Why is Orland Park selling "Open Lands" to the bloated Fire Protection District?

This is like an incestuous political soap opera.


The Orland Fire Protection District is one of the most bloated, over-budgeted, over-spending fire protection districts in Illinois. Maybe that's why so many local politicians like them, and do whatever it's leaders ask. Or maybe, it's all in the family and a dad and his pals can't say no to a son and his political ambitions.


This week, according to the Southtown/Star (read story?) the Village Board voted to sell land (cheaply by the way) to the Orland Fire Protection District so that the district can what? Expand a fire house? Build a new fire house? None of the above. The Orland Fire Protection District wants the land so it can expand its administrative center, which some firefighters privately call "The Castle."


That's where Patrick Maher reigns supreme, the son of Village Clerk Dave Maher, the pal of, well, the village's trustees. They all work together. Dave Maher doesn't have a vote but he has a lot of friends who are elected officials in the village.


So when Pat Maher wants something, he gets it.


The funniest part of the story is the quote from Ed Schussler, the trustee who served briefly as a village president back in the day when sharing was a great way to end political fights. Schussler's quote, according to the Southtown, is worth noting; but it makes no sense to me:

Trustee Ed Schussler said he voted in favor of the land sale because fire district officials had worked with the village on the plans, and he didn't believe he had the authority to tell another government body how to operate.

"They have to be accountable for how they spend their money," Schussler said.

What? He voted to sell the over-taxing Orland Fire Protection District the land because, the Orland Fire Protection District "worked" with the village? So maybe next time some big shot developer wants to come in and turn some neighborhood in to a multi-level apartment housing complex, as long as they "work" with the village to do it, it's okay?

Schussler says, according to the Southown/Star, that he didn't have the authority to tell another government body how to operate.

It's not just some other governing body, Ed. It's one that is taking taxes out of your pocket and my pocket and for what? So a lot of big shot Battalion Chiefs can drive their expensive Fire Protection District SUVs anywhere they please, anytime they please and at taxpayer expense?

Maybe that's the problem we have. Elected officials who bury their heads in the sand and don't want to tell other taxing bodies, including those headed by their political colleague's son, how to be fiscally responsible?

And I understand Trustee Kathy Fenton's vote even less:

The village board voted 4 to 1 to sell one-third of an acre to the fire district for $68,500 to allow for the addition. Trustee Kathy Fenton cast the dissenting vote; trustees James Dodge and Bernard Murphy were absent. Fenton later said she did not want to set a precedent for the village selling open space.

But she then voted along with the three other trustees and McLaughlin to approve the addition, including zoning changes and an intergovernmental agreement for parking. Fenton said she had some quality-of-life concerns for residents near the proposed addition, but some changes to the plans allayed her concerns.

What does that mean?

You voted against it and you voted for it? Sounds like a position someone takes when they are about to run for re-election again. At least that would be a good excuse. But Fenton isn't running for re-election in the Spring. Trustees Bernie Murphy, Patricia Gira and Schussler, are. Murphy was absent and so was Jim Dodge, and that leaves Gira voting for the sale, too.

Maybe they're worried, though. After all, the Orland Machine is gearing up to push for Pat Maher's campaign against tax-fighter Liz Gorman, the Cook County Commissioner from Orland Park who represents the tear-drop bowling alley district called the 17th that is based in Orland and stretches all the way north to Wheeling and Northfield Townships. With that machine in place, you don't want to ruffle any political feathers.

Gorman, who has made a career of fighting tax hikes, sent a letter expressing concerns about the deal and its impact on taxpayers. No one on the village board or at the Fire Protection District bothered to read the letter. (The letter is copied below at the end of this post.) Why would they? It's only about protecting the interests of the taxpayers. Even the representative of the Maher Dynasty at the meeting, Fire Chief Bryant Krizik, said he was unaware of the letter defending the taxpayers. What would he say?

