Illinois House speaker's controversies run deep — and were well-known to other powerbrokers in Illinois

As more than one critic of Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch voiced after his announcement that he won’t be running again for the powerful leadership post, his political fall wasn’t as surprising as that it took this long — and that he ever was able to get the job at all.

Welch’s controversies are extensive, and they date back well before his 2013 arrival in the Legislature representing a west suburban district, a seat the Hillside Democrat apparently plans to retain while stepping away as a House leader.

He served on the Proviso Township High Schools District 209 board of education from 2001 to 2013, most of that time as president, and faced numerous troubling accusations during that time — most notably that he slammed a former girlfriend’s head against a counter in a Hillside home amid an argument in 2002.

A police report was filed, but Welch was not charged with a crime and denied committing any violence. His ex-girlfriend has declined to comment.

The domestic incident was well known at the time Welch was chosen in 2021 to succeed the embattled — and later convicted — Michael Madigan as speaker. While there was some concern raised by legislators such as state Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), the chamber nonetheless voted to make Welch the speaker.

Cassidy and the National Organization for Women said some sort of review should still be conducted to determine the credibility of the domestic violence complaint. But as the Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this year, that examination never occurred for reasons that are not clear.

“I had my concerns in his first election as speaker because the issues had been raised,” Cassidy said. “I gave him the benefit of the doubt the second time around, but it’s not acceptable after what we learned this summer.”

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Neither Welch nor his aides responded to requests for comment.

Lawsuits allege inappropriate behavior

Also during Welch’s time at Proviso, the district faced lawsuits because of alleged inappropriate actions by him, including one filed in 2010 by an employee named Beyonca Johnson who said in court records she was fired after ending a romantic relationship with him and rejecting his advances.

Johnson was hired by District 209 in 2007, and weeks later “began engaging in a personal and romantic relationship” with Welch, according to her lawsuit.

She stopped the relationship after several months, yet was “the recipient of his repeated and continual un-welcomed sexual advances,” and “was told by him that her job was gone and that she could kiss her job goodbye.”

Johnson ultimately was fired, according to her suit. School officials have said she was terminated for not showing up to work as an administrative assistant for the superintendent but she has denied that. The lawsuit was later dismissed by Johnson.

According to a person familiar with the situation but who asked not to be publicly named, Johnson ended the relationship when she found out Welch was dating another District 209 employee, a high-ranking administrator, at the same time.

Around the time Johnson filed the lawsuit, and obtained an order of protection, men came to her home and handed the father of Johnson’s child semi-nude photos of Johnson that she’d previously shared with Welch when they were dating, the source said, adding it was interpreted as a threat.

Johnson unsuccessfully challenged Welch in the Democratic primary in 2012 for the legislative seat being vacated by another Proviso political powerhouse, then-state Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) who went on to become Cook County’s recorder of deeds and clerk before dying in 2024.

In 2011, another female Proviso employee filed a federal complaint against Welch and the school district alleging retaliation and discrimination stemming from an incident at a football game where the woman said she “failed to hug the president of the board of education when he asked.”

“That night and the next afternoon, Mr. Emanuel Welch asserted that he was going to make a change in my building because I disrespected him by not hugging him. He sent text messages to my principal to this end.”

The case was dropped in 2012.

Also in 2012, a suburban newspaper published a story that said another District 209 employee who had been romantically involved with Welch allegedly lost her job after they broke up.

The same article said that Welch had “used his influence to help secure employment for at least 13 friends and political supporters and six relatives” at District 209.

Allegations of political payback

Other lawsuits filed while Welch was at District 209 alleged he engaged in political payback against employees allied with his political rivals, including relatives of Mike Manzo.

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

Manzo was a member of the District 209 school board with Welch in the early 2000s when Manzo said he was in the process of buying a home out of the district. He said he was planning to resign from the board and move, with his young daughter already attending kindergarten in a different community.

Even though Manzo said Welch and others in District 209 knew this, someone videotaped the girl outside her school, Welch ended up with a copy, and it was played and discussed at a public board meeting. Manzo, who’s now an Oak Brook trustee, said it was a clear attempt by Welch to embarrass and harass him.

This happened around the time Manzo ran unsuccessfully against Welch’s close political ally, Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico.

“Even the Mafia doesn’t mess with the family,” Manzo said, saying Welch used his daughter “as a weapon.”

“My 5-year-old daughter had nothing to do with my fight with Welch.”

