the business manager, Nikita Johnson. I said this was relevant to the budget because Welch is approving his girlfriends (fiance's?) budget.

[UPDATE: Forest Park Review (Josh Adams) has his coverage.]