I have one rule in covering politics. When someone fights for the taxpayer's interest as consistently as Liz Gorman has over the past many years, you listen to her, even if she is not on the local village board. At least pretend like you know what the issues are and respond to them, rather than give wishy washy answers that make no sense at all.

Politics makes great people sound so dumb. Courage makes them sound smart.

The first day to file petitions for local races in the Spring of 2011 is August 24, 2010.


Gorman's Letter:



Mayor Daniel McLaughlin
& Village Board
Village of Orland Park
14700 Ravinia
Orland Park, Il 60462

August 2, 2010

Mayor McLaughlin and Village Board:

Please accept this letter as my opposition to the approval of plans for the construction of a new administrative center for the Orland Fire Protection District.

As an elected official I cannot, in good conscience, support a project that has no tangible benefits to the taxpayers of the Orland Fire Protection District and is significantly over budget before ground has even been broken. In light of the current economic conditions, we have all had to learn to do more with less. Considering the slowdown in growth and the fact that our area is at the downturn of new growth, one would have to question why the Orland Fire Protection District “needs” to build a structure of this magnitude and substantial costs to our taxpayers at this time.

In my capacity as a Cook County Commissioner, I have made a commitment to oppose wasteful spending and mismanagement of taxpayer funds. I have fought corruption and waste at every turn. As resident of the Orland Fire Protection District, I have objections to my tax dollars being so grossly mismanaged by the Orland Fire Protection District Board of trustees as evidenced by this proposed construction plan and other questionable spending practices.

While we all have separate taxing districts to watch over, we are all representing the same taxpayers. We must each stand up and do what is right and in the best interest of those taxpayers.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth “Liz” Doody Gorman
Cook County Commissioner, 17th District

-- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com

Big Democratic guns turnout for Forys in 17th Democratic race

It's not the highest profile political battle in the news media but it is the one with most twist, turns and political pedigree issues. People are lining up in the 17th Cook County Board District, a seat held by Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman who over the past few years has risen to become one of the county's most aggressive champions of taxpayer rights.

Gorman, a Republican, is being challenge by two Democrats who will duke it out in the February 2 Democratic Primary before facing the Gorman juggernaut. They are Pat Maher and Dr. Victor Forys. Maher and Gorman are local rivals from Orland Township. Gorman is the Orland Township Republican Committeewoman and Maher is the President of the Orland Fire Protection District (OFPD). He is also the son of Orland Village Clerk Dave Maher, who is a $75,000-a-year employee of the Cook County Court system, under Stroger's watchful political patronage (Administrative Assistant Level V for the county courts). Forys comes from the northern part of the 17th District.

Forys, who raised large sums of money in the congressional race to succeed Rahm Emanuel in the 5th District, lost to former Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley. But next week, Quigley will join Gov. Pat Quinn and County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, who has worked closely with Gorman to fight Todd Stroger's repressive 1 percent sales tax, will come out swinging to endorse Forys, not Maher, in the Democratic Primary. What happens after that primary is anyone's guess.

FIGHTING FOR TAXPAYERS

There are a lot of big issues in the 17th District. Gorman has been on the right side of most during her two terms in the office. She has distinguished herself as a persistent champion of taxpayer rights, winning three major battles for taxpayers.

The first was last year when Gorman was the only county commissioner to challenge a $190,000 county loan to controversial Regional Schools Superintendent Charles Flowers. Flowers budget has since come under scrutiny. A report by the auditor general shows that Flowers has since mismanaged millions of dollars in funds. His office has an annual budget of about $1 million and is reportedly more than $1 million in debt. The audit shows that Flowers has borrowed money to pay for all kinds of expenses, without proper records, but he insisted he has repaid everything.

Gorman was the only voice to challenge Flowers' poor leadership. But this past June, the entire County board joined Gorman to repudiate Flowers and reject the loan and acknowledge Gorman's leadership.

