By Illinois Review
On Thursday evening, Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau sent an email to constituents titled “Mayor’s Update – IMPORTANT ACTIVE SHOOTER ALARM INFORMATION!”
The email without a doubt created instant and widespread panic given the recent mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville where three 9-year old children and 3 adults were tragically murdered.
After immediately opening the email, alarmed constituents are told in the second paragraph that,
“Fortunately, the active shooter alarm was accidentally set off.”
In other words, a false alarm. And a false and misleading headline, too.
Pekau then pivots and praises his close friend and ally, Orland Park Emergency Services & Disaster Agency (ESDA) coordinator Rich Miller, who, along with personal dog Leo – the village’s therapy dog, received an award at the 100 Club of Illinois Valor Award Ceremony last evening, which the mayor attended.
But now that Pekau has your attention with the false, misleading and grossly inappropriate headline, he then launches into an attack on his political enemies, falsely claiming that this publication accused Miller of impersonating a police officer and that other people were out to destroy Miller’s reputation with false information about his alleged criminal background.
The truth is that in a previous article, this publication highlighted Eric Vates, the president of Orland Park Mazda and Sean Kampas, an IT consultant and village trustee, who are frequently spotted at community events wearing official police uniforms, despite not being in law enforcement.
Pekau continues to play the empathetic victim while defending Miller, writing,
“Here is what I will not get over and will never forget. The same people who have been trying to destroy my life did and said despicable things about Rich [Miller].”
The unhinged mayor then concludes his message under the headline, “Mayor’s Update – IMPORTANT ACTIVE SHOOTER ALARM INFORMATION!” with,
“These people should be ashamed of what they did to Rich Miller. Their friends and family should be ashamed and the unions should be ashamed. Those of you who support them and apologize for them should be ashamed. While I watched him get the Rich Kozic Memorial Award from the 100 Club of Illinois the very next night, I was sick to my stomach and was brought to tears because I thought of what he was put through just the day before.”
Pekau is obsessed with playing the victim, and he plays on constituents’ emotions by alleging that his life is always in danger.
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.
All this while claiming that Orland Park is the safest city in Illinois, tweeting in 2021,
“I joined Newsmax to talk about rising crime in Chicago, a stark contrast to OP’s distinction as the safest city in IL. The anti-law enforcement policies/rhetoric of Lightfoot, Foxx, Casten & Newman put our communities & officers at risk.”
But to use a headline with “active shooter” to trick people into opening up his email so he can increase his audience interaction as he levels attacks against his political enemies is beyond disturbing – in fact, it’s a sign of something much worse, proving that the mayor is more than just unhinged after suffering massive and debilitating election night defeats.
The US Constitution has the 25th Amendment where an incapacitated or rogue president can be removed from office – but perhaps Orland Park should consider such a mechanism for removing Pekau.
Spreading false and misleading information is one thing, but invoking a tragic event like an “active shooter” headline to draw more people to read your hate-filled email crosses every line.
