Flowers, the ROE and the Illinois State Board of Education

Have you been following the drama for Charles Flowers, Regional Superintendent Suburban Cook County Schools?

Flowers was investigated for various allegations of misuse of funds. Since then various entities have acted unsympathetically to the ROE (Regional Office of Education).

Cook County demanded repayment of a loan. The ROE didn't have the money. The ROE's landlord (Westchester elementary schools) demanded payment of back rent. The ROE didn't have the money. The ROE got an office in Broadview, but was shut down for lack of an occupancy permit. Now there is no office and the ROE functions aren't being done. See Daily Southtown (Duaa ElDeib).

If you're one of about 25,000 teachers or administrators in any of the 143 school districts needing the services of the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education, try back later.

Has Flowers made mistakes? Have his actions cast doubt on his competence?

Yes.

Would the Village of Broadview normally keep a government office from operating for 30 days for lack of an occupancy permit?

I doubt it. But Flowers has few friends. And life is harder when no one wants to help you and lots of people are looking to "throw you under the bus".

But I'd like to step back.

If the Illinois State Board of Education and other authorities in the bureaucracy are willing to let Flowers and the ROE twist in the wind, what's the say about the office?

It seems to me a major function of the ROEs across Illinois is to obfuscate accountability when the Illinois State Board of Education either incorrectly processes paperwork or takes a long time. The teacher or district submitting documents can't be sure if the ROE is responsible or the Illinois State Board of Education.

The ROEs are funded by state government (Illinois General Assembly and Governor). So, when something goes wrong at one ROE the recourse goes through Springfield. But the ROEs serve parts of the state.

If the President of the Cook County Board makes a mistake, s/he has to answer to the commissioners. Virtually every executive in the U.S. political system has to answer to a legislative body with the power of the purse and the legislative body serves the same group of voters as the executive.

One of the few (only?) exceptions is a ROE in Illinois. They don't have local legislative bodies to hold them accountable. So, someone who lacks the competence to do the job can get elected and it's not clear how to remove the person or hold her/him accountable.

The Flowers debacle shows the office should be eliminated as an elective office and be appointed by the governor or the state superintendent of education.

Team Flowers would probably argue the office doesn't have the funding to do the job it's expected to do. So, many of the financial problems of the Flowers administration originate with the office being underfunded. This is probably true, but....

Did the Flowers administration use the money it had wisely?

It seems clear that some money was either misspent or spent without the required documentation that it was spent properly.

Has Flowers handled the media well?

No.

Are other public officials, including elected officials, withholding money from the ROE that would probably go to the ROE if Flowers hadn't gotten himself into trouble?

Probably.

Even the most pro-Flowers interpretation of the situation is that he and his appointees made a mess. And Flowers lacks the skills to dig himself and the office out of the hole. And the Illinois State Board of Education seems content to allow the Suburban Cook County ROE to founder.

PS It does seem like Proviso's state legislators could do something to improve the situation. Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) is on the Senate Education Committee and has been the chair in the past. Sen. Dan Cronin (R-Elmhurst) is the senior Republican on that committee. Like Lightford and Cronin State Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) is on her chamber's Education Committee. Yarbrough is the Democratic Committeeman for Proviso Township. And she's the person who persuaded the Cook County Democratic Party to nominate Flowers. Although she and Flowers are not as tight as they were.

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.

BREAKING: Proviso Dem Committeeman thinks Roland Burris should resign!

In the last few days evidence has emerged that Sen. Roland Burris made misleading, untrue and false statements to the Illinois House impeachment committee that considered charges against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The Chicago Tribune has called for Blagojevich to resign. Cook County Clerk David Orr, Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley (also a Dem candidate for Congress in IL-05) and State Rep. Susana Mendoza have all called for Burris to resign.

Last night I texted the question, "Should Roland Burris resign as U.S. Senator?" to Rep. Karen Yarbrough who is also the Democratic Committeeman for Proviso Township. Proviso Township has the second most Democratic voters of any ward or township in Cook County.

This morning at 8:03 AM, Yarbrough responded, "Yes".

will Cook County State's Attorney investigate Yarbrough and Vicenik?

Here's my take on the Yarbrough-Vicenik-Davis Broadview office issue. It seems clear that Karen Yarbrough violated the provision of Illinois law that prohibits using government resources for political activities. Broadview Mayor Henry Vicenik and U.S. Representative Danny K. Davis have pretty implausible claims of ignorance.

