Looking back at last week's election

Looking back at last week's election
For the first time in a long time, Orland Park seemed to have one political spirit. It seemed like everyone had come together for the betterment of Orland Park.
I moved to Orland Park back in 1985 and it was still filled with prairies and vacant lots that soon after were filled with new homes. I knew the elected officials back then, Mayor Fred Owens and then trustee Dan McLaughlin and Tom Charnagorsky were great friends. Tinley Park, where I lived before moving to Orland Park, was the big political pond back then where another great leader, Ed Zabrocki was building his base.
It all made for great columns at the Daily Southtown, when that was a great community newspaper, and then the Chicago Sun-Times, another newspaper that has since fallen on hard ethical, skilled and financial times.
This last election, for some reason, reminded me of the good old days of Southwest Suburban politics where everyone had the same goal, to build this area up and make it better.
For the most part, the election went smoothly. John Fotopoulos, who has run unsuccessfully for office several times before, fell short. It seemed like he was a guaranteed winner. I told him that before the election. He was first on the ballot. He was also the only independent to file, which was important because the last time he ran, he took votes away from the slate of challengers trying to unseat controversial Village Trustee Pat Gira.
This time, though, Fotopoulos had no impact on the election.
Fotopoulos told Orland Patch editor Ben Feldheim, a good young reporter, that the low turnout caused his loss. He then took a shot at Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman who is also the Republican Committeeman arguing that Liz failed to slate someone against McLaughlin.
That was kind of a dumb comment. Sometimes, it's better to acknowledge that you lost because you failed to get your message out. And what was Fotopoulos' message? I don't know. He says he didn't have the money to reach voters, but he is an attorney and I drive by his name in big letters on his law firm every morning when I head out to work. Was it the money, or the lack of a message?
Bashing Gorman is certainly a big mistake. Liz Gorman has done so much for taxpayers. Remember, I used to be one of her critics, a long time ago. It was all politics then. But since then, Gorman proved she is a courageous and creative leader. She was fearless, too. I remember when she attended the Taxpayer Protest meeting I organized many years ago, while I was criticizing her politics, and that impressed me. I thought wow, you can hit her but she won't back down?
And then she led the fight against rising taxes, which was the very purpose of the meeting I organized. More than 100 people attended at the time. Gorman was responsible for a lot of great changes, including forcing the Cook County Board to repeal the excessive sales tax hike imposed by former Cook County Board Chairman Todd Stroger. She didn't have to do that. But she did.
She defended her seat against a formidable challenge from the 19th Ward and their candidate Pat Maher, the son of the former Village Clerk, and she has probably done more to make voting count in Orland Township and the suburbs, too, for that matter.
Bashing Gorman was a mistake by Fotopoulos. Unjustified. And maybe a major part of the reason why he lost and did so badly this time is his failure to work with Gorman and other leaders in the region.
It didn't help that someone sent out a very ugly attack against Brad O'Halloran, another elected official I respect a lot. The robo-call was vicious and offensive. Fotopoulos was blamed by his political foes in a mailer and I think everyone believed he was behind it. That robo-call may have cost him the election.
The robo-caller voice was that of a woman, with a fake name, and ended saying "This call is paid for by ..." and then it just ended.
Ironically, O'Halloran was the only elected official to join Gorman in challenging the financing of the Ninety 7 Fifty development near 143rd and LaGrange Road. O'Halloran came under vicious attack from Gira, who has been a big disappointment.
Rather than attack others, elected officials and candidates for elective office should instead spend their time telling people why they should be elected and detail their creative ideas to make this a better community. Voters tend to respond more to a clearly defined vision than to balls-out mudslinging.
Criticism is ok, but what we have seen in the past hasn't been criticism. It's been vicious and way beyond the line of doing any good. Voters are smart. They can see that.
The voter turnout was low, only 5,629 people voted. But the vote was decisive. It wasn't even close. 
I believe that contrary to popular belief, people who don't won't are not protesting "bad government leadership," but rather many are satisfied with the way government is working. They are happy with what government does and they recognize that taxes do increase and must. Who else is going to pay to upgrade our roads and provide services?
Remember, they implemented early voting to help bring out more voters, but the reality is that all that happened was that people who always vote ended up voting early and people who never vote but can, didn't. Nothing will make those people vote, it seems.
Outside of the Fotopoulos debacle and the ugly robo-call, the election went pretty smoothly and it suggests maybe a new era of our leaders working together for the betterment of the community. Gorman and McLaughlin are both strong leaders. They can do a lot more together than they can apart.
-- Ray Hanania

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/

Military veteran Gerald F. Maher to challenge Mayor Dan "Happy Talk' McLaughlin in 2009

THE SCOOP: Longtime Orland Park resident Gerald F. Maher will soon officially announce his candidacy for mayor of Orland Park, challenging incumbent Mayor Dan "Happy Talk" McLaughlin in the April 7, 2009 municipal elections. Maher will run under the Concerned Citizens of Orland Park independent party.

Maher challenged McLaughlin once before in 2001 and while he did good, McLaughlin was riding high and won. Maher will do better this time.

Immediately after his election, McLaughlin imposed a .75 % home rule sales tax increase and then bought off citizen outrage by promising to rebate homeowner property taxes. That, McLaughlin promised, would off-set the increased sales taxes we would have to pay and put the tax burden on outsiders who shopped in Orland Park.