Gorman also has been a key leader in the fight to repeal Stroger's repressive 1 percent sales tax that is chasing Cook County businesses into neighboring counties. Although Stroger prevailed when Deborah "The Hack" Sims flip-flopped supporting the repeal and then denying the repeal the 14 votes needed to override Stroger's anti-taxpayer veto, the fight has become a voter mantra that is expected to drum Todd Stroger out of office in February when he faces off with Congressman Danny K. Davis, Ald. Toni Preckwinkle and Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown among many others.

Normally, so many challengers benefit the incumbent, but a recent Chicago Tribune poll shows that Stroger has an approval rating of only 10 percent, lower than the 13 percent for impeached former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

But Gorman's determination to set the county right for taxpayers doesn't end with that high profile sales tax fight. This week, the county board approved an ethics ordinance hailed by the Arlington Heights Daily Herald that forces lobbyists (and candidates for public office who lobby) to disclose the jobs of their relatives on government payrolls to help shine light on insider sweetheart deals that are often the heart of the county's government practices.

19th WARD TIES CAUSE TURMOIL

Stroger's plight and the race for governor are impacting this race directly. Stroger is the son for former Cook County Board President John H. Stroger, who often received huge campaign donations from the nation's top bond counsel, Chapman and Cutler. It so happens that Tom Hynes, the patriarch of 19th Ward politics, is of counsel to the firm, one strong link between the 19th Ward and Stroger, and a reason for the Hynes' family to dislike Gorman, who also has some strong ties to the 19th Ward.

Tom Hynes is a close relative of Patrick Maher through his father, Dave. And, of course, Tom Hynes is the father of  Dan Hynes, the Illinois Comptroller who threw his hat in fast to challenge beleaguered Gov. Pat Quinn.

It's the 19th Ward Hynes honchos who have been working hard over the past several years to install Pat Maher at the OFPD and to take control of Orland Park, which is distinguishing itself as one of the southwest suburbs more monied and affluent communities. They back another Democrat, Paul O'Grady, who took over as Orland Township Supervisor. O'Grady relied heavily on his 19th Ward ties and had 19th ward precinct captains working the election polls this past Spring.

Quinn, Quigley and Suffredin will make their endorsement of Forys at a Forys fundraiser Sept. 29 at White Eagles in Chicago, 6839 N. Milwaukee Ave. Maher just had his own fundraiser at O'Callaghan's, at 29 West Hubbard Street in downtown Chicago, too. The keynote celebrity there was, of course, Tom Hynes. 

I reached out to Maher, who was surprised when I informed him his colleague on the OFPD James Hickey is circulating petitions to challenge State Rep. Kevin McCarthy in the 37th House District. McCarthy is a staunch ally of House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, who is backing Quinn. Hickey told me he'll discuss his candidacy with me when he gets all his signatures. (Maher says he's supporting McCarthy and he's not supporting Hickey, though many say they are very close.) 

When asked if  Tom Hynes was his "keynote speaker," Maher emailed me back, saying: "Tom Hynes was not my keynote speaker.  He did show up and it was greatly appreciated.  I don’t have all the details but I am quite sure that the guy Liz had go spy on my event (which we all saw) could concur that I had about 70 to 75 coming in and out, not counting staff. Not too bad for something I put together about two or three [weeks] ago downtown where I don’t live or work.  I did not collect the money so I really have no idea how much was collected plus some was mailed in which I did not see either."

(I asked Liz Gorman and she said she had no idea and didn't care.)

Gorman will host her fundraiser this week Thursday (Sept. 17) at Sam McGuire's, which is in the 17th District. Maher has another fundraiser planned for Oct. 9 at Fox's in Orland Park. he's expected to have the backing of Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin, the Orland Township Democratic Committeeman.

Gorman is already leading the pack with donations. Maher's campaign disclosures include many contractors who do business with Orland Park and the OFPD, friends of his father and the mayor, no doubt. Forys has funds from his professional contacts and past election supporters. I'll have a detailed analysis of everyone's recent disclosures in an upcoming post.

                                                      

In the meantime, the cross-dynamics of this battle reflect the complex lines that crisscross some of the biggest races in the news, for county board president and for Illinois governor, and intersect with some big family and Chicago political names.