It also seems likely that Yarbrough/Davis staffer Larry Shapiro played a role in organizing the implementing the illegal scheme.

Question: will the Cook County State's Attorney (or Illinois Attorney General) enforce the law?

I'm also curious how Cook County Clerk David Orr reacts to Yarbrough and Vicenik invoking his name as blessing the illegal arrangement. Orr was asked if the division of the state representative office and the political office was sufficiently clear that it was OK to have both offices in the same building. Orr gave the OK to the division. But I am all but 100% certain Orr was kept in the dark on the one important detail: the whole building was owned by the Village of Broadview.

So when Yarbrough and Vicenik invoke Orr as saying the arrangement was OK they are trying to confuse. Orr said the division between politics and constituent service was sufficiently clear to have two separate leases assuming a private owner of the premises.

I hope Orr registers the appropriate amount of anger at Yarbrough and Vicenik and requests the Cook County State's Attorney investigate and prosecute if a violation of Illinois law has occurred.

It will be a good chance for Anita Alvarez, the Democratic nominee for Cook County State's Attorney and the third ranking person in the Devine administration, to show that the office can investigate and prosecute crimes by people with some local political clout.

congrats to Eugene Moore

Moore defeated challenger Alderman Ed Smith. Congratulations to Moore. I'd still like him to stop being involved in District 209 (Proviso Township High Schools).

However, the defeat of Karen Yarbrough's proxy candidate means Yarbrough has been on the losing side in 1 1/2 elections after a couple of solid victories (defeating Moore for Dem committeeman) and having Charles Flowers elected Regional Superintendent of Education.

The April, 2007 school board losses were only half a defeat b/c Yarbrough and her husband consolidated power in the Village of Maywood.

Vicenik and Yarbrough use taxpayer resources for political work

West Suburban Journal-News (L. Nicole Trottie with Kevin Williams contributing) covers the criticism Broadview Village President Henry Vicenik took over letting Rep. Karen Yarbrough and U.S. Rep Danny Davis use a village-owned property rent free.

Vicenik said the board’s decision to offer the space rent free was never a board agenda item....

Vicenik counters, the decision by the board is justified as providing a service to Broadview residents.

“I thought it would be good for the village and residents to have a state representative and congressman here as a resource for the people of Broadview,” Vicenik said Tuesday.

Having a village subsidize constituent services is at least an unusual arrangement. And unusual arrangements need more specific contracts. And contracts need to be approved by the governing boards, or they formally delegate this power.

Broadview has been in financial trouble for years. Why wouldn't it ask its tenants to pay for using village property?

IMO, Yarbrough and Vicenik are in some legal trouble, or should be, for using public resources for political activities. I assumed that Yarbrough and her organization were paying rent and that there was a contract which separated the political portion of the premises from the government part of the premises. I'm pretty sure my assumption was based on this being claimed or implied by Yarbrough. Maybe I'm misremembering.

If Yarbrough and Vicenik knew that the space was provided gratis by the Village of Broadview they both know that there should be no political activity being done there. I made a formal complaint to the Cook County State's Attorney against Eugene Moore and District 209 for a comparatively minor transgression.

h/t Proviso Insider

BTW, there is something of a back story to Trottie's interest in this building. Trottie sought to acquire use of the property for free from Vicenik. Trottie mentioned the arrangement to Yarbrough. Apparently Vicenik decided it was more advantageous to him to give the property to Yarbrough and Davis than to Trottie's newspaper which was brand new at the time.

However, whether Trottie has an ax to grind with Vicenik and Yarbrough over this property, it doesn't mitigate the wrongdoing by Vicenik and Yarbrough.

Ald. Ed Smith to challenger Eugene Moore for Recorder

Austin Weekly News (Delores McCain):

In an exclusive announcement to the AWN, 28th Ward Ald. Ed Smith said he will be running for Cook County Recorder of Deeds in next year's election....

"The reason why we're [running] is because of responsibility or the lack of responsibility," Smith said Sunday.

If I was in Smith's position, I'd be a little disappointed, if not miffed, that I gave a small paper an exclusive and the paper buried it inside a story about someone else. If Smith just wanted to be mentioned as an aside in some other article he could have gotten that from the dailies.

