Nov. 20--Two lawsuits have been filed challenging the appointment last week of Kenneth Williams to the Thornton Township High School District 205 board -- the same board he was ousted from last year over a decades-old felony conviction.
Williams left the board in October 2013 after a Cook County judge ruled he could not serve in the elected position because of his 1985 conviction in Indiana for aiding, inducing or causing a forgery. Under Illinois law, convicted felons generally may not hold public office unless their crimes have been pardoned.
But last week, three members of the seven-member school board -- Darren Robinson, Judith Gibbs and Toni Williams, who is Kenneth Williams' wife -- voted to appoint him to a seat left vacant when another board member resigned after moving out of the district.
On Tuesday, board members Bernadette Lawrence and Edward Crayton sued the trio in the Cook County Circuit Court's Chancery Division seeking to have the defendants' Nov. 12 vote to appoint Williams declared void and to bar Williams from serving on the board.
The suit alleges Williams is ineligible to serve on the board because of his felony record, and the vote was improper because the defendants were one member short of a quorum.
Lawrence and Crayton, who did not attend the board meeting, allege the defendants wanted to bring Williams back "so as to establish and preserve a controlling voting bloc," according to a copy of the lawsuit.
"They were not happy with the board's actions on Nov. 12, and it really goes back to the prior meeting on Oct. 21 when the board interviewed Mr. Williams in executive session about his interest in the position," said attorney James Petrungaro, who is representing Lawrence and Crayton.
Neither of his clients was able to attend the October meeting, which was held by the other board members at 9 a.m., Petrungaro said.
A second lawsuit filed Tuesday by Vanessa Kinder also seeks to have the vote declared illegal because of a lack of a quorum. Kinder, who serves as head of the South Cook Intermediate Service Center -- which oversees District 205 -- also alleges the board usurped her authority to appoint a replacement for a board member who recently resigned.
Records show Indiana authorities granted Williams' request to have his criminal record expunged in March, but the conviction has not been pardoned. Williams would not comment on the lawsuits, but this week he told the Tribune he believed the expungement cleared the way for his return to public office.
"I don't have a conviction anymore, so I'm eligible to run for anything in the state of Illinois," Williams said. "They can't even say that I'm a convicted felon anymore -- unless they want a civil lawsuit."
His attorney, Andrew Finko, declined to comment, saying he had not yet seen either lawsuit.
Williams, 51, of South Holland, was elected in 2009 to the school board, which serves approximately 5,000 students in Harvey, Markham, South Holland and several other suburbs. The Cook County state's attorney sued in January 2013 to have him removed after learning of the conviction, and he was re-elected to a second term a few months later while the suit was pending.
Cook County Associate Judge Rita Novak later ordered Williams had to vacate his position because of the conviction. Williams' appeal of the order is still pending.
District 205 spokesman Glenn Harston said the district does not comment on pending litigation.
Kinder's attorney could not be immediately reached for comment.
Tribune reporter Meredith Rodriguez contributed.
mwalberg@tribpub.com
Twitter @mattwalberg1
