Palatine Mayor coming to Orland to talk about fighting rising county property taxes

Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins, who has been leading a high profile campaign to fight the repressive taxes by Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, including discussions on possibly seceding from the county into neighboring counties, will be a guest speaker at a forum to be hosted soon in Orland Park by Radio Chicagoland (www.RadioChicagoland.com).

I just have to find a location to host the event, and will not only invite the public but also all of the candidates running for local office to stop in, say a few words, etc. I am hoping to find a location BEFORE the April 7 election.

Seceding from the county is a viable strategy to pressure Stroger and the worthless Cook County Board, to do something. Although it is tough to secede, the discussion alone has been picking up steam throughout the townships bordering Will and DuPage County.

Taxes in Cook County are oppressive, from Palatine through Orland Park and beyond. No community is exempt from the taxationw ithout representation.

We'll even invite County Board Commissioner Elizabeth Doody Gorman, the controversy-plagued Republican county board member to speak, if she dares. She hasn't been very representative of the district and we hope she steps up to the plate.

If you have suggestions on a location for the Radio Chicagoland forum, please email me at rayhanania@comcast.net.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Companies doing business with village line the campaign funds of the elected officials

Everyone thinks the problem with Gov. Rod Blagojevich was simply that he was greedy and took money for himself and his campaign war chest. But they miss the bigger picture. This practice is common place. And while Blagojevich is alleged to have made pay-to-play a mandatory hallmark of doing business with him, the contributions from big contractors also have ended up in the campaign election war-chests of others, from House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and Lisa Madigan, all the way to the lily ponds and their big bullfrogs in the outlying suburbs.

This week, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the Justice Department has subpoenaed the records of 18 big engineering and construction companies, many of whom gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Blagojevich. One company literally let the governor borrow their Lear Jet, and Blagojevich dutifully reported it on his campaign disclosures.

But deep down beyond the Blagojevich headlines, some of those construction companies targeted in the sweeping examination of donations to contract awards, also gave money to some of our local officials.

A review of campaign filings last summer, for the first six months of 2008, showed that almost one-third of the donations made to Mayor McLaughlin during the reporting period (June 1, 2007-Dec. 31, 2007) came from contributors who do or have done business with the Village of Orland Park, or that are existing village businesses.

In the same analysis of the campaign disclosures, I noted in this blog about how one of those village contractors, the 800 Pound Gorilla in the Contract Room McDonough & Associates donated money to Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin. And not just a few bucks for event tickets.

On April 2, 2007, McDonough requested approval from the Orland Park Village Board for $10,000 in additional fees for construction work they were doing at 159th and Ravinia, you know, the intersection for Costco that took forever.

On April 16, 2007, the village approved the $10,000 additional payment.

On October 19, 2007, McDonough made a $1,000 contribution to McLaughlin's campaign fund, which he will use for his re-election bid this April 7.

At 10 percent, that's a slightly more that McDonough is paying than the 9.75 percent sales tax we taxpayers have to pay on purchases we make in this village.

A review of McDonough's campaign contributions over the years show that McLaughlin received nearly $12,000 in contributions from the firm. But it's easier to get that information than it is to find out how much money McDonough has received from McLaughlin's obedient board of trustees. That doesn’t include donations made by individuals associated with McDonough.

McDonough also made $1,750 in donations to the Orland Township Democratic Organization that McLaughlin chairs as Democratic Committeeman.

And, McDonough made another $800 in donations to McLaughlin’s running mates, Trustee Kathy Fenton and the 19th Ward’s Ambassador to Orland Park, Trustee Brad O’Halloran.

NOT JUST VILLAGE OFFICIALS

But McDonough’s contributions to secure good relations with a village that it does business with don’t stop at Orland Park. The company also donated money to Patrick Maher, the head of the Orland Park Fire District and the son of Orland Park Village Clerk David Maher, who’s a decent guy. (The Maher’s are closely tied to the Hynes’ family, as in “Dan Hynes,” the Illinois Comptroller.)

That might explain Patrick Maher’s rumored ambitions to run for the office of Cook County Commissioner in the 17th District, which includes Orland Park and is now held by Orland Park Republican Commiteeman Elizabeth Doody Gorman. Gorman, I should note, has frequently challenged the work McDonough has done for Cook County.