But Smith and Rep. Karen Yarbrough sorta brought media skepticism on themselves. Yarbrough said she was running then she changed her mind. And Smith sending a proxy to the meeting of Dem committeemen didn't exactly inspire confidence that he's really trying to win this race.

Karen Yarbrough to run for re-election as state rep

Rep. Karen Yarbrough announced that she will run for re-election. See Forest Park Review (Josh Adams).

She did take a swipe at Eugene Moore, the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. Yarbrough had been considering challenging him.

"It wasn't about challenging him [Moore], it was about holding the office," Yarbrough said of squaring off against Moore. "He's just warming the seat, and not very well, I might add."

Is K. Yarbrough out and Ald. Ed Smith in?

Sun-Times (Abdon M. Pallasch) wrote about the possible Democratic candidates for Cook County State's Attorney. But it also includes some information about candidates for Cook County Recorder of Deeds.

Yarbrough had initially contemplated challenging Moore for his seat but more recently has decided to let Ald. Ed Smith (28th) challenge the incumbent to lead the $10 million, 200-employee office.

Comments?

how media is and will cover Yarbrough's campaign against Moore

Pioneer Press (John Huston) wrote about Rep. Karen Yarbrough challenging incumbent Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore in the Democratic Primary.

"Whatever I run for, she wants to have that position," [Moore] said. "That has always been an understood situation.

"She ran against me for state rep ... as well as the committeeman twice. Who knows, it might be a personal thing."

Yarbrough denied any vendetta.

"It doesn't have anything to do with personal," she said. "He's the one who ran someone against me for state rep. Every time I've run for re-election, he's the one who has identified people to run against me."

Unless Yarbrough can come up with a compelling reason why she'd be a better Recorder of Deeds--more compelling than improving her pension situation or avoiding trips to Springfield--the story line of this race is going to be Maywood feud goes county wide.

should we expect Karen Yarbrough to switch state rep candidates?

On the Chicago Tribune blog Clout Street Mickey Ciokajlo reports state representative and Proviso Democratic Committeeman Karen Yarbrough has solicited the Cook County Democratic Party for support to be Cook County Recorder of Deeds.

Yarbrough represented to me that she was running for re-election as state representative.

I haven't done the research, but I am pretty sure she can't hold both positions at the same time. If it was possible, why would Eugene Moore have resigned as state representative when he was appointed recorder?

Ciokajlo's piece was published at 8:40 Monday morning. Yarbrough's text message to confirming she was the candidate for state rep was 5:57 PM Saturday.

I sent Yarbrough an email asking the following questions at 12:16 PM yesterday.

Who are you supporting for Recorder of Deeds?

Can you guarantee there won't be a last minute switch of some other candidate for state rep in the 7th district?

As of almost noon today she hasn't responded.

Yarbrough camp nominating petitions

I asked Democratic Committeeman Karen Yarbrough who she is circulating petitions for. She responded by text message, "St. Rep, Obama delegate, Durbin, Obama Prez". I asked two follow-up questions. Is Karen Yarbrough the state representative candidate? She replied affirmatively. I asked who she's circulating for Cook County Recorder of Deeds. She didn't respond to this question.

Proviso Insider claims Yarbrough is running for recorder and Emanuel "Chris" Welch is going to run against a Yarbrough-backed candidate, perhaps Karen's husband, for state representative.

Trottie column on Yarbrough and Nyberg

L. Nicole Trottie (West Suburban Journal) has a column taking Karen Yarbrough to task for accepting campaign contributions by Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, the Village of Maywood's law firm. Karen's husband Henderson Yarbrough is village president.

Maybe I should have explicitly praised West Suburban Journal for the news story, but I rarely praise other newspapers for doing their jobs. If I praised West Suburban Journal it would probably be in the context of pointing out how boring and useless most of the paper's journalism is. Or outright defamatory.

West Suburban Journal has migrated editorial perspectives from being allied with Bellwood Village President Frank Pasquale and District 209 board president Emanuel "Chris" Welch to being allied with Karen Yarbrough (and critical of Pasquale and Welch) to being aligned with Welch again.

But I may be oversimplifying. Trottie felt double-crossed by Pasquale on some advertising revenue. Trottie later accused Pasquale of cutting off the advertising money when she refused to have sex with Pasquale. And Trottie had been dating Welch, but turned against him with a vengeance.

