By Illinois Review
On Tuesday, the Illinois State Board of Elections ruled unanimously 6-0 in favor of Illinois Review after allies of Republican Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau filed a frivolous case in 2023 meant to intimidate and silence the conservative news publication.
During a hearing in downtown Chicago on Tuesday, ISBE general counsel Marni Malowitz characterized the complaint against IR as “impinging on First Amendment rights.”
On August 1, 2023, Illinois Review broke news that Orland Park mayor Keith Pekau and his village trustees were using taxpayer-funded village resources to run his failed congressional campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL).
Days later, William Healy, an Orland Park village trustee and close ally of Pekau, filed a complaint against Illinois Review General Counsel Scott Kaspar. Healy, a CPA, remains under investigation by the Federal Election Commission for allegedly comingling state and federal campaign contributions relating to Mayor Pekau’s failed congressional bid.
At a preliminary hearing in October 2023, the ISBE hearing officer found that Kaspar and IR editor-in-chief Mark Vargas had done nothing wrong – and that Illinois Review was an independent and long-standing news organization not under the purview of the Board’s election authority.
Despite the hearing officer’s decision, allies of senior IL GOP leaders ignored the report that found no wrongdoing – and instead, requested that the case go to the next round regardless of the preliminary ruling.
On July 29, 2024, almost a year later, Vargas and Kaspar testified for a second time. But on Tuesday, the case was finally dismissed in a 6-0 vote.
Censoring media outlets is typical in third world countries ruled by dictators. In Russia, President Vladamir Putin signed a law that criminalizes news publications from reporting on anything that contradicts, or is critical of his administration.
In China, a country that leads the world in jailing reporters, there are an estimated 274 journalists currently in prison for reporting on stories that angered the ruling Communist political party – and citizen journalist Zhang Zahn sits in a Chinese prison for her reporting the facts during the pandemic.
In Iran, there are 41 journalists in prison for writing stories that exposed the corruption of Iranian authorities.
Jim Dodge, a former Orland Park clerk and trustee, is challenging Pekau in the mayoral primary on April 1.
