Illinois House Speaker 'Chris' Welch's charity taking money from donors with a stake in Springfield

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch has taken campaign money from individuals and interest groups that could benefit from his decision-making in Springfield — including contributions from lobbyists, businesses and unions.

The Hillside Democrat also has a charity that’s gotten backing from some of the same interests, though with less transparency regarding who his charity has gotten its money from, records show.

Welch helped launch Black Excellence in Bleu last year as a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) not-for-profit organization.

In March, it held a downtown event dubbed “Women in Power” that honored women in politics and government and drew political players who have an interest in matters before the General Assembly that Welch helps lead.

A photo on the group’s website shows Welch shaking hands at the event with Charles Wu, who runs a hemp industry trade group that has successfully fought against proposals to regulate its widely available products in Illinois.

“I bought a ticket, I think it was $200,” Wu says. “It seems like it was for a great cause. I don’t think I even talked to the speaker about the hemp issue.”

Wu says he’s friends with the son of former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, one of the women who was honored.

Green Thumb, a player in the rival cannabis industry that has pushed for greater regulation of hemp, is listed as a “sponsor” of Welch’s organization, whose chief executive officer is TaQuoya McConnico, who also is the treasurer of his People for Emanuel Chris Welch and Democrats for the Illinois House campaign funds.

Past “Women in Power” events organized by Welch in 2023 and 2024 served as fundraisers for the Illinois House Democrats campaign fund.

“This is not political in any way,” Welch says of his charity. “This money can’t be spent politically in any way, and the funds are completely separate from what we do politically.

“In politics, a donation gets the donor nothing but an investment in good government. And a donor to a nonprofit like this only gets an investment in something good.”

Welch and Michigan’s Joe Tate, both Democrats who were the first Black legislative speakers of their states, launched the charity and are listed as Black Excellence in Bleu board members. The group’s office is in the same Westchester building as Welch’s other political and government operations.

The nonprofit is required by the IRS to file an annual report that’s available to the public and provides basic information on its finances. Since it was created only last year, it hasn’t had to submit that paperwork yet. It will do so next month, according to McConnico.

Welch’s charity says on its website that it promotes “civic engagement, community outreach and the advancement of sound fiscal, educational and economic policies for the common good and welfare of our communities.”

In its first year, it has raised over $1 million, according to Welch, with much of that covering a massive kickoff event honoring seven of the nation’s first Black state House speakers that was held at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last summer.

Black Excellence in Bleu has given a $50,000 educational scholarship to the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus Foundation and $25,000 to America SCORES Chicago, a nonprofit dedicated to youth engagement through soccer.

“We look forward to doing more work with organizations that may be losing federal funding because of what [President Donald] Trump and [presidential adviser Elon] Musk are doing,” Welch says.

Tickets to attend the March event cost $200. Sponsorships cost between $10,000 and $100,000. More than two dozen companies and organizations are listed as sponsors on the nonprofit’s website, though it’s not spelled out which gave how much.

Campaign contributions must be reported quarterly, if not more quickly, and the contributors and amounts are accessible to anyone through the Illinois State Board of Elections website.

Four campaign funds representing interest groups, including one for Realtors, gave a total of $60,000 to Welch’s charity since last year, according to the elections board.

One big campaign donor to Welch is the Sports Betting Alliance, which includes sports gambling operations such as FanDuel and DraftKings that are regulated by the state of Illinois. The trade group gave Welch’s main campaign fund $250,000 in October, records show. It's also listed as a sponsor for Welch’s charity.

Several labor unions have sponsored Black Excellence in Bleu, too, including Operating Engineers Local 150, which gave $10,000 for the scholarship program, a spokesman says. Local 150 is led by Jim Sweeney, who also is on the board of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.

Another sponsor is Cornerstone Government Affairs, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm whose principal Will Cousineau testified under an immunity deal with federal authorities in the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who was Welch’s predecessor as speaker and Cousineau’s former boss.

The firm works for numerous organizations that could be affected by Welch’s legislative decisions, including the Health Care Council of Illinois, which represents nursing home interests, and the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association, which represents construction companies hungry for taxpayer-funded road-building projects.

Among other things, Cousineau testified at Madigan's trial about being part of a scheme to keep political operative Kevin Quinn employed after he was forced out of Madigan’s organization following sexual harassment accusations. Quinn is a brother of Chicago Ald. Marty Quinn (13th), a Madigan ally.

Welch faced accusations concerning his own conduct with women years ago, which prompted state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, to vote “present” in 2021 rather than support him when Welch first ran for speaker. She said at the time that the allegations, which included a domestic violence call to police involving a former Welch girlfriend, needed to be “vigorously reviewed.”

At the recent Welch charity event, Cassidy was honored along with, among others, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Joy Cunningham and Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, who successfully ran against Clayton Harris III in last year’s Democratic primary. Harris, now Welch’s chief of staff, attended the charity event.

Cassidy says she has supported Welch staying on as speaker and that she doesn’t know whether a formal review was ever conducted about Welch’s conduct.

Welch says, "There has been no one under bigger scrutiny than me in the last four-plus years,” pointing to conversations he’s had with “every single woman in the Democratic Caucus.”

“I’ve earned their support, and I’m going to work hard to continue earning their support in the future,” the speaker says.