So, Trottie was not so much a Yarbrough fan--she felt Yarbrough or Yarbrough's staff--leased some office space out from under Trottie, space Trottie wanted for the office of West Suburban Journal. This predated Trottie becoming anti-Pasquale and anti-Welch.

Later Trottie's relationship with Karen Yarbrough went sour. According to a comment posted to Proviso Probe by someone using Trottie's name, Yarbrough's father, Don Williams, failed to complete an advertising contract because he disagreed with some editorial decision made by Trottie.

So, Trottie ended-up in the anti-Yarbrough camp and the newspaper eventually settled on covering Maywood.

This is a decent situation from the point of view the media is supposed to be skeptical of the government. And the Yarbrough political camp dominates village politics.

However, Trottie seems to believe the enemey of her enemy is her friend. And perhaps she's pressured into this thinking because she has to chase after advertising revenue.

By focusing on political factions instead of principles, Trottie's column is weaker than it would be otherwise. It also contains statements that seem debatable. And the sniping at me (Carl Nyberg) is irrelevant to her larger point.

One good point made by the column is that Karen Yarbrough didn't respond to West Suburban Journal's request for comment. I share West Suburban Journal's frustration at elected officials not returning phone calls and emails because they don't want to deal with the issue at hand.

Trottie wrote:

A taxing body that accepts contributions from a no-bid vendor is a very big issue. In fact, it’s a federal hot topic.

I wish this was true, but it's not. Law firms are hired through no-bid processes because they fall under the exception for professional services. Law firms giving money to the politicians that hire them does not automatically trigger a federal investigation. If Trottie had a broader perspective on local issues, she'd know that Odelson & Sterk contributed to Welch's campaigns and Giglio & Del Galdo contributed to campaigns of Melrose Park village president Ron Serpico. Welch and Serpico are under federal investigation, but the investigation wasn't triggered by contributions by law firms they hired.

The interrelationship between the village counsel and Yarbrough’s political parties imply that something of value is given in return for something of value.

This statement goes too far. This statement would appear to damn all campaign contributions. And defenders of the status quo on campaign contributions would probably respond to Trottie by saying that it often appears there is a quid pro quo relationship between her editorial perspective and her advertising revenue.

If a politically-connected law firm, let’s say, Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, is hired by the Village of Maywood to defend the wolf’s actions in “Little Red Riding Hood,” it would not focus on the wolf’s unbridled desire to consume Little Red Ridding Hood; instead, it would argue that said wolf, disguised in drag as Grandma, should be offered protection under the state’s anti-discrimination laws. The attempted consumption of Little Red is of little worth.

Can someone explain this analogy to me. If a law firm is hired to defend the wolf then the law firm should defend the wolf to the best of its ability, right?

[The Yarbroughs] should give the money back and amend the Village Code ethics portion to prevent such messy contributions from happening in the future.

On this point Trottie and I agree.

Finally, I will defend my honor. Trottie called me the president of the Karen Yarbrough fan club. I like Karen, but she's not the only person I like locally. In 2007 I've spent far more time on the phone with Arnie Bryant, Charles Flowers, Theresa Kelly and probably Mike Manzo than I have with Yarbrough.

You don't especially have to take my word, look up what I've written on Karen Yarbrough on Proviso Probe. Since January 1, 2007 I have written 20 entries that mention Karen Yarbrough out of over 375 entries. Of those 20 entries a number have been less than complimentary.

* Yarbrough political committees hit up village's legal counsel
* A07, election analysis

Most of the entries are neutral, in many Yarbrough just gets mentioned and is not a central character in the entry.

I disagree with Trottie labeling me the "president of the Karen Yarbrough fan club". It's not accurate. And mentioning me is superfluous to the point of her column.

[UPDATE: The Proviso Insider responded to this post under the title, "Carl Nyberg Admits Relationship With Anti-Welch-Serpico-Moore Group!!!". How should I respond? My Naval Academy roommate would have used sarcasm.

"Insider, you're right. There is a group dedicated to ruining Welch, Serpico and Moore. It has weekly meetings. Not only are Nyberg and the others there, but Patrick Fitzgerald and the FBI attend the meetings too."

I could point at that it's hardly a revelation that I talk to most of these people. How often am I on Bryant's radio show? Who attends board D209 board meetings and hasn't seen me talking with Kelly or Flowers? What's sinister about me talking to the political opponents of Moore, Welch and Serpico anyway?

