Even in losing, Keith Pekau has no class
Outgoing Mayor Keith Pekau was a disrespectful liar when he was mayor and it is clear he will remain so as he shifts from his humiliating defeat and failed mayor to unimportant citizen
By Ray Hanania
FREE/Orland Park Keith Pekau Politics/Thursday, April 10, 2025
Even in defeat, outgoing Mayor Keith Pekau remains one of the most egomaniacal and obnoxious liars I have ever encountered in 50 years of covering Chicagoland politics.
Pekau not only is a pathological liar, who exaggerated every controversy to make himself look good, but also went out of his way to attack people in the most personal way possible when they questioned or challenged his actions as a failed “public servant.”
The thing that Pekau never understood is that he worked for the taxpayers, not for his ego. And yet Pekau spent more time complaining that he was the victim of slander and libel in robocalls and text messages, when in fact Pekau was the “Slanderer-in'Chief” who had no boundaries in viciously calling people names and lying about facts.
Pekau clearly has a lifelong difficulty with truth and will forever
Pekau will never accept responsibility for his failures and his many mistakes, which he constantly blames on everyone else.
For example, he blamed his election defeat on Orland Park residents and taxpayers he falsely asserts support Hamas, the terrorist organization battling with Israel’s extremist government.
Here is what he recently wrote in his eNews”Litter” dated Thursday, April 10, 2025:
The election results were surprising to many of us. I want to thank all of the volunteers and everyone who worked tirelessly on our campaign. It was a strong, well-run effort, even if the outcome wasn’t what we had hoped.
Ultimately, I received fewer than half the votes I received when I ran for Congress in Orland Park (which only makes up two-thirds of the Village) and about a third of the votes Donald Trump received here. I often hear from conservative voters that “their vote doesn’t matter.” While that’s often true in statewide races due to gerrymandering, local elections are different—yet conservative voters continue to sit them out, even though these elections have the most direct impact on their daily lives.
Looking at the numbers, it’s clear my stance on refusing to call for a ceasefire in the Middle East—and my opposition to Hamas—played a significant role in the outcome. A religious conflict taking place over 6,000 miles away found its way into our local election. Let that sink in—this happened in Orland Park, Illinois.
That said, I stand by every word. It was, and remains, the right thing to do. I have personally witnessed the atrocities committed by Hamas and its allies. I will never bend the knee to Hamas sympathizers. I am a proud American combat veteran, and I will always stand up for our nation and our allies.
Here is the truth. The 75 Orland Park residents who addressed the village board on February 5, 2024, asking the board to approve a “ceasefire” resolution, never mentioned “Hamas” nor did they express any opinions or support for terrorism or violence.
Pekau just wants you to believe that they supported “Hamas” and “terrorism” because he thinks that by lying. it might build sympathy for his failure. In otherwords, he wants you to believe he didn’t lose the electionbecause he was a bad mayor, but rather, he lost the election because Hamas terrorists undermined his administration, terrorized him. He wants you to believe, poor Mayor Pekau was the victim of Hamas terrorism.
What Pekau hopes you will forget, and that history will cloud, are his many failed policies, his tax and fee hikes, his bullying not only of the ceasefire advocates — all law abiding citizens of the Village of Orland Park — but also his bullying of people in the past like the veteran who criticized his policies, Diana Howard (Click here to read); his many libelous and false accusations against Mike Henry who Pekau once relied on for campaign duties (Click here to read); his failure to file legally mandated village financial audits in 2022, 2023 and 2024 (Click here to read); and the millions he wasted by trying to exploit the existing TIF (Tax Increment Financing Districts) and the developers he paid who returned the favor by donating thousands to Pekau;s political campaign trough. (Click here tor read)
The list of his abusive mayoral history is so long it would be impossible to detail them all in one column.
The good news though is that Pekau’s stained political history will remain for all to see.
And no matter how hard Pekau tries to blame his defeat on “Hamas” and “terrorism” and on “those Arabs,” the truth will always overshadow and expose his lies.
Pekau’s defeat pretty much ends his political career, and will also bring down the political careers of his minions, like failed Orland Township Republican chair Cindy Katsenes, controversy-plagued Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison (Click here to read), and hopefully his gaggle of developers who did his bidding rather than serve the needs of the taxpayers.
Thanks for another great article, Ray! Keith Pekau remains classless in defeat because he's classless in life. He cannot accept the fact that he attracted very few votes because he did his job poorly. Pekau's ballot measure previously went down to defeat because he wasn't a very good mayor. Pekau fails as a man because refuses to accept responsibility for his actions. Pekau frequently refers to himself as the man in the ring, a reference to something Teddy Roosevelt said. But even that is dishonest because in defeat, Pekau is scapegoating the entire Arab and Muslim communities in Orland Park and the south suburbs. Pekau makes scapegoats of Arabs and Muslims by lumping them together with Hamas terrorists.
The simple truth about Keith Pekau is that he has no integrity as a man and is a failed politician. He lost because of those and many other reasons. Pekau wants to scare people with scapegoats instead of own up to his own failures. Even Pekau's final capitulation is an example of what America is discovering about bad leaders: they lie to us and then demand loyalty.
Mashallah well said. He did us favor by using Hamas as his defeat in the elections. He actually really believes Hamas into some huge cartel in the United States and he’s trying to warn the American people watch out there coming for us. The reason why Arab community won the election is we (too) are Americans. We’re equally baby! So let the world know Arab votes will increase exponentially thanks to your big mouth!