Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau faces a challenge to his bid for a third term in the April 1 election, from a former village trustee who is also fielding a slate of Village Board candidates.
Pekau’s People Over Politics ticket filed petitions with the Orland Park village clerk’s office and includes recently appointed clerk Brian Gaspardo, as well as incumbent trustees Sean Kampas and Brian Riordan, according to the clerk’s office.
Also seeking one of three trustee seats on the ticket is Carol McGury.
Jim Dodge, was trustee for several years, heads the Orland Park For All ticket, according to the clerk’s office.
Dodge, a former sergeant in the Illinois Army National Guard, became village clerk in 1989 then was appointed trustee in 1996. He was the Republican nominee for state treasurer in 2018. He did not run for reelection as trustee in the April 2021 election.
The Orland Park For All ticket also includes for clerk Mary Ryan Norwell, a former Cook County assistant state’s attorney. Seeking trustee positions are John Lawler, Dina M. Lawrence and Joanna M. Liotine Leafblad, who is president for the Orland Park Library Board. She is also an assistant Cook County assistant state’s attorney, according to Orland Park For All.
Filing independently as a Democrat for trustee is Mohammed Jaber, according to the clerk’s office.
Jaber is a member of the Orland High School District 230 Board and has raised concerns about tax increment financing districts Orland Park is considering.
Jaber said he is a special education teacher and former part-time adjunct instructor at Moraine Valley Community College.
Kampas, Riordan and Joni Radaszewski, who is not seeking reelection, were elected in the April 2021.
Before the 2017 mayoral election, in which Pekau defeated then incumbent Mayor Dan McLaughlin who was seeking a seventh term, trustees approved changing the mayor’s job from part time to full time, with the added duties of being Orland Park’s lead person on economic development and working to bring businesses to the village.
The salary hike and the corresponding jump in pension became campaign issues, with Pekau saying in the lead-up to the election that because Orland Park has a village manager it did not need a full-time mayor. The switch to a full-time position took effect after the 2017 election.
In March 2019, before Pekau gained a majority of votes on the Village Board, trustees changed the position to part time with a corresponding cut in pay, taking effect with that April’s election.
In the April 2019 election, running on the People Over Politics ticket, William Healy, Cynthia Nelson Katsenes and Michael Milani were elected as trustees then reelected in 2023.
McLaughlin attempted to regain the mayoral position in the spring 2021 election, losing to Pekau by a bit more than 500 votes.
