One of the most influential election lawyers in Illinois, who has built a reputation on representing some of the biggest names in Illinois and American political history, has entered the fray in a local school board contest, as the longest serving member of the Proviso High School District board seeks to eke out a win, even after the votes have been counted and certified, and her rival has been sworn into office.
Michael Kasper, who most notably served as the former general counsel for indicted former House Speaker Michael Madigan, is representing Theresa Kelly, former president of the Proviso High School District 209 Board of Education, in Kelly’s last ditch efforts to retain her seat.
On Wednesday, May 10, election officials with the Cook County Clerk’s office will conduct a recount in the hotly contested nonpartisan contest in which Kelly appeared to have been unseated by just 12 votes.
Theresa Kelly
| Facebook
Proviso District 209 covers a large swatch of Chicago’s near western suburbs, encompassing the communities Maywood, Melrose Park, Bellwood, Stone Park, Forest Park, Broadview, Berkeley, Northlake, Westchester and Hillside, among others. The district operates three high schools, Proviso East, Proviso West and Proviso Mathematics and Science Academy, serving more than 4,500 students.
District 209 includes the residence of current Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside.
Kelly was first elected to the Proviso Township High School board 23 years ago. In more than two decades on the board, Kelly has been no stranger to controversy or conflict.
During her time on the board, she found herself in both the majority and minority. For nearly 10 years, for instance, she often found herself at odds with Welch, when he served as president of the Proviso board.
Notably, Kelly clashed with Welch over his attempt to use district money to defend himself against a 2008 lawsuit brought against Welch by Proviso’s former lawyers, who accused Welch of defaming them in a personal blog. Kelly publicly stated she believed Welch should foot the legal bills for the defense himself.
Welch later would depart the board to win a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives, and ultimately would become Speaker of the State House, replacing Madigan when criminal investigations and indictments of members of Madigan’s inner circle forced him from office.
Welch was no rival of Madigan’s. Rather, he was a longtime political ally of the powerful Speaker and former Illinois Democratic Party Chairman, who built a political organization that dominated Springfield and Chicago politics for nearly 40 years, and was Madigan's choice to succeed him, according to published reports.
Following Welch’s departure, the school board came under the supervision of a specially appointed state Financial Oversight Panel, which scrutinized District 209’s spending because of what was described as “crippling budget deficits” under Welch’s watch. That FOP oversight continued until the end of 2019.
Following Welch’s departure from the board, Kelly would return to the majority on the board, holding positions of president and vice president of the school board.
In recent years, the school board recognized Kelly’s decades of service by voting 4-2 to name the football stadium at Proviso East High School in her honor. The Illinois General Assembly, under Welch, also issued a proclamation saluting Kelly for her service on the board.
Upon emerging from under the FOP, Kelly and her allies controversially shook up administration at the high school, notably by hiring current Superintendent James Henderson.
In the years since, Henderson has faced criticism for being unresponsive to the public, for conducting school district business in a less than transparent fashion and for allegedly intimidating and improperly disciplining certain staff members.
A lawsuit was filed in March, for instance, by teachers who accused Henderson of violating their First Amendment rights by disciplining them for speaking out against administration.
Kelly’s support for Henderson also prompted her to be targeted by similar criticism.
In the months leading up to the election, Kelly and her allies on the board clashed with the union representing Proviso’s educators during contract talks that resulted in teacher strike in 2022.
And in recent years, Kelly was accused of improperly limiting or ignoring public comments at school board meetings, including appearing to laugh and joke with other board members while members of the public were speaking.
Notably, she faced strong criticism after she appeared to raise her middle finger in a vulgar gesture at a fellow school board member when she noticed the other board member was using her phone camera to record her and another board member laughing and joking during public comments.
Kelly denied she did so, and said the gesture was unfortunate and misunderstood.
