By Illinois Review
In 2021, Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau and his slate of hand-picked candidates campaigned on “putting people over politics” and being a voice for everyone, regardless of political parties and affiliations.
“Because of our leadership, Orland Park is primed for success long into the future. We cannot afford to go back to the failures and political games of the past. Stand with us so we can continue to work cooperatively to move Orland Park forward.
Vote for our People Over Politics team: Keith Pekau for Mayor, Gus Lekas for Clerk, and Sean Kampas, Joni Radaszewski, and Brian Riordan for Trustee.”
But that’s not all.
The People Over Politics slate also promised to run the village with the best interests of the people in mind, and not for their “own benefit.”
However, what the residents have witnessed instead, is a mayor obsessed with control – and it’s why he’s pushing a referendum that would give him virtually unlimited power in Orland Park – making him the most powerful political figure at Village Hall in over forty years.
Question his motives about his latest attempt at a power grab, and he labels you a liar.
Call out his hypocrisy and he labels you a liar.
Pekau governs by fear, and like a dictator, he’s always looking for sympathy – manipulating the narrative and changing the script so that he’s always the victim – in every situation.
He’s also a bully and rude, and he frequently attacks women in public comments online – and then deleting those comments, only after they’ve been read by the intended recipient as a form of intimidation.
In one recent example, when Jill Hodge, a constituent, questions Pekau about his “facts” with regards to the referendum, he replies,
“Another lie. Can you say anything truthful?…Facts are stubborn things.”
In another example, Pekau responds to an online post by Kari Kinnard, who’s also talking about the referendum, writing,
“At the very least make your vote on real/accurate information”
The shocking and inappropriate comments coming from a public servant who promised to put “people over politics” inspires Kari to respond to the mayor in another post,
“Wow, yet another example of rude and condescending behavior.”
Yet again proving that Pekau is a better fit as a waiter at Ed Debevic’s, where being rude and a bully is part of the charm – then serving as the mayor of Orland Park.
Politics is about addition – and Pekau screams subtraction. And the numbers prove it.
During his Get Out The Vote Rally held a few nights ago featuring Jeanne Ives and Deanne Mazzochi, only 46 people attended.
21 were private citizens and 25 were candidates, elected officials and special guests – making the rally look more like a Joe Biden event, who infamously and frequently speaks to half empty rooms on the campaign trail.
The rally originally featured Jeanne Ives and Richard Porter, the Republican national committeeman in Illinois and the architect of the failed Richard Irvin for governor campaign, but Porter dropped out at the last minute, opting to speak to a small group of law students instead.
And last night, Pekau held a town hall meeting on the Referendum where only 12 people showed up.
The room at the Orland Park Public Library had been set up for 100 attendees, but as Pekau got up to speak, there were only 12 in the audience.
Sources in the room confirm that within 15 minutes of the event, 5 got up and walked out.
On March 2nd, the ballot initiative Vote Yes Orland Park held a town hall meeting at the library, and over 100 residents showed up to voice their concerns and opposition to Pekau’s latest power grab.
Orland Park, a village of just over 50,000 residents, has been a council-manager form of government since 1983. That managerial style relies on a full-time Village Manager who reports directly to the Village Board of Trustees, of which the mayor is the chair.
Orland Park’s current Village Manager has held that position since 2019, after Pekau pushed out the former Village Manager.
But elevating the mayoral position to that of a full-time, Chicago-style mayor, and by effectively eliminating the need for a full-time Village Manager, Pekau would become the most powerful political figure in Orland Park in over forty years.
In Chicago, which has a mayor-council form of government, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has enormous power and influence over city matters.
During the pandemic, Lightfoot exercised her powers and instructed the Chicago Police Department to quietly create a special unit of over 70 police officers to protect her home and office – in addition to the 20 police officers that were already part of her security detail.
Under a mayor-council form of government, Pekau could do the same, instructing the Orland Park police chief to quietly assemble a special unit of officers to provide full-time protection – including a motorcade of SUVs, officers at his home and office, guarding him around the clock, no matter where he is.
And sources confirm that last year, Pekau fortified the Village Hall Board Room, replacing the windows that overlooked a pond, with bulletproof glass – and adding a film that gives a “frosted” look on the glass, to enhance security measures.
And judging by the upgrades to the Village Hall Board Room, it appears that Pekau is laying the groundwork and making the case that he will require a full-time security detail as the mayor of a village with just over 50,000 residents.
By comparison, Chicago has over 2.7 million residents.
The election is on April 4, 2023.