We know what those contributors got from the state and the city of Chicago. But how much did McDonough Associates, Inc. get from Orland Park?

That's a question that Gerald Maher, who is challenging McLaughlin in the April 7 Orland elections for mayor (no relation to David or Patrick Maher), issued a press release earlier today asking those very questions.

Asked Gerald Maher, "Why is the Mayor and his team continuing to rush forward with projects such as the Main Street Triangle and the widening of the 143rd and Lagrange Intersection? These projects are not only unnecessary and untimely, but will also place an extreme hardship on the local businesses. These businesses struggle along under the Mayor’s Eminent Domain which will lead to their extinction. Now Mayor McLaughlin wants to disrupt traffic flow to make way for his legacy project. This is the wrong time and the wrong solution. Right hand turn lanes should have been added as suggested in 2001 by this writer. Why has the Mayor and his team run a budget deficit for 2 out of the last 3 years, being forced to extend the current budget to 15 months to cover another $4.8 million deficit? Why do they continue to borrow and spend money for these projects?"

Everyone is focused on Blagojevich. But I think not enough attention is paid to the little frog on the Orland Park lily pad in the muddy little pond.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

Odelson calls Orland Park candidate's challenge "meritless"

Election law attorney Burton S. Odelson said that although he knows Michael Davies, the Chicago Ridge trustee appointed by Circuit Court Chief Justice Tim Evans, he insisted they don't socialize and it had nothing to do with the ruling by the Orland Park Election Commission Friday night.

"Davies had nothing to do with the ruling," Odelson said. "Davies is an acquantince -- we don't socialize!!!"

The slate headed by Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin, called the "Orland Park First Party," was challenge by Gerald Maher, his challenger and head of the Concerned Citizens of Orland Park. McLaughlin and village clerk David Maher, who would have sat on the election petition review committee for the village, were replaced by their colleagues, Trustees Bernard Murphy and Ed Schussler. Evans appointed Davies as a third member of the hearing held Friday night at 5:30.

As for the challenge, Odelson stressed, "The objection was BS. It was stupid, frivolous and a waste of time. The lawyer [representing the challengers] quoted from two cases in the appellate court -- which were both my cases from the 1980's. I dont care who sat on Board, there was no legal merit, plain and simple."

Maher's camp indicated Friday they did not plan to challenge the ruling in the Circuit Court, where some challenges thrown out by local election officials often end up.

"We plan to win the election," a Maher aid said.

Meanwhile, Odelson is representing challenges in other villages in elections around the region.

-- Ray Hanania
www.OrlandParker.com

Stacked election review panel rules predictably Friday night

A predictable ruling in an unpredictable election

As everyone expected, the Orland Park Election Board threw out Gerald Maher’s challenge of Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin’s candidacy.

At issue was not the law, but the lawyers and the board's "objectivity."

The Orland Park election committee consisted of two incumbent Orland Park trustees, for the most part very fair. They are Trustee Ed Schussler and Trustee Bernard Murphy. Murphy and Schussler ran for re-election together in the 2007 village elections and they are considered allies – based on their vote – with McLaughlin and his slate of candidates who are now running for re-election in the April 7 election, incumbent trustees Kathy Fenton, Brad O’Halloran and Jim Dodge, and clerk David Maher.

Maher challenged McLaughlin’s petitions saying they violated the law. McLaughlin’s committee is described on the petitions as a “new” party but the Orland Park First Party is not new at all. It is an existing, established party. You cannot name your independent party after an existing established party according to a fair reading of the state election law.

But the law was never the issue. The deck was always stacked against Maher, who has McLaughlin on the run, however.

The original village election board consisted of McLaughlin and Clerk Maher (no relation to Gerald Maher). They stepped aside and their colleagues on the board, Schussler and Murphy were named to take their place.

A third “judge” who would join the panel to review the challenge was named by Cook County Chief Justice Tim Evans, the former Chicago alderman who lost his bid to become mayor to Eugene Sawyer in 1987 following the death of Harold Washington. Evans is a very pleasant person, but very political too.

