Phyllis Schlafly
NEW YORK – Both sides in a dispute over control of Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum are now under a temporary restraining order issued by an Illinois judge who ordered no action taken until a May 10 hearing to decide the fate of the conservative activist group.
The restraining order was issued Friday by Illinois Circuit Judge John B. Barberis, Jr. to stop either Schlafly or six “majority board members” from seizing effective control of the group Schlafly founded.
Schlafly has said the group of board members attempted a “coup” because of her outspoken support of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Leading the six board members seeking to control Eagle Forum is Anne Cori, Schlafly’s daughter.
As WND reported last week, Anne Cori explained Judge Barberis had asked the plaintiffs not to speak to press or engage in social media. Cori did not respond to a WND specific request to provide a statement for publication regarding Judge Barberis’ decision or the upcoming May 10 hearing.
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WND reported April 11 Schlafly said the Eagle Forum board was plotting to fire her because she had endorsed Trump a month earlier.
“This may be my Dobson moment,” Schlafly told WND, perhaps prophetically, referring to allegations that James Dobson was pushed out of the organization he founded, Focus on the Family.
While acknowledging the decision by Judge Barberis to grant the request by the six dissident board members who had petitioned the court as plaintiffs, Andrew Schlafly, Phyllis’ son and an attorney by profession, expressed that he was pleased at the limited nature of the temporary restraining order.
“The judge rejected some of the primary demands that were made by the Gang of Six,” Andrew told WND in a telephone interview Saturday. “For example, Judge Barberis rejected their attempt to remove Ed Martin as president of Eagle Forum’s 501(c)4 organization.”
As WND has previously reported, Ed Martin is Phyllis Schlafly’s handpicked choice as successor.
“So, while the judge allowed some claims to go forward, the temporary restraining order does not grant the primary relief the plaintiffs were demanding,” said Andrew Schlafly. “The judge did not rule the April 11 board meeting removing Ed Martin was legitimate, and the judge did not give control of the Eagle Forum bank and investment accounts to the Gang of Six.”
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WND has also previously reported the Eagle Forum 501(c)4 bank and investment accounts currently hold approximately $4 million in asset value.
Andrew Schlafly also said the decision by Judge Barberis effectively freezes the bank and investment accounts, while making it hard for either side to make any strategic moves before the scheduled May 10 hearing
At the May 10 hearing, Judge Barberis is expected to hear and decide upon the substantive arguments behind the plaintiff’s request that a preliminary injunction order should be put in place.
The decision also refused to grant the defendants’ request on behalf of Phyllis Schlafly to rule illegal the April 11 board meeting and to replace at least one of the six dissenting board members to defeat the coup attempt and regain control of Eagle Forum.
Judge Barberis deferred until the May 10 hearing any final decision on the substantive issues underlying the dispute.
In a short three-page opinion ordering in place a temporary restraining order, Judge Barberis made several specific rulings.
The defendants, including Phyllis Schlafly, were restrained “from preventing Majority Directors from accessing the Illinois Headquarters and any and all of the property of Eagle Forum 501(c)4” located there or elsewhere.
WND reported last Wednesday that, on the morning of April 12, the day after the board meeting in which the six opposition members had voted with a simple majority to take over Eagle Forum’s 501(c)4 organization, Cori and her husband appeared at the Eagle Trust Fund offices in Alton, Illinois, and demanded access to Eagle Forum’s files.
John and Andrew Schlafly, Phyllis Schlafly’s sons, according to affidavits Eagle Forum submitted in the case, informed Cori and her husband that Eagle Forum did not own the building and they were not welcome on premises.
Cori and her husband agreed to leave only after police were called and arrived.
Judge Barberis also restrained Phyllis Schlafly and Eagle Forum’s 501(c)4 organization “from attempting to nominate, call for an election of, or elect any candidate for the position of At-Large Director to serve on the Eagle Board in 2016.”
WND had also reported last Wednesday that, on April 18, Phyllis Schlafly approved sending out an email to Eagle Forum members asking for nominations to replace a board member who had surpassed the two-term limit for directors elected after January 2007.
As Eagle Forum chairman and chief executive officer, Phyllis Schlafly selected three nominees to replace the board member, and a ballot was mailed to Eagle Forum members April 22.
Had Judge Barberis allowed the election to go forward, on Monday the election would have been completed and a new at-large director widely expected to support Schlafly would have been appointed, with the effective result of depriving the remaining five opposition directors of the simple majority used to pass resolutions at the previous controversial April 11 board meeting.
Judge Barberis further ruled that all prior signatories on the bank and investment accounts of Eagle Forum’s 501(c)4 organization were revoked, and that dissenting board member plaintiffs Anne Cori and Eunice Smith, as well as Phyllis Schlafly are to be “the only individuals with signatory authority” on these accounts, such that each of the three “must affix their signature” on any of these accounts before a deposit or withdrawal is made.
Judge Barberis’ decision stopped short of taking several actions requested by the six dissenting board member plaintiffs.
Ed Martin was not removed as president and the judge refused to give full effect to the resolutions passed by the majority six dissenting board members at the April 11 board meeting.
The control of the Eagle Forum 501(c)4 bank and investment accounts was not handed over to the six dissenting board member plaintiffs and an attorney representing the six was not appointed to become the attorney representing Eagle Forum’s 501(c)4 organization.
The temporary restraining order became effective at 4:20 pm CT, on Friday, April 29, and was ordered to remain in place, unless otherwise modified or dissolved by the court, until May 10, the date scheduled for a full hearing on the merits of the case involved in the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
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