How Arab Americans can help unseat disrespectful Orland Mayor

Unprovoked, Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau intentionally attacked Arab and Muslim residents at the Feb. 5 board meeting. His disrespect was unjustified. So what can Arab voters in Orland Park do?

By Ray Hanania

Free/Politics/Middle East/Tuesday Feb. 13, 2024

Many residents of Orland Park are angry with the failed leadership of Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau and his personal, petty style of name calling and divisiveness. Last week, at the Monday Feb. 5 board meeting, Pekau roped all of Orland Park’s growing Arab American and Muslim community into a corner with his bullying.

About 75 taxpayers and Orland Park residents, all Arab and Muslim, came to the board to ask Pekau to support a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza war. They presented a petition signed by 800 Orland Park taxpayers and residents.

Resolutions have no legal impact on foreign policy, but it was no different than one approved earlier by Pekau’s rubber-stamp board on Ukraine.

Rather than engage the residents and taxpayers in a positive discussion, Pekau unleashed an unprovoked assault, bullying them. He ordered an extra contingent of Police to be at the board meeting — 10 officers — which was intimidating for village residents. And after the speakers respectfully presented their views, Pekau responded with a 10-page prepared statement that twisted and distorted Israeli-Palestinian history — he had anticipated and planned the fight and confrontation from the beginning.

But the public needs to understand Pekau’s history of bullying, and how he is on a political downslide in order to defeat him to end his destructive role in tearing Orland Park apart.

Keith Pekau stumbled into office of Orland Park Mayor by accident in 2017, unseating Mayor Dan McLaughlin who had a great record of building Orland Park over two decades, but had opened the door to criticism when he tried to make a unpublicized grab for an excessive pay hike and a huge pension.

Pekau’s victory had nothing to do with his “genius” or “great ideas.” A gardener who mowed lawns for a living with rightwing extremist views, who no one had previously heard of, Pekau pushed headlong into consolidating his power, and undermining the board’s diversity or opinion and engagement.

McLaughlin’s board was dysfunctional when it came to politics. They had easily won because of their incumbency and political dominance, but had lost experience in earning those wins.

Subsequently, Pekau ran a slate of three trustees who won in 2019, defeating three well-meaning and better qualified candidates.

These elections reflected a time when the polarization of America widened, driven by President Donald Trump who offered some great programs but just can’t stop himself from always detouring all his time towards petty personal attacks — the Rosie O’Donnell factor, I call it. O’Donnell calls him an “idiot” and Trump just can’t shut up about it, his rhetoric overshadowing more important issues that he allowed to crash and burn.

Pekau is much like that, but not as smart as Trump. Pekau, winning his three trustees in 2019, gave himself the majority with his tie-breaking vote on a 3 to 3 board. Pekau immediately eliminated the many independent committees, to remove any influence of his rivals to impact village policy, and created one committee that he personally controls. In other words, everything goes through him.

Pekau is incapable of being a good leader who puts the interests of Orland Park and all of its residents ahead of his selfish, personal agenda.

Anyone who names his political party "People over Politics" does so because they need to convey something that is not the reality. Pekau's party is all about putting politics over people, so he has to say it as counter to the reality.

Pekau is running for his third term as Orland Park mayor in the Spring 2025 municipal elections, which contradicts his own campaign to impose "Term Limits" on politicians.

Term Limits for everyone but him.

The Term Limits referendum passed by an 88 percent vote in April 2021.

Term Limits pushed by Pekau April 6, 2021

Shall the terms of office for those persons elected to the offices of Village President, Village Trustee and Village Clerk in the Village of Orland Park at the April 6, 2021 Consolidated Election and at each election for any of such offices thereafter, be limited such that no person so elected may serve more than three (3) full four (4) year terms in the same office?

A total of 22,805 votes have been cast on the referendum.

·       Yes: 88.46%

·       No: 11.54%

But he won't apply it to himself, because Pekau is a hypocrite. Politics over People?

Here is the voting history showing his downslide in popularity as taxes and fees in Orland Park continue to increase, hundreds of thousands in taxpayer funded contracts go to his political cronies and contributors, like strip mall developer Ramzi Hassan who has turned the Orland Park Chamber of Commerce into a Pekau political organization. Village services continue to decline because Pekau spends more time attacking his critics than working for the taxpayers.

VOTING HISTORY

2017 Mayoral election =====

Pekau won 54.42 percent of the vote to McLaughlin's 45.58 percent.