[If you care about the details of my relationship with any public figures, feel free to ask in the comments.]

Yarbrough political committees hit up village's legal counsel

West Suburban Journal (Kevin Williams with Nicole Trottie) detailed how two political committees aligned with Karen & Henderson Yarbrough received $9,000 since 2005 from Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, the attorneys for the Village of Maywood. (h/t Proviso Insider)

Karen Yarbrough is the state representative for Maywood and much of the surrounding area; she is also Proviso Township's Democratic Committeeman. Henderson Yarbrough is Maywood's village president. Before the April, 2007 election Yarbrough's block had a 4-3 majority on the village board; now they have a 6-1 majority.

In an email to me Karen Yarbrough wrote that the Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins contributions were a “non issue”. I disagree.

In the past I have expressed concern that politicians raising money from law firms that work for local taxing bodies is simply money laundering. At its simplest the taxing body picks a law firm—because legal work is a “professional service” it doesn't need to be bid out—and the law firms merely pad their bills to cover the contributions the politicians want. They can either build the cost of the political contributions into the firm's hourly rate or add extra hours.

Raising money from vendors and contractors looks bad, but there are a number of ways raising money from law firms is worse.

1. Legal work is not bid upon.
2. If there is a quid pro quo negotiated it is more difficult for outsiders, including law enforcement, to detect because of the protections of attorney-client privilege.
3. There is no protection against attorneys padding their bills other than the personal honor of the attorneys. Normally, law clients have an incentive to be skeptical of the bills and pay as little as possible. But when politicians are making money off the attorneys the incentives for keeping bills low are weaker than the incentives to “get along and go along”.
4. The interrelationship between attorney and client also taints the legal advice given. Normally an ethical lawyer counsels clients on ways to avoid legal costs. But if the politicians can reasonably anticipate a kickback to their political committee (or an ally's political committee) then they have an incentive to make choices that increase the legal bills, not keep them down.

When people want to rip on Karen Yarbrough they say she practices politics like the people she seeks to replace; at best she's a “reluctant reformer”. She's more articulate than Eugene Moore and less likely to do something flagrantly illegal. But from the community's point of view the new boss looks like the old boss.

I disagree with this assessment. But I think Yarbrough has to make an effort to be better. Most of the people with their hands on the levers of political power want the system to stay the same. The people with political power can convert it into wealth and power for themselves and their political allies. They are going to serve the community as little as possible while maintaining the perks of attaining political power.

There's always going to be a pull to “get along and go along”. Yarbrough and her team have to make an effort to resist this inevitable pull. The pull is inevitable, but giving in to pull of “get along and go along” politics isn't.

IMO, the Yarbroughs should return the contributions to Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins and the Village of Maywood should attach language to the contracts with all law firms that they are expected to stay out of local politics in the Proviso area.

Russ Stewart expects Eugene Moore challenged in Dem primary

Russ Stewart wrote about the possibility of Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore being challenged in the Democratic primary by either State Representative Karen Yarbrough or Alderman Ed Smith.

My prediction: Moore is a "Dead Man Walking." He has no powerful mentor and no political base. Getting sometime Daley critic Smith out of the City Council is a Daley priority, as is keeping Yarbrough out of the recorder's office, from which she could run for county board president in 2010 or later. Expect Smith to be slated, and expect a close and nasty Smith-YarbroughMoore primary, which Smith will win. [Replaced "Yarbrough" with "Moore" b/c I think that's what Stewart meant.]

I was sorta surprised to see the reasoning against Yarbrough as Recorder of Deeds including the possibility she'd run for President of the County Board.

A07, what happened in District 89? [D89]

Going into last Tuesday's election all District 89 (Maywood & Melrose Park elementary schools) school board members were allied with either Melrose Park village President Ron Serpico or Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore. None of the school board members were aligned with State Representative (and Democratic Committeeman) Karen Yarbrough or Charles Flowers, EdD. Flowers was elected Cook County Regional Superintendent of Education in November and will begin his term in July.

Yarbrough and Flowers ran a slate against a slate backed by Serpico and Moore. Five seats were up for election: four four-year terms and one two-year term created by the death of Jose Montoya.

The slate backed by Serpico and Moore won all five seats.

