Pekau deceives public about his bullying at board meetings
Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau continues with his lies and exaggerations about his critics, just as he also lies about the village's finances, claiming he's not responsible for the mounting debt burden
By Ray Hanania
FREE/Orland Park Election/Monday Dec. 2, 2024
Here’s a rundown of how Mayor Pekau is lying about almost everything!
Lying about Politics!
Keith Pekau has filed an election challenge against his rival former Trustee Jim Dodge whose petitions state he is running for “Mayor” rather than “President” in the April 1, 2024 election.
A voter named “John Hartmann” filed a challenge to Dodge’s petitions for Orland Park Mayor claiming Dodge, a former Orland Park Village trustee, confused whether he is running for “Mayor” or for “President.”
Orland Park is a Village, and the office of the executive is called “President,” although the term “Mayor” is used interchangeably all the time, including by Pekau who identifies himself repeatedly and all over his “Keith Pekau website as the “Mayor” of Orland Park.
Pretending like he is not afraid of Dodge, Pekau asserted in a recent press release that "Despite the challenge, we fully expect Jim Dodge to be on the ballot for the April 1st election and it will be an opportunity for Orland Park residents to send a clear message to him and his allies that they don't want a career politician from the past returning our village to what it was, they instead support Keith Pekau's and our village's current progress and vision for the future. … Jim Dodge can try to point the fingers at us, but we want him on the ballot.”
Yea, right MAYOR Pekau. The word is Pekau is in trouble and the only way Pekau can win is to throw Dodge off the ballot using his political allies Trustee Cindy Katsenes, Trustee William Healy and Clerk Brian Gaspardo who sit on the Orland Park Election Board. Katsenes Healy and Gaspardo are a part of Pekau’s “People Over Politics” political committee.
You know Pekau’s minions will throw Dodge off the ballot and Dodge knows it too. So Dodge filed a lawsuit to take the issue away from MAYOR Pekau’s biased Orland Park Election Board and bring it to Cook County to get a fair hearing.
Lying about Property Taxes!
MAYOR Pekau lies about a lot of things. For example, he keeps saying that he “lowered” the Tax Levy, suggesting wrongly that he lowered property taxes.
That’s a lie that only people familiar with taxes can understand.
When you lower the Tax Levy or the Tax Rate, you are NOT lowering property taxes. You are actually lowering the exemptions that homeowners can receive.
What’s happening is that taxes have increased because of the assessment hikes. So MAYOR Pekau can “lower” the Tax Rate (Tax Levy) but still gets a huge increase in property taxes from homeowners. Again, your property taxes are increasing, and even with a lower Tax Rate (Tax Levy) your taxes are going up. But worse, your homeowner exemptions are going down!
Look at your tax bills people. Don’t believe Pekau’s Lies.
This is what happened to a typical, average home in Orland Park, valued at about $400,000.
In 2022, the Orland Park Tax Rate (Tax Levy) was 10.24 percent, which meant that your Homeowner’s Exemption was $1,024.60. Your Senior Exemption was $819.68.
In 2023, after Pekau “lowered” the Tax Rate (Tax Levy) to 8.297 percent, your Homeowner Exemption dropped to only $829.70. And, the Senior Exemption was also reduced to $663.76 that year.
Compare those differences.
MAYOR Pekau’s financial sleight of hand is HURTING THE SENIORS in Orland Park and he is also hurting the homeowners, too. Why? Your Homeowner Exemptions are lowered each time MAYOR Pekau lowers the Tax Levy just so he can make his false and misleading political claims.
Lying about his abuse of residents!
In a recent eNewsletter, MAYOR Pekau falsely claims he was not bullying anyone when a woman concerned about a nearby park addressed the Village Board on Sept. 16, 2024. Pekau writes:
“They created this video and are using it to deceive people into agreeing with their contention that I treat residents poorly.
But MAYOR Pekau edited out his angry response when he yelled at a female speaker who “moaned” when he responded disrespectfully to her remarks earlier. Here is the video segment MAYOR Pekau deleted from his response:
Lying About His Support of Veterans!
Last year, Female Veteran Diane Howard challenged MAYOR Pekau at a board meeting on August 21, 2023, accusing him of being disrespectful to veterans.