Evans named as that 3rd panel member, Michael Davies, who for the past two years has been a trustee in Chicago Ridge. For the 18 years prior to that time, he was a trustee on the Worth Township Board, a board that Burt Odelson’s powerful law firm represented for many years. Davies and Odelson are good friends.

Some say the connection runs deeper. But there is nothing nefarious there about Burt. I like Burt. Not everyone does. He's a frequent guest on my radio show and he is both knowledgable and informed. He doesn't pull punches and he is upfront and honest. And usually right.

But as controversial as Odelson might be, he is also one of the state’s best if not the nation’s best election law attorneys. Which means he knows the law better than anyone. And he knows when and how to interpret the law better than anyone. In fact, I would go as far to say that had Gerald Maher hired Odelson as his attorney, he would probably today be the only candidate for mayor on the Village of Orland Park ballot.

I asked Odelson, as McLaughin’s attorney, for his comment but couldn’t reach him late Friday night (hours after the election review board met, ruled and adjourned).

The real problem in all this, I think, is Judge Evans. Instead of appointing a truly objective arbiter to sit on the already stacked election board deck, Evans appointed someone that Maher’s people said "yelled a greeting" aloud at the beginning of the meeting to welcome Odelson. And, they said, he asked only two questions ... at the end of the session.

Maher’s people praised Schussler, a straight shooter when it comes to village politics. But, would he vote to remove his fellow trustees and mayor from the ballot? Murphy also is considered very ethical, too. But no matter how much ethics you have, voting to remove your best friends on the village board from their re-election would be almost impossible. (Murphy, Fenton, Dodge, Schussler and O'Halloran, and McLaughlin and Clerk Maher have all served together for years.)

Why do we, the taxpayers, tolerate, such a failed election review process where the pals (and sometimes enemies) of village incumbents get to decide who stays and who goes?

The whole process is shameful. But that’s not a knock on Odelson.

The fact that the challenge got this far, though, is a harbinger of the challenges McLaughlin and his “First Party” face. The real issue is whether the voters have had enough of unaccountable government, skyrocketing property taxes, the gutting of the popular property tax rebate plan, the millions spent on a development that hasn’t yet been developed. The plate is full.

Personally, I always favor candidates facing-off and oppose seeing anyone, even those deserving of criticism, to be knocked off ballots. I think the voters' interests are always better served when there is an election contest. That's the onlyw ay officials are forced to be accountable.

But this challenge wasn’t judged objectively. Some might argue, it wasn't fair at all.

And that’s something the people of Orland Park have become accustomed to receiving.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

Special hearing called to review challenge to Orland Mayor's candidacy

It’s unprecedented. A challenge was filed against the election candidacy documents of Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin and his running mates on the “Orland Park First Party" slate, Trustees Kathy Fenton, Brad O’Halloran, Jim Dodge and Village Clerk David Maher.

The challenge was filed by McLaughlin’s mayoral rival, Gerald P. Maher, and his running mates on the Concerned Citizens of Orland Park, trustee candidates Marian Klemme, Kenneth Houston, Kenneth Wzorek and clerk candidate Patrice Pykett.

Normally, challenges are filed by incumbents against their non-incumbent challengers, but McLaughlin’s party never filed any challenges.

This is all strange. You see, the people in power are usually the ones who decide if a challenger’s challenge will stand. So petition challenges against non-incumbents are frequent.

The review body that would normally consider the candidacy challenges in Orland Park would be the incumbents, and in this case, Mayor McLaughlin and Clerk Maher. But since the challenge is against them, they were forced to step aside. Two of his colleagues on the village board were appointed to take their places, Trustees Bernard Murphy and Ed Schussler.

At 4:59 pm on Wednesday, Clerk Maher’s office posted a notice of a special meeting to review the challenges to take place at 5:30 PM on Friday night, just slightly more than 48 hours notice, just meeting the requirements of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

The challenge argues that the name being used by McLaughlin slate, the “Orland Park First Party” is not a "new" party, as designated in the election filings. Instead, and we all know this to be true, the name is an “existing” party that McLaughlin and his same trustees used in 2001 and in 2005, when they ran unopposed.

