By Illinois Review
While Lyons Township Clerk Elyse Hoffenberg faces mounting scrutiny over an after-hours kiss captured on government surveillance video, the other person on the tape has largely escaped the spotlight.
Bridgeview Mayor Steven Landek — a former Democratic state senator, longtime Lyons Township Democratic committeeman and current appointee of Gov. JB Pritzker — has remained publicly silent.
So has Pritzker.
Landek is not simply a local Democratic political figure. He currently serves on the Illinois Finance Authority, a state board whose members are appointed by the governor. State records show Landek has served on the authority since August 2023 and currently holds a term extending through July 2028.
Now the Pritzker appointee dubbed the “Makeout Mayor” by some critics is at the center of a political controversy playing out on surveillance video from a taxpayer-funded government office.
The footage, released Thursday night by Hoffenberg, shows Landek and Hoffenberg talking inside the Lyons Township clerk’s office after hours.
Landek turns toward Hoffenberg, places both hands on her face and kisses her for approximately two seconds. Hoffenberg, who is married, smiles afterward.
In a slow-motion sequence reviewed and published by Illinois Review, Hoffenberg also appears to reach down and take Landek’s left hand as he turns and begins walking away.
Hoffenberg previously characterized the encounter as a “peck” and told Patch that she immediately informed Landek the contact was “inappropriate” and that he apologized.
The video does not contain sufficiently clear audio to establish what was said following the kiss. But while Hoffenberg has been questioned repeatedly about the encounter, Landek has offered virtually no public explanation for his own conduct.
That disparity is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
Landek is an elected mayor. He is a powerful southwest suburban Democratic political figure. And he holds a state appointment from Pritzker.
Yet the governor has not publicly addressed whether the episode raises questions about Landek’s judgment or continued service on the Illinois Finance Authority.
The circumstances involving Landek and Hoffenberg are different from other recent misconduct controversies involving Illinois Democrats. The township video does not, by itself, establish sexual harassment or any crime. Landek and Hoffenberg are separately elected officials, not a legislator and a subordinate in a House workplace.
Illinois Democrats are nonetheless facing another test of how they respond when questions about conduct involve prominent members of their own party.
In July, a Legislative Inspector General report found that former Democratic state Rep. Harry Benton committed two acts of sexual harassment as part of a “pattern and practice of inappropriate sexual conduct.”
The same report said House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office knew of an earlier allegation involving Benton in 2023. Welch later apologized after reporting that his own contacts with the woman who raised that complaint — including social-media interactions and an invitation to meet at a bar — made her uncomfortable.
Those findings involve the Illinois House, not Lyons Township. But they matter here in one respect: when questions involving conduct and powerful Democratic officials arise, party leaders face a choice between publicly addressing them or remaining silent.
In Benton’s case, the Legislative Inspector General ultimately created a public record of what occurred.
In Landek’s case — involving a mayor, township Democratic committeeman and sitting Pritzker appointee to the Illinois Finance Authority — the governor has so far said nothing.
That is the relevant comparison. The kiss is not the Benton case. The question is whether Pritzker will apply the same public standard to one of his own appointees.
Hoffenberg has her own questions to answer — about her characterization of the kiss, her role in the FOIA process and the handling of the surveillance records.
But Landek is not a bystander.
There were two people on that tape. Landek initiated the kiss, remains a powerful Democratic official and continues to serve as a Pritzker appointee on the Illinois Finance Authority.
Hoffenberg should answer for her role in the controversy. Landek should answer for his.
And Pritzker should explain whether he still has confidence in the man he appointed to a state board.
Landek should not be allowed to simply walk out of the camera frame — and out of the scandal — without answering for his own conduct.