The Yarbrough-Flowers slate ceded Melrose Park. Of the slate's five candidates none were from Melrose Park. The slate hardly campaigned in Melrose Park. And Yarbrough failed to use her power as committeeman to replace polling place judges loyal to Melrose Park village president Ron Serpico.

Yarbrough's team probably saw the low Melrose Park turnout in 2006 and assumed Serpico had lost the fire in the belly or was pre-occupied with the federal investigation of the village. In 2006 Serpico was trying to pass a tax increase referendum and may have wanted low turnout. In 2007 Serpico's trustee candidates were being challenged by a slate backed by Jesse Martinez, a trustee in both Proviso Township and Stone Park. Serpico flexed the muscle of the Melrose Park machine. The large turnout in Melrose Park overwhelmed Yarbrough's advantage in Maywood where her husband Henderson Yarbrough is the village president.

This entry has a macro analysis of the election.

A07, election analysis

Congratulations to all the candidates elected and re-elected yesterday. And congratulations to those who ran and contributed to the public discourse.

What does it all mean?

The dominant trend was consolidation of power. However, my perspective may be skewed by having more personal contact with the races in Forest Park, District 88, District 209 and Maywood.

Forest Park went from a 3-2 divide on the village council to a presumed 4-1 split. District 88 (Bellwood & Stone Park elementary schools) went from a 4-3 divide to a 6-1 divide. District 209 (Proviso Township High Schools) went from a 4-3 split to a 5-2 split with one of the minority board members scheduled to leave the board in July (he will be replaced by the majority). In Maywood the allies of the mayor won all three seats up for election.

However, there were some countervailing examples. In Westchester the Progressive Party swept all three trustee seats. This means that Village President Paul Gattuso and his allies will be in the minority. Also the Broadview TEA Party swept all three seats to create a significant opposition block to Village President Henry Vicenik. In both communities political opposition was probably energized by Chicago Joe's Tea Room applying to open a strip club.

In Melrose Park the trustee candidates supported by Village President Ron Serpico handily defeated challengers backed by Proviso Township Trustee Jesse Martinez. Martinez has his political roots in Stone Park. He's a friend Beniamino Mazzulla, the village president of Stone Park. Martinez sees his political future as being in jumping to Melrose Park, a significantly larger community with a large and growing Latino population.

In Bellwood the referendum to build a new library was defeated for the second time. Evidence has now emerged that an anonymous mailing attacking the library referendum was paid for by a political ally of village president Frank Pasquale. By defeating the referendum and helping to dump the opposition on the elementary school board Pasquale showed that he remains the head-politician-in-charge in Bellwood, an overwhelmingly African-American suburb.

Voters re-elected two of three trustees to Triton College. Irene Moskal Del Giudice, identified as the lone independent voice on the board by the Wednesday Journal, narrowly defeated Stephen Kubiczky. The leading vote getter was Thomas Gary of Oak Park.

Gary had the support of the political organization aligned with board president Mark Stephens. He also had the support of the media outlet doing the best journalism on Triton, the Wednesday Journal. And he had the support of the Proviso Township Democratic Organization. Proviso is the largest township in the district. Gary's candidacy was initially pushed by Oak Park Democratic Committeeman Don Harmon. Harmon once again showed himself to be a master deal maker on the behalf of strong candidates. Harmon was first elected to a newly created Senate seat without facing opposition in either the primary or general elections.

Gary will be the first African-American to serve on the Triton board of trustees. And in Forest Park, Rory Hoskins will be the first African-American to serve as commissioner. Like Gary, Hoskins posted dominating numbers. Hoskins was the leading vote getter, exceeding the mayor's vote total by 300 votes.

To evaluate the individual “mayors” (most of them are really village presidents) in Proviso.

Power waxing

• Frank Pasquale, Bellwood—won in schools and library, unopposed in village races
• Ron Serpico, Melrose Park—won in village and schools
• Henderson Yarbrough, Maywood—won in village
• Anthony Calderone, Forest Park—won in village

Power waning

• Paul Gattuso, Westchester—lost in village
• Henry Vicenik, Broadview—lost in village

Yesterday was also a defeat for Proviso Democratic Committeeman Karen Yarbrough, wife of Henderson. She put her political capital into three races, District 88, District 89 and District 209. Her allies were swept in D88, D89 (Maywood and Melrose Park elementary schools) and lost significant ground in D209.