Among other recent conflicts, political opponents of Kelly, led by current D209 board member Amanda Grant spoke publicly against a plan floated by Henderson to issue $71 million in bonds to fund future school renovation projects in the high school district. According to Grant, that proposal was developed by an unspecified “outside party,” and not district staff.
According to an article published by the Forest Park Review, financing plans related to the project were presented to the board in February by educational consultant James Cunneen and representatives of Mesirow Financial.
In an op-ed published by local news organizations within the Proviso district, Grant accused Henderson, Kelly and their allies of engaging in “extreme financial mismanagement,” and feared they would do the same with the millions that might be generated by the construction and renovation bonds.
The political opposition to Kelly and her allies appeared to coalesce around a three-member slate of school board candidates in a bid to wrest control of the board from Kelly. In the spring of 2023, a three-member candidate slate, including David Ocampo, Sandra Lee Hixson and Jennifer Wenzel Barbahen, put their names on the ballot.
According to campaign finance disclosures, the challengers, under the banner of 209 United, were heavily financed by $16,000 in donations from the West Suburban Teachers Union Local 571 Cope Fund. That union also donated funds in support of Chicago Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson in 2023 and other prominent Democrats in the 2022 elections, including $10,000 each to the campaigns of Illinois Supreme Court Justices Elizabeth Rochford and Mary K. O’Brien.
Campaign finance disclosures indicate Kelly and her allies, under the banner of D209 Together, were primarily funded by more than $20,000 in donations from the Chicagoland Operators Joint Labor Management PAC, a campaign finance organization led by James Sweeney, president of the building trades local union, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150.
On Election Day, April 4, Ocampo and Hixson claimed the top two spots in the race for three open spots on the board, receiving 5,975 and 5,397 votes, respectively.
Kelly appeared to stake a narrow lead on Election Day over Barbahen for the third seat. But mail-in ballots counted after Election Day broke for the challenger.
Ocampo, Hixson and Barbahen were seated on the school board at the beginning of May, and Grant was elected school board president.
However, Kelly has not yet conceded defeat.
On May 1, the seemingly ousted incumbent petitioned the Cook County Clerk’s Office for a recount by right, under state law, because her vote total was within 95% of Barbahen’s. The recount request was granted, and scheduled for Wednesday, May 10. According to a spokesman for the Cook County Clerk's office, the recount is a discovery review, in which ballots are assessed by the candidate and her team to determine if there is enough evidence to support an argument that the count was incorrect.
Then, the losing candidate would be able to challenge the canvassed results in court.
To aid that recount effort and potential challenge, Kelly has recruited some powerful legal help, bringing in Kasper to represent her in the sustained election fight.
It is not known how Kasper came to be involved in the effort, or who is footing the bill for Kasper's services.
Kasper has built his reputation and practice through decades of representing some of the biggest and most powerful names in Illinois and U.S. politics, including Madigan and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and serving as general counsel to the Illinois Democratic Party.
Kasper has routinely represented other Illinois Democrats in election-related legal matters for decades, racking up numerous wins along the way.
Aside from election law, Kasper notably represented Madigan’s allies in a successful bid to persuade the Illinois Supreme Court to torpedo a plan by political reform advocates to amend the state constitution to strip from Madigan and his political successors the ability to draw state legislative district boundaries.
Illinois Democrats have wielded that power to devastating effect in the past 20 years, somehow carving out an ever growing list of likely Democratic districts, boosting their supermajority in the Illinois General Assembly, and cementing their power in Springfield and beyond.
They also notably used the power to redraw Illinois Supreme Court districts in 2021, enabling Democrats to increase their majority on the state Supreme Court, as well, electing both Rochford and O’Brien to the court.
Kasper has also notably helped Welch and other state officials defend the so-called SAFE-T Act, which abolishes cash bail in Illinois, against court challenges brought by state's attorneys who say the law is unconstitutional. That case awaits a decision from the Illinois Supreme Court.
Kasper did not respond to an email from The Cook County Record seeking responses to questions about why he is representing Kelly in the recount for a local school board race.