Pekau                    6,870

McLaughlin            5,754

2019 Trustee Election =====

Trustee, Village of Orland Park Vote For 3 (Incumbents ousted)

Carole Griffin Ruzich       4,123

Kelly O'Brien                  4,079

Devin Hodge                   3,965

William R. Healy            4,634

Michael R. Milani           4,483

Cynthia Katsenes          4,550

2021 Mayoral election =====

13,530  total votes cast

Pekau 51.1 percent. 6,914

McLaughlin 48.9 percent. 6,616

298 vote difference

Sean Kampas         6,550

Joni Radaszewski   6,418

Brian Riordan         6,446

Amy Ruth Burrell     6,383

Chris Kasmer          6,254

Derek Rinaldi          6,076

2023 Trustee election =====

Trustee, Village of Orland Park Vote For 3 (unchallenged)

William R. Healy 6,453 33.51%

Michael R. Milani 6,297 32.70%

Cynthia Nelson Katsenes 6,505 33.78%

McLaughlin challenged Pekau in 2021 and lost specifically because his ego, and union backers, refused to work with others who rivaled Pekau. Had McLaughlin not pursued a selfish agenda, as he did when this all started in 2017, and partnered with other anti-Pekau coalitions, Pekau would have been defeated. Pekau won by only 298 votes out of 13,530 votes cast.

In November 8, 2022

Pekau ran for congress and was trounced in an embarrassing landslide by Congressman Sean Casten in the 6th District. Casten won 150,496 votes (54.4 percent) to Pekau's 126,351 (45.6 percent). Casten has fumbled his leadership so badly I am surprised egotist Pekau didn't try again this year. He probably would have beat Casten, who has been criticized for his unresponsiveness, in the district in which Orland Park is only a small segment.

In April 2023

Pekau tried to consolidate his power by eliminating the Village Manager form of government. But the referendum was soundly defeated because everyone came together to stop Pekau's power grab. The resolution lost by a vote of 6,383 to 3,318 out of a total of nearly 10,000 votes cast.

What should Arab and Muslim voters in Orland Park do to remove this xenophobic, racist mayor from office?

They need to set aside emotion and embrace a strategy of victory. That means supporting a candidate who has the experience and leadership to win. Someone who can respect ALL of the Orland Park's diverse community.

And, most importantly, they need to be realistic about their impact and numbers.

No Arab or Muslim candidate, who has no public record of service, can run in the next election and expect to win. Even running for mayor would be an act of selfishness, not strategy. They represent only about 10 percent of the 57,040 population. That's enough for a significant presence, but not enough to win.

Even two well known Arab candidates would have trouble winning, given today's atmosphere of "facts-misunderstanding" and racism, like District 230 Trustee Mohamed Jaber, and former school board member Dave Shalabi. Both Shalabi and Jabr are great candidates who have built up records of public service and recognition.

A realtor with Re/Max, Shalabi was appointed in 2015 to a vacancy on the influential Orland Park District 135 Elementary School District. Shalabi was born and raised in Orland Park, was well known and graduated from District 135 schools. Despite all that, he lost his bid to remain on the board in 2017.

There are many other good candidates who the Arab and Muslim community can support in 2025. Keep in mind that the Orland Mayoral election is "non-partisan," so no one runs on a party platform.

Here are a few.

Former Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman, who has a history of fighting and stopping excessive and unnecessary tax hikes, is a centrist Republican who can attract Republican and Democratic voters.

Beth McElroy Kirkwood is the Democratic Committeewoman of Orland Township. She's rebuilding the Democratic presence in Orland Park. Kirkwood was elected to the Moraine Valley Community College (MVCC) in 2019 now serving as the board chairperson.

Jim Dodge, a former Orland Park Trustee who knows village finances better than anyone and who sparred with Pekau many times over Pekau's poor fiscal village management, is a good choice.

(If you have a suggestion, please share.)

The Arab and Muslims who are angry with the way they were bullied and disrespected should get behind a strong candidate who is well known to the village residents and voters, and not allow their egos to drive their decisions.

Whomever runs against Pekau needs to be someone who is recognized by all voters, and not labeled as being the candidate of any special interest group. An Arab or Muslim candidate, with no public service experience in Orland Park, would lose and would divide the vote, and contribute to restoring Pekau to his tyranny and lies. (Term Limits? What a Pekau joke!)

The key to saving Orland Park comes down to putting the interests of the people and taxpayers first, something Pekau insists he does but really does not. I’ll have more profiles to share in the coming months to consider.