The Glen Ellyn Village Board on Tuesday night voted to appoint Trustee Donna Jean Simon to be acting village president until May, replacing Village President Mark Senak, who stepped down abruptly last week shortly after voters gave a key endorsement to a rival.
Simon, who has been a trustee since 2023, will replace Senak, who had been seeking reelection in the April general municipal election. On Nov. 2 at the biennial caucus of the village’s influential Civic Betterment Party, Senak and Trustee Gary Fasules both had been vying to be slated by the party for village president.
At the caucus, Fasules gained more votes — 720 — to Senak’s 646, thus winning the party’s nod. Two days later, Senak, who first was elected village president in 2021, abruptly resigned at the start of a Village Board meeting and walked out.
In an interview, Senak said he favored leaving his post rather than running in April as an independent — without the party’s nod — or finishing out the rest of his term.
“I understand that when you run for public office, you’re going to win or you’re going to lose — that doesn’t bother me,” he said. “The reason I resigned is simple — people elected me to be village president and when they did, I did what was necessary. But the residents voted who they wanted to lead the village, and they selected someone other than me. That should be honored and respected, and (Fasules) should be given the chance to do it and do it now. Under these circumstances where Gary is on the board, the only honorable thing to do is to step aside, and let the person who was elected do that job as soon as possible.”
On Tuesday night, the board chose Simon instead of Fasules, and at present another candidate, James Burket, has tossed his hat in the ring to run as an independent — without the Civic Betterment Party’s endorsement — in the April election.
Senak returned to Glen Ellyn’s Civic Center on Tuesday night to address his now-former colleagues at another meeting, and he gave a brief statement during the public comment section elaborating on his reasons for resigning and expressing hard feelings toward some of his board colleagues, including Fasules. He criticized Fasules for a speech that Fasules had given during the campaign at the Nov. 2 caucus, alleging that Fasules had suggested in his speech that Senak had engaged in unethical behavior while village president.
In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Fasules declined to comment on Senak’s contention.
“As I recall, Trustee Fasules said (at the caucus) there were ethical violations that occurred during my presidency,” Senak said. “I want everyone to understand that as village president and as an attorney, I take my ethical obligations seriously and when someone accuses me of unethical behavior, I feel compelled to stand up in front of you and everyone in this village and respond to those charges. So I’m here today to tell you that that statement was false. There were no ethical violations during my term as president, certainly by me and frankly by none of the staff or anyone else on the board.”
Senak also took aim at Fasules for comments that he remembers Fasules having made about him at the Nov. 2 caucus. Those remarks were captured on video by a Glen Ellyn woman and League of Women Voters member who attended the caucus, and Senak said he is pursuing action to procure the video from the woman to determine whether to proceed with any legal action against Fasules.
“I want the video because I want to look at it and see exactly what was said. Defamation law very much is dependent upon the words, and what I want is the video,” he said. “There’s a process within civil procedure to get pre-suit discovery for claims, and if I don’t get the video, I will go through the pre-suit discovery procedure. I have some recollection of what Gary said, but I do feel some obligation to be precise in this circumstance and … hearing the exact words will help me determine whether there’s a basis to pursue any further action against Gary. I’m not trying to put the village in a bad light, but at the same time, I’m not going to walk away from someone who has allegedly defamed me.”
David Hartsell, a lawyer representing the woman who has the video, said in an interview that he believes that Senak’s concerns are unfounded.
“Mark believes that Gary defamed him, and thinks Gary said things in his speech that defamed Mark,” Hartsell said. “I told him, ‘Mark, you’re a lawyer. You learn the same thing. Anyone who watches the news knows politicians throw all kinds of insults. It doesn’t matter what Gary said about you — it’s not going to rise to the level of actionable.’”
Hartsell added that his client “has no obligation to hand this over to anybody.”
“I told (Senak) that he’s completely out of bounds here,” Hartsell said. “I think it’s just a situation where Mark is angry about the fact that he was opposed, angry about the fact that he lost, and angry about how he feels like he’s been undermined by other board members.”
On Tuesday night, Senak also pointed to other statements made about him during the heat of the campaign, stating that he felt that lies were spread about him. He disputed false claims that he had been seeking opposition research against a trustee candidate, that he had run a website devoted to defeating a local elementary school referendum and that he had used village letterhead for political endorsements, and he complained that few of his fellow board members spoke up to defend him against such claims.
“Why would I continue to serve on a board for another six months with people who care so little about truth or decency?” he said.
Senak is the second consecutive Glen Ellyn village president to leave office via resignation.
His predecessor, Diane McGinley, stepped down at the start of 2021, four months before her term ended, to move with her family to Texas.
In a light-hearted moment at the end of his statement before the Village Board on Tuesday, Senak drew a difference between him and McGinley’s action four years ago, quipping with a smile that “I’m not moving to Texas.”
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
