Almost as if part of a plan...-OR- All This To Replace Erkel?

Now that Lisa Madigan has bailed out of the clown car and for the moment intends to remain Illinois' Attorney General, I have a suggestion for her. PUT A MICROSCOPE ON PROVISO TOWNSHIP. The headlines won't be flashy, but it would go a long way toward excising the most disease ridden segment of the Crook County Elected Crime Syndicate.

Getcher pencils and your scorecards ready. Here are the line-ups for upcoming games as related to us by the first name on the list through his anonymous blog.

No, it's not a baseball game, it's Crook County Politics. Of the connected, by the connected, FOR the connected. It's not only convoluted, inbred and insane, but it is cut-throat.

Minor league in EVERY sense of the word. Proviso Township stands out in many ways.

Mike Quigley was elected to replace Rahm Emannuel in the 5th District removing him from contention for the Cook County Board President race. Forrest Claypool decided not to run against Todd Stroger too. Former School Czar Paul Vallas (pre- Arne Duncan) bowed out as well. That pretty much tapped out all the big name Chicago Dems with some shred of untainted reputation remaining and left Erkel (Todd Stroger) potentially unchallenged. Now Danny Davis is seriously considering a run.

Are you with me so far? Now if Davis surrenders his solid Congressional seat, to take control of the 19th largest budget in the U.S of A, he must be replaced. The 7th Congressional District is one of those gerrymandered monsters that slices through no less than 15 cities, towns and villages containing 654,000 people.
There should be a wide variety of potential candidates, unfortunately most are keeping a very low profile these days. So who are the Playas?

This Link takes you to the "Proviso Insider" blog whose masthead claims straightforward unbiased information. A beacon of light in the murky darkness of Proviso Township.

Proviso School Board President Being Courted for U.S. Congress
With 7th District U.S. Congressman Danny K. Davis exploring a run for Cook County Board President, party leaders are looking for a possible (re)placement of Davis in Congress. One name being bantered about is Proviso School Board President Emanuel "Chris" Welch. Other names being strongly considered are State Representative Karen A. Yarbrough and Broadview Mayor Sherman A. Jones. Party officials like Welch because he's young, and his future is bright in the Democratic Party.

A nice little piece of reporting/writing? Except that the Proviso Insider IS Emmanuel "Chris" Welch's anonymous blog. He is reporting that HE is the obvious choice to replace Davis. In a straightforward and unbiased way of course. Welch is long on self-promotion, but just a little short on transparency.

His modus operandi dovetails nicely with his current profession. If you dare question Welch's impeccable character or actions he'll sue your ass.

"* Illinois: Emanuel Welch, president of the District 209 (Proviso Township High Schools) school board, and his brother Bill Welch filed suit against blogger Carl Nyberg after Nyberg filed an ethics complaint against Emanuel Welch over his vote in Aug. 2005 to hire Bill Welch as a school custodian. Besides being his brother, Emanuel Welch has represented Bill Welch when he was convicted of drug possession two years earlier. The ethics complaint alleges that Emanuel Welch did not disclose this representation when voting on his brother’s employment. The Welches responded with a libel suit based on postings about the ethics complaint."

At the same time he was suing one blogger, his anonymous blog was ripping into a law firm that competes with his own for school business who in turn filed suit against the anonymous blog owners. Through discovery it was revealed that Chris Welch owned and authored the "Proviso Insider". The posts that spurred the lawsuits have been since taken down, but the Insider continues to provide straightforward and unbiased information by and for Emanuel "Chris" Welch.
He wants a "regular" paying gig in politics. He's tired of having to rely on the kindness of connected strangers in funneling money on his behalf. His law firm does get business due to his position at the head of Proviso High School District 209. His campaign funds are liberally seeded by straightfoward and unbiased concerns who do business with his District. But the regular paycheck has eluded him in past attempts to ascend.

Hopefully, Danny Davis will decide NOT to run for Crook County Board President because the potential of "Mr. Welch goes to Washington" is a nightmare inducing script. If Chris Welch is the answer, it's a really stoopid question.

His record? He presides over two of the worst high schools in Cook County. Costing the district's taxpayers ~$70 MILLION each year for roughly 4000 students producing just 800 "graduates" annually. Its only recent laurels are being the alma mater of several NBA notables. Now if Chris was the basketball coach.... maybe... nope, just its puppet master beholden to too many of Crook County's biggest mistakes.

Now he wants to do for the 7th Congressional District what he's done for District 209? If you don't believe him, just ask him. Or take it straightforward and unbiased from his anonymous blog.

Welch lives in Hillside, IL a community of 8000 divided between 3 congressional districts. Guitierez' 4th, Davis' 7th and Rahm Emmanuel's 3rd.

If you are strong of stomach and wondering how people could let things get so monumentally screwed up here are some of the local luminaries.
A representative sample of voters
The Playas
More Welch self-promotion Welch Knows Law dot com.
Eugene Moore
Karen Yarbrough
Kim Lightford

And yes, there's even a psuedo-Republican in the game.
Tony Periaca