Welch later said in a deposition in another lawsuit that he didn’t regret the way he handled that situation, and “that as stewards of the district... it was important for us to make sure one of our fellow board members isn't doing something against what we practice.”

In 2011, a FOX 32 Chicago report raised questions about whether District 209 employees were practicing political work for Welch on the taxpayers’ dime while he was running for his legislative post.

In 2012, the Better Government Association published a story that Welch, an attorney who’d been representing a Bellwood elementary school district, had told board members “that it was in our rights” to fire an administrator after a sexual harassment complaint was made against him.

The administrator later sued, and Welch’s law firm recommended the district settle with him and give him his job back, according to the story, which noted that “Welch’s about-face came as he received financial support” for his legislative run from a political party affiliated with the man.

U.S. District Court

Welch and others insisted at the time there was no connection between the campaign help and any of his actions in the Bellwood school system.

Separately, Welch also once insisted he had nothing to do with anonymous posts on a blog called Proviso Insider that included allegations of potential wrongdoing by attorneys whose law firm had once represented District 209.

“Welch denied any involvement or responsibility for the posts,” the Forest Park Review wrote earlier this year. “That is, until a forensic examination determined the posts had been made from a computer at his law firm.”

Sued for defamation, the blog later retracted the allegations and Welch settled the case.

In Springfield, allegations continue

Once in the Legislature, Welch was accused of blocking scrutiny into potential wrongdoing by Madigan when a special committee convened in 2020 at the behest of Republicans. At the time, a federal investigation was drilling into corruption with the utility giant ComEd and legislators — and Madigan was later convicted of bribery-related charges and remains in prison.

Emerging from that criminal case: evidence that Madigan’s camp had asked current or former ComEd lobbyists to hire and pay a Madigan campaign aide who was fired for sexual harassment and needed income to stay afloat.

One of those lobbyists, Will Cousineau, has remained close to Welch, and his company helped Welch’s wife, ShawnTe Raines-Welch, in her effort to get elected Cook County judge in 2022.

Welch also helped his wife’s campaign, as did Berwyn attorney Michael Del Galdo, who had been close to Madigan, raising money for him until his departure as speaker.

Madigan’s late withdrawal from the speaker’s race during the waning hours of a 2021 legislative session greased the skids for Welch to succeed him.

Ashlee Rezin | Sun-Times

The state’s first Black speaker boosted his caucus’ super-majority to historic highs across three election cycles, while ushering landmark legislation through his chamber including the state’s assault weapon ban, criminal justice reform in the SAFE-T Act and the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act.

But House members often privately grumbled about unruly caucus meetings under Welch’s watch that occasionally devolved into shouting matches.

Some also took aim at his policy of refusing to call bills to the floor unless sponsors first secured 60 Democratic votes, effectively blocking bills that could’ve sailed to bipartisan passage. Gov. JB Pritzker criticized Welch for taking that tack to block intoxicating hemp product regulations last year, before the ban that was approved in the spring.

By summer, Welch was losing his grip on the gavel as the legislative inspector general confirmed the speaker’s office was aware of sexual harassment allegations against disgraced ex-state Rep. Harry Benton almost three years before a new complaint prompted Welch to boot the Plainfield Democrat from their caucus. In the meantime, Welch had pumped $1.4 million into Benton’s reelection bid.

The delayed response to harassment allegations drew outrage from many of the same women in the Democratic Caucus who had demanded Madigan’s ouster under the same cloud.

Welch has claimed that because the initial Benton complainant declined to file a formal complaint, he had no choice but to stand by a caucus member. The speaker also apologized for later sending social media messages to the complainant that made her uncomfortable.

Closed-doors criticism turned into a full-on rebellion within two days of the Nov. 3 election despite sweeping gains for Welch’s political operation, as an insurmountable bloc of 26 House Democrats publicly called for a new leadership.

“I’ve always believed our time in these positions is finite, but the work we do is part of an infinite game,” Welch said in a statement announcing he’d step aside. “Leadership isn’t about holding on to power. It’s about opening doors and leaving them open for others.”

A source who asked not to be named said Welch slammed a door in his Springfield office and became so angry and vocal at the conclusion of a meeting with a female legislator within the last few years that staffers and others who were present became unsettled.

Manzo said that Welch’s bad habits were well known before he became speaker — so any blame should be spread around to those who overlooked it or enabled him.

Those rising up against Welch: “Now they want credit?”

“I don’t think they deserve credit,” Manzo said, adding the General Assembly “covered for Welch for this long.”