The law says you can't use the name of an existing "established" party and then file it as a "new" party. It's an important technicality, the kind of technicality that usually will get challengers thrown off of ballots, usually not incumbents. Technicalities like these cause election losses.

Who decides these issues?

I'm going to say that Murphy and Schussler are very friendly and sympathetic to McLaughlin, their colleague and friend. In fact, I can't recall an instance where either trustee has ever seriously challenged any of McLaughlin's decisions. But Murphy and Schussler are under pressure to do the right thing and to follow the letter of the law. Chief Judge of the Circuit Court Tim Evans appointed a “third” person to join the review panel -- the name of that person was not immediately made public.

The law is very clear that candidacy petitions must be precise in language and form. The whole system of incumbent officials in a village reviewing their own challenges is really ludicrous because there is no real impartiality. It’s a serious flaw in the county's election system that should be changed, but won't. Usually, these challenges end up in the courts.

When the challenge was filed in the village hall offices of Clerk Maher on Monday, sources said McLaughlin came rushing down from his own office to Clerk Maher’s office. There, challenger Gerald Maher’s filer sat for 40 minutes until an official in Clerk Maher’s office finally provided a one-sentence typed receipt acknowledging the challenge was officially filed. Forty minutes to type one sentence. That's a record!

Not the most efficient re-election strategy

I’m going to say that this election is not going to be the synch for McLaughlin many had expected. The terrible economy, the dramatic increases in property taxes and village fees, the cutbacks in programming and new charges added to programs that previously were free have caused much alarm among village taxpayers.

When a proposal was made last week to hike the village vehicle sticker fee, even nominally, fear that it would be the hike that broke the camel’s back forced the village to decide to put it on hold – probably until after the election. (It's a strange thing. Taxpayers complain about but will accept property tax hikes, which are imposed a year after they are hiked and paid as a part of a monthly mortgage payment. But vehicle fees, for some reason, really tick voters off even though the increase are only a few dollars.)

In the shadows of all this are rumors that not all is copacetic in Camelot or in the Orland Park First Party where issues of egos seem to be clashing. Was McLaughlin really considering not running for re-election or, was it that one of his close allies wearing the robes of a 19th Ward Brutes, might have been planning a coup?

Who knows?

But I will be SHOCKED if the challenge is upheld. That, my friends, would truly be unprecendented.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparker.com/

Race is on iTunes as to who is more popular: Chris Ciciora or Cindy Nelson Katsenes

I was able to interview two of the candidates running in the Orland Park Fire Protection District Race, a race that involves a taxing body that has been extremely taxing over the past year and under the leadership of a nepotistic politician.

The two candidates were on my radio Show, "Radio Chicagoland" on WJJG 1530 AM Tuesday Feb. 3, 2009 (www.RadioChicagoland.com), separately.

I podcast major interviews and I noticed this morning that the race is on to see whose podcast gets more listeners. They've raced up the charts and are neck and neck, which only goes to show you that sometimes local issuesa are far more interesting than the more explosive national and international issues.

The podcasts are available through several podcasting sites like iTunes, Podcast Pickle and others, and combined, the two have already broken through records in terms of downloads.

You can hear the podcast off the RadioC hicagoland web site (we have a green virtual iPod player on the web site and you can scroll through the podcasts to find either and then just click to listen, or go to the Radio Chicagoland iPod blog archive.)

Here are the links:

8:05 Cris Ciciora, candidate for Orland Park Fire Protection District Trustee (Listen to Podcast?)

8:45 Cindy Nelson Katsenes, candidate for Orland Park Fire Protection District Trustee (Listen to Podcast?)

I'm not sure if the skyrocketing hits represent votes or not but clearly these two guests have a HUGE following and will make an interesting race April 7.

Hopefully, one of them can help put a spotlight on the excessive taxation of the Fire Protection District and put an end to what Katsenes points out is excessive legal spending which averaged about $80,000 during ewach year from 2001 to 2006 but that skyrocketed to more than $300,000 in the years since.