-- Ray Hanania

19th Ward targets Madigan's legislative soft spots in February primary: Hickey goes after McCarthy

Newly elected Orland Fire Protection District Trustee and home mortgage broker James P. Hickey apparently is changing his focus from the Orland Fire Protection District and now its his political agenda that is on the fast track. He has set aside the ambitious agenda he once set out to help improve the OFPD and has his sights on something bigger and better.

Hickey, who just won election to the OFPD, has his petitions on the street seeking nomination in the Democratic Primary against one of House Speaker Michael J. Madigan's stalwarts, Kevin McCarthy, who has represented the 37th District since 1997. (I haven't had a chance to speak with Hickey to find out if he is circulating them or if backers are trying to draft him.)

It's amazing how political egos go right to the top and public service goes right out the window in cases like this. Sources say Hickey is boasting, accurately, that his huge win in the OFPD race this past Spring shows how "powerful" he is.

Hickey's term in office at the controversy-plagued OFPD runs until 2015. I am not sure if this is some kind of twisted strategy to help Pat Maher -- who IS related to Orland Village Clerk David Maher (the Maher's are very sensitive to people claiming to be relatives as we saw recently) -- by fielding candidates and bringing out the Democratic vote in the 17th District where Maher apparently is running against Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman? Maher has to first defeat Dr. Victor Forys who has a knack of raising huge funds. He did respectfully in the recent race for Rahm Emanuel's vacated Congressional seat which was won by independent County Commissioner Mike Quigley.

Are Maher and Hickey are working together? Their petitions are being circulated together.

But maybe Hickey and Maher don't understand the Madigan powerhouse. The fact is Mike Madigan doesn't take challenges like this lightly. While I have hammered Madigan in the past, the fact is Madigan is tight with Gov. Pat Quinn who succeeded impeached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Hickey is being backed by the 19th Ward which has its tentacles all over Orland Park and Orland Township and were rock-solid behind the candidacy of another recent victor, Paul O'Grady in the surprise Orland Township election victory.

But it's Hickey, a young recent entrant who has been fired up by his election victory who is promoting himself as the future of Orland Park and its ties to the 19th ward. (The Maher's, who backed Hickey, are related to 19th Ward honchoes including the one I have always admired the most, Tom Hynes. Hynes' son, Dan Hynes, now the Illinois Comptroller, is running for governor against Pat Quinn, Madigan's candidate.)

Is the Hickey candidacy a subtle message to Madigan from the 19th Ward because Madigan is not backing Hynes?

Madigan doesn't need any subtle messages. The guy is supremo when it comes to politics and strategy. You don't go up against him and expect to have a future in politics, if you are smart.

The protagonists will all be together at the Tinley Park parade today. Gorman has been invited by Tinley Mayor Ed Zabrocki to walk with his government officials. Maher is expected to be there and watch for Hickey's petitions to be circulating. 

Here's the vote turnout for the OFPD elections. Despite a big ego, Hickey barely won 50 percent of the district vote. Cindy Nelson Katsenes, a former OFPD trustee who has challenged Maher's rule there, came second.

James P. Hickey 3958 49.57%

Cynthia Nelson Katsenes 1539 19.28%
Robert K. Brennan 1119 14.02%
Christopher Ciciora 959 12.01%
John Jacobsma 409 5.12%

-- Ray Hanania

http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

Dodge makes it formal for comptroller at the Humphrey House Monday

ORLAND PARK, Ill., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Jim Dodge will formally announce his candidacy for the Office of Illinois Comptroller at a press conference Monday, Sept. 14 at 11 a.m. at the historic John Humphrey House, 9830 W. 144th Pl., Orland Park.

An Orland Park official since 1989, he is seeking the Republican Party nomination as the state's chief fiscal control officer in the Feb. 2, 2010 primary election. Dodge, who holds a master's degree in economics and finance from the University of Chicago, works as a technology consultant.

Dodge selected the Humphrey House site for its historical sentiment as John Humphrey served in the