Forest Parkers know what Proviso Township High Schools need and on Election Day our village delivered the votes for the two candidates most likely to repudiate the insider dealing of State Rep. Chris Welch and his buddies on the school board.
Unfortunately, Forest Park is just a small piece of Proviso and our impact is limited. But local voters gave incumbent and independent Kevin McDermott a huge margin on his way to re-election. A strong vote for Della Patterson was not enough to push her to township-wide victory, however.
With Welch, the long-time power broker at Proviso about to leave the board, there is hope that his influence will gradually ease. But his campaign committee’s contributions of $3,250 for lawn signs for the “Your Choice” slate, his decision to march with the slate in the Forest Park St. Pat’s parade signal he will not go quietly to his new post in Springfield.
That makes the need for Forest Parkers and this newspaper to pay rapt attention to Proviso all the more important going forward.