No wonder the Fire Protection District chief Patrick Maher, the son of Orland Park Village Clerk David Maher, has ordered that fire department ambulances charge victims upfront instead of billing their insurance.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Tax fever spreads from Orland Park to Homer Glen

The poor residents of Homer Glen, the little swamp that could. It formed a local government and the idea was to do better than what its neighbors were doing. But alas, you elect a guy who worked at the Chicago Board of Options Exchange for 14 years and made a fortune, and you find that all he can do is exactly what everyone else does: raise taxes. And worse, without giving much notice to the people who have to pay the tax, the citizens of the village.

Mayor Jim Daley (yes, but don’t make any jokes about being a Chicago Machine Politician like the mini 19th Ward in Orland Park) this week raised the sales tax from 7 to 8 percent using his newly acquired home rule powers.

It came as a surprise to everyone and his difference in raising this punitive tax on residents is that most of the people impacted will be non-residents of the little village just west of Orland Park.

One member of the Homer Township board suggested that the board delay the vote to give residents a chance to be informed about the sales tax hike, which is one of the most regressive forms of taxation out there in today’s depressed economies. But the board was too anxious to leave the confines of caring public leadership to be just like the rest of the neighborhood.

Daley described Homer Glen as the “donut hole” in the surrounding area of growing communities with lots of land that can be developed. Folks. That’s the kind of talk you should be afraid of, not welcome.

Here is what Daley told the Homer Township Chamber of Commerce March 11, 2008 in his “State of the Village Address” – what do these suburban politicians all think they are presidents or something? In it, though, there was not warning of a sales tax increase, just talk about the confusing term “impact fees,” which refers to revenue generated off development not off the backs of the struggling public:

“Our zoning ordinance is also under review which includes the review of our development standards and impact fees. We believe development should pay its own way so that current residents and businesses are not paying for new development. This means making sure that our infrastructure needs are addressed and paid for by new development. This includes road improvements, storm water improvements and the adequate cost effective provision of utilities. Trustee Ward has been working on formulating new impact fee ordinances that will provide additional revenue sources to accomplish many of the Village’s goals. We are also updating our Storm Water Ordinance which will prove to be another benchmark for municipal ordinances. ...

"The Village will be taking a special census this summer. Currently we are
receiving a per capita tax of $134.35 per resident based on the 2004 census
which was 24,083. However, we estimate our population to be between 1100 and
1600 more than that. These are residents that are not counted and therefore we
are not collecting the per capita tax due us for these residents. We have
estimated this loss to be somewhere between $420,000 and $525,000. This is money owed to the Village. We need to make sure every resident is counted. The best time to ensure an accurate count is this summer, so that we can count the
college kids. We will be launching a campaign shortly to educate the residents
on the importance of being counted.

“We anticipate the census resulting in home rule status for Homer Glen. This will provide additional revenue sources for the village such as the creation of additional impact fees. There are over 190 communities with home rule status in Illinois. Studies have shown that home rule communities have the ability to broaden the tax burden beyond the residents and businesses who typically pay property taxes. This is primarily due to the fact that home rule communities have more revenue sources to pick from. The most important aspect of home rule for Homer Glen is the ability to exact impact fees on new development that we can not do as a non-home rule community. A municipal property tax has not been the intention or desire of this Board and absent the revenue that most communities receive through property tax, we have to explore other options. We will continue to recruit more businesses to town – But equally important to recruiting more businesses is making sure they pay their way. We need home rule to make that happen.”

So much for the idea of "impact fees" driving the growth of Homer Glen.

Poor folks in Homer Glen. Welcome to the new world of being over taxed by leaders with big visions of grandeur!

Without even raising the sales tax, Homer Glen already generated some $500,000 just by entering the Home Rule status. But no politician can ever say enough to new taxes and money to spend. "Impact fees!" Right!

As an Orland Park resident, I'll have to re-direct my shopping compass to another Will County community where the sales taxes remain low, like Lockport, where the sales tax remains, after all these years, only 7 percent.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparker.com/

Steelers' James Harrison -- you STINK!

The Steelers' defensive linebacker James Harrison intercepted a pass from Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner and ran the ball back 100 yards to give the Steelers an advantage most of the game -- the longest return in Super Bowl History -- only to come back as one of the worst and poorest sportsmen of the game when he pummeled over and over again an Arizona player at the end of the 4th Quarter.