Arnie Bryant, the president of the Bellwood library board and a strong proponent of the new library, is a contributor to Proviso Probe.

POL, how Welch's state rep campaign influenced the Proviso First Party campaign [7th REP, D209]

Yesterday I had an epiphany about the Proviso First school board campaign. With the exception of the campaign message it's the same campaign—tactically—that Welch ran a year ago for school board.

• The campaign is using District 209 employees to place yardsigns.
• Danielle-Ashley is designing the mailings.
• In fact, the attack mailing against Theresa Kelly has the same lay-out as the attack mailing against Karen Yarbrough.
• The supporting cast members are still the same: Brian Cross and Emily Robinson.
• The campaign is withholding financial disclosures undisclosures until after deadline of newspapers so it won't be revealed until after the election.

The message of the school board campaign is different from the state rep campaign. I didn't think the message of the Welch state representative campaign was done well, but it was a positive message.

Welch ran as the guy who succeeded in building the magnet school that people had talked about for years. He also took some standard liberal positions combined with “get tough on crime” positions. And he made an attempt to attack Yarbrough for voting “present” on some legislation.

Without rehashing the entire state representative campaign all pieces of Welch's message fell flat. He neither prepared the audience for the attack on the “present” votes nor followed up on the attack. His standard liberal positions didn't contrast with Yarbrough. His “get tough on crime” stuff was privately ridiculed because Welch has a significant number of friends, relatives and political allies who have had their encounters with law enforcement and other authorities for the same offenses Welch claimed to be getting tough about.

And then there was the magnet school. I believe Chris Welch was and is proud of pushing the creation of PMSA. Welch succeeded where Mike Manzo, an earlier school board president, failed.

However, what Welch saw as “breaking a few eggs to make an omellette” much of the community saw as graft, kickbacks, elitism and trampling democratic processes. When Welch tied himself to the magnet school he was hurting his campaign more than helping. PMSA hasn't built a positive reputation yet. Welch didn't seem to understand that schools establish themselves by their academic reputations, not the buildings and physical infrastructure. And this failure to understand what a good school is shows in how Welch governs Proviso Township High Schools as president of the board of education.

State Representative Karen Yarbrough did the usual things to campaign for Democratic votes, but her most effective tool in the campaign was going negative on Welch. This type of campaigning grew out of Yarbrough's history of campaigning against Eugene Moore and his proxies. (Moore is an ally of Welch's.) But going negative against Welch was inevitable.

A whole bunch of people hated Welch. Welch practiced an extreme version of scorched earth politics at the local level. He sued his critics—like me—for defamation and he was associated with firing a significant number of people at District 88 (Bellwood and Stone Park elementary schools) and Proviso Township High Schools. Welch was a pioneer in using bad-faith defamation suits and an extreme practioner of the most vindictive “to the victor go the spoils” politics.

The people who gravitated to Yarbrough to help her in the state rep campaign hated Welch. And as far as they were concerned the more suffering and humiliation Yarbrough and her campaign inflicted on Welch the better.

Since Welch's defeat—which was pretty humiliating given that he spent well over $100,000—Welch hasn't changed how he governs. If Welch grew as a person from the loss he probably would have tried to make amends with his political adversaries and been less confrontational. But other than avoiding the bad-faith defamation lawsuits, Welch hasn't changed how he behaves.

I suspect that the lesson Welch learned from getting wupped was that negative campaigning works. And he learned that people don't like corruption.

So the Proviso First Party is campaigning against low test scores, patronage, deficit spending, junkets, etc. This goes beyond ironic. Welch is trying to get at least one person from his slate elected by making them appear to be campaigning against a corrupt and inept status quo. In reality Welch's political organization is supporting the Provios First Party for one purpose: so Welch can maintain his board majority.

The message of the Proviso First Party goes beyond simple dishonesty to outright prevarication. Welch is hoping that media outlets focused on village races will give the mendacity of the Proviso First Party mailings a pass.

I wouldn't call it genius, but it's about the best Welch can do given the cards he has to play. I doubt it will succed in getting any of his candidates elected, but it is causing anti-Welch voters to consider supporting Welch's candidates. Seriously, I met a Forest Park woman who is active in local politics and she was duped by the Proviso First Party mailing.

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.