But the McLaughlin tax Hike is back, and the rebate has been trimmed significantly. Not only will you not get it rebated AS WAS PROMISED by McLaughlin, but if you miss the deadline, you will no longer have a chance to qualify. How much will be rebated? Far less than promised, and even less depending on how many people apply.

WHAT’s IN A NAME?

Don’t confuse Gerald F. Maher with McLaughlin’s cohort, Village Clerk David P. Maher, who has a problem with the fundamentals of the Illinois Open Meetings Act – he can’t seem to understand it. Gerald F. Maher is the brother of Robert J. Maher the Orland Township Supervisor. Remember, Gerald Maher supported his brother while the do-nothing Orland Township Republican Committeeman Elizabeth Doody Gorman backed Tom Mahoney, the Democrat, who lost re-election.

It’s David Maher’s son, Patrick Maher, who is the president of the Orland Park Fire Protection District.

Clearly, Gerald F. Maher is from the right political side of the popular family name.

McLAUGHLIN’s BROKEN PROMISES

McLaughlin also promised a new vision for the village of Orland Park, but over the years the reality has plagued that vision with cataracts, and the village has “seen” a series of backdoor property tax hikes, fee increases, lack of accountability and the Chicago Machine’s stranglehold on local politics. (His chief ally, trustee Brad O’Halloran is a relative of Chicago 19th Ward powerhouse and former alderman and legislator Jeremiah Joyce.)

The rebate plan, despite watered down news reporting, has been cut back to off-set the mayor’s failed leadership. In fact, the property tax rebate reduction isn’t even an honest dirty back-door property tax hike. When you promise voters to off-set a sales tax you impose by rebating their property taxes, and then renege on the rebate, that’s a TAX INCREASE.

Maher, though, plans to change all that. He promises open and accountable government that will speak to the voters and citizens of Orland Park, not to their political backers or to their slacker pals in the news media.

TIME TO BE ACCOUNTABLE

There are many issues that we face in the village:

• The tax rebate fiasco – you are only getting a portion of that tax rebate and you are still saddled with McLaughlin’s .75 % sales tax hike.

• The 143rd Street TIF District fiasco. I thought a TIF district was for blighted property, not property that a poor mayor blights with bad talk and bullying? How much money was wasted on that project that the mayor plans to salvage by shutting down so many family-owned businesses?

• Fees have continued to skyrocket with no accountability from anyone in McLaughlin’s Machine Organization – Orland Park is often referred to as Chicago’s 51st Ward it is so much under the control of the 19th Ward and relatives and friends of Brad O’Halloran.

• The village bought several homes allegedly severely damaged by flooding several years ago, and then lost a fortune by re-selling them far below the purchase price. AND, how much money was spent to refurbish them? (Why didn’t the village save money for the taxpayers by simply giving the beleaguered homeowners interest free loans to fortify and salvage their properties instead of dumping millions into the properties only to lose money?)

• What about open government? The village is using Comcast Cable TV to broadcast their Happy talk propaganda, instead of trying to inform the residents about important issues. They continue to rebroadcast over and over and over again these soppy interviews with the mayor and his allies discussing why they are so great, ignoring issues like back door property tax increases and fee increases. We need live broadcasting of the village board meetings so that the village activities are brought directly to the public, rather than forcing the public to attend the uninformative, political village board meetings.

I am elated that Gerald F. Maher is running. He is a military veteran. (I can’t remember, did Dan McLaughlin serve in the military or does he just surround himself with veterans and exploit their service in Iraq and Afghanistan to make himself look good in village press releases?)

Maher has already launched a web site and I urge you to visit it and read the information there. It is very informative. It is www.CCOP.us.

Here is Maher’s Bio:
(You can read McLaughlin's background in the taxpayer funded newsletters that saturate the village and have more pictures of McLaughlin and his named mentioned than real issues.)

• Orland Park Resident of 29 years

• Husband, father of 4, and grandfather of 4

• Attended Moraine Valley and Northwestern University

• Previous Business Owner:
- International Transportation
- Financial Consultant

• Politically active for more than 40 years incl.:
- Campaigned with President Ronald Reagan
- Campaigned with President Gerald Ford
- Campaigned with Senator Chuck Percy
- Ran successful campaign in 2005 to elect Robert J. Maher as Orland Township Supervisor, defeating the heavily endorsed incumbent

• Veteran - 82nd Airborne
• Member, American Legion

• Previous coach:
- OYA - Varsity Boys Basketball
- Beverly Little League Baseball

Wake up Orland Park. It’s your tax dollars. Why are you allowing some Chicago Machine hack to run this village to the ground, offering excuses, patronage, clout and insider deals to his pals while making you pay the bill? It is your hard earned tax dollars that are at stake in this election.

Maher's slate will also include:

Kenneth Houston for Trustee, Orland Park
Orland Park Resident of more than 20 years; Graduate of Robert Morris College.
Previous Business Manager and UPS Employee for 15 years.

Kenneth Wzorek for Trustee, Orland Park
Orland Park Resident of 18 years
Graduate of Governor's State University BA Public Administration; Business Owner
Husband and father of three, grandfather of three
Active member of St. Michael's Church
Veteran US Army; Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 15014; American Legion Member Orland Post111 ; Member Elk's Lodge No. 2254

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