Harrison should have been thrown out of the game.

Harrison, you Stink!

And on top of it, the Arizona Cardinals start to KICK ASS in the final 3 minutes of the game. They deserve to win this game and the Steelers Deserve to lose because of their unsportmanlinke conduct!

But the Steelers played a better game, despite Harrison's punching of another team's player, and they managed to pull it off in the final minutes of the game.

In the end, the referees, who seemed to show a preference for the Steelers in a Tampa stadium filled with Pittsburgh fans, played better football than the Cardinals.

A great game not because of talent, but because of the incompetent drama! but again, I ask myself, why do I care?

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparker.com/

Although Orland Park Village is hurting for money, its elected officials are not

Orland Park may be facing the toughest economic times, but the people who run the village are swimming in funds.

The village's problems have a lot to do with the poor planning of the Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin and his down-the-line domino trustees who nary challenge him, and do what they are told.

Orland Park has raised its property taxes and even gerrymandered the "fiscal year" from 12 to 15 months because they couldn't meet their expenses. They said they were changing the fiscal year in order to re-align it with the annual calendar. But many suspect the real reason is they just don't have the funds to pay all the bills in the 12 month budget and use a cute trick to turn the budget period to 15 months to cover 12 months of expenses. It's typical bad management to delay troubles until after the election April 7, 2009.

• Property taxes have skyrocketed.
• Fees continue to climb.
  Once free programs now cost money.
• The Tax Rebate program has been gutted to barely nothing.
• Millions have been wasted in poorly managed projects.

But that's the problem of the village and the taxpayers -- you and me, pal -- will be made to pay out of our hard earned tax dollars.

That's not the problem of Mayor McLaughlin and his running mates this year, trustees Brad O'Halloran, the Orland Park ambassador from the banana Republic of the Chicago 19th Ward; Kathy Fenton, and former Republican Committeeman Jim Dodge.

When you look at their campaign finance reports, you discover a whopping cumulative total of more than $275,000 in their combined campaign war chests. That is one of the largest gross campaign funds available to any local election outside of the Chicago Machine. And that assumes, of course, that this election has nothing to do with the Chicago Machine. (And I wouldn't assume that at all.)

That $275,000 breaks down as follows, based on the campaign disclosure filings this past month by all of the McLaughlin Machine candidates:

• Citizens for O'Halloran, $12,000
• Jim Dodge for Trustee, $20,000
• Citizens for Kathy Fenton, $13,000
• Orland Park First Party, $5,000 (all loans from Dodge, O'Halloran, McLaughlin and clerk David Maher)
• Citizens for Daniel J. McLaughlin, $61, 905
• Citizens for Daniel J. McLaughlin investments, $163,239 (up $6,000 which McLaughlin amended since my first report).

Every penny can be spent on inundating you with crafty spin, double-talk, happy talk, misleading campaign advertisements on issues like property taxes, fees and the tax rebate int he form of direct mail pieces.

They also have access to the very costly and slick regular village newsletter in which McLaughlin, like former Jane. M. Byrne 30 years ago, fills with references to his great achievements. The newsletter includes "reports" from O'Halloran, Dodge and Fenton, too.

And, they are regularly the stars of the Village's rerun self-promotional videos, paid for by the village taxpayers, of course, on Comcast Channel 4. Over and over and over again, ad nauseum.

Yet in the face of these overwhelming odds, one brave soul in the village has the guts to say that our elected officials must be accountable. They must be forced to explain why they raised property taxes, gutted the rebate program and increased fees, and cut back programs.

That one man is Gerald F. Maher and his slate of candidates who recently formed their committee, but have yet to report one dollar raised in their campaign.

That's why the local newspapers -- that feed on McLaughlin's good will and press releases -- keep hammering home that the last time Gerald Maher ran against McLaughlin, he got less than 30 percent of the vote.

Yet, that was 8 years ago when the economy was at its best.

Retail stores keep closing and vacancies fill strip malls like this was a neighborhood in a New York Ghetto. And if you think the tax increases they have approved are it, you are wrong.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparker.com/