Howard courageously stood up to and exposed Pekau’s lies. Pekau’s only response was to personally attack Howard, even falsely blaming her for being involved in alleged anonymous political robocalls.
Howard has legitimate reasons to be angry because Pekau is relocating the American Legion hall (many of whose members have criticized him) to a new location where he can control the meetings.
Standing fearless in the face of the Pekau bullying, Howard detailed how the mayor viciously attacked the veterans because they didn’t let him speak.
“I am just disgusted with this whole thing I have been hearing about the [American] Legion. The building. The village wanting to take it,” Howard began in addressing Pekau and his “Politics over People” minions.
“I am really sick of the robocalls. I don’t care which side they are coming from. I am sick of the robocalls. I am sick of this. I am sick of the games that are being played up, by all of you.”
Military veteran Howard continued, “Specifically, what I am really sick of; please tell them about the expletive tirade you let out on the veterans about a month ago after you came to the meeting and were denied to speak because you did not fill out an agenda. I would really love that read into the record about how you told them that we didn’t know who we were f-ing with. If you want to deny it, there was a whole legion that was there that night.”
Pekau huffed and puffed during her remarks, interrupting her several times to say her 3 minutes to speak was running out.
“Oh, I can continue. Would you like me to keep going?” Howard taunted as Pekau breathed fire. “About a few other things that were said? How now we weren’t going to get a damn thing?”
Howard paused, and then said, “Nothing to say. huh? I just want the record to show what’s actually being done and said when all these people are not sitting here, behind the curtain, to the veterans, and I am sure probably other people who are sitting out there at the time. It wasn’t just me at that meeting. There were a whole bunch of veterans sitting there. You can poll anyone of them in here and ask them what happened during that meeting and afterwards. Way to go.”
Howard walked away and Pekau immediately attacked Howard and claimed she was lying, “reading false things into the record.”
When Howard tried to respond to Pekau’s lies afterwards, Pekau ordered her to be silent.
Pekau respectful to veterans? No way.
Lying About Being a Bully!
Pekau pretends that he is the victim when in fact he is the abuser of the public. He attacks his critics who try to hold him accountable.
Every time someone challenges MAYOR Pekau, Pekau calls their employers and tries to get them fired. He’s done it to many of his critics because he can’t address the facts, the issues or explain away his failures. All he can do is make personal attacks against people in the hopes he can distract the voters away from the facts.
Don’t be fooled, people.
Lying About How Great He Has Made Orland Park!
I love Orland Park and have lived here since late 1985. If Orland Park is so great under Pekau, why is he paying businesses to come to Orland using your tax dollars?
MAYOR Pekau and the board are bragging about how they brought in Steinhafels to Orland Park. But the truth is MAYOR Pekau has proposed a “sales tax sharing agreement” which calls for Steinhafels to receive a maximum of 25% of its project costs, up to $2 million, from sales tax revenue collected from the store.
Steinhafels is a prominent furniture retailer that is privately owner and that primarily serves the Midwest region of the United States, particularly Wisconsin and Illinois. It was founded in 1934.
The money would be rebated to the retailer over a period of no more than 10 years.
He’s using $2 million in sales tax revenues that should go to pay for the village services to taxpayers to help this major retailer.
If Orland Park was so great, why are we subsidizing their expansion? They’re not the only ones the Village is doing this for.
Lying About Transparency and Accountability!
MAYOR Pekau is lying when he says he has opened up government to the people. In fact, he has shut it all down. One of his first acts when he took control of Orland Park six years ago was to close the various Committees that held public hearings where the public — taxpayers like you and me — could go to ask questions about policies and programs Pekau wants. He replaced them all by creating a “Committee of the Whole.”
The Committee of the Whole is where MAYOR Pekau details what he plans to do. It meets BEFORE each Village Board meeting begins giving the public only minutes to understand what he is doing before his plans are rubber stamped by his board trustees.
Jim Dodge is the only person who can save Orland Park from this vicious individual who continues to inflate his weak, failed leadership with outrageous lies and endless exaggerations.
This is the “Short list” for MAYOR Pekau. There is so much more that he lies about, it can be a book not just one opinion column.