By Illinois Review
Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau suffered humiliating defeats as residents resoundingly rejected his power grab dubbed as a “referendum” by a shocking 31 points.
On February 13th, Illinois Review published one of the very first articles challenging Pekau and questioning his motives when he quietly pushed through a referendum that would expand his influence – making him the most powerful political figure in Orland Park in over forty years.
Since then, Illinois Review has published twelve articles exposing the real Pekau – writing about how he rewards top campaign donors with village contracts; viciously attacks constituents – especially women online; harasses and intimidates voters; bullies local business owners and first responders; follows people in his vehicle; and had bulletproof glass installed in the Orland Park Village board room to make it appear as if his life is in constant danger – something third world dictators do to make their constituents feel sorry for them.
On Tuesday night, voters also rejected Pekau’s slate of endorsed candidates, losing 9 out of 10 races – proving that an overwhelming majority of Orland Park residents rejected Pekau and anyone associated with the power-hungry and divisive mayor.
Although the mayoral election is in two years, Pekau’s performance on Tuesday night proves that he is already a lame duck mayor – and his power and influence dramatically weakened after suffering humiliating defeats on Tuesday night.
In the final week leading up to the election – and sensing defeat – Pekau and his very small group of allies were coming unglued – viciously attacking on social media and on radio, anyone who was not aligned with the power-hungry mayor or his slate of endorsed candidates, including this publication, which he refers to as a “newsletter” or “blog,” despite having over 400,000 subscribers nationwide and a recently added newspaper edition.
For example, on Monday, Orland Park voters were greeted with an unhinged robocall from Pekau that was over a minute in length. Far from promoting his referendum or his preferred candidates, Pekau used the opportunity to lash out in a nasty rant against none other than the publisher of Illinois Review.
Pekau also slammed constituents who opposed his referendum and were not supportive of his slate of candidates at a recent village meeting, saying these constituents are “vile” and must be “driven out” of town.
Pekau also went on Facebook to attack and argue with local firefighters and the firefighter union – on the same evening when two Chicago firefighters were injured, one killed in Chicago.
This behavior is shocking – attacking both constituents and first responders for all to see. And it’s no wonder voters overwhelmingly rejected Pekau and his candidates on Tuesday – he is a disgrace and gives a bad name to every person in elective office.
Cook County Republican Party chairman Sean Morrison – a close friend and ally who endorsed Pekau during his failed congressional campaign, rushed to Pekau’s defense in the final days of the election, recording a robocall that attacked the publisher of Illinois Review with lies, calling the conservative mega-Trump donor and personal friend of the Trump family, a “Democrat.”
Unlike Morrison, who, sources confirm, secretly made a deal with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot during her last election – a quick glance at our publisher’s donation history proves his Republican bona fides.
For Morrison to suggest that our publisher is a Democrat, is laughable. And it’s a typical attack line coming from Team Pekau.
Don Tracy, chair of the Republican Party of Illinois, and a close friend and ally of Pekau also recorded a robocall and sent out a text message for the power-hungry and divisive mayor – borrowing his talking points and urging Orland Park residents to go out and vote.
Pekau has remained silent online since his humiliating defeats, but Illinois Review expects the damaged and defeated mayor and his allies to resume their attacks.
And hopefully they do – because it will only reinforce the point why voters overwhelmingly rejected Pekau and anyone associated with him on election night.
The world can be a lonely place – and Pekau will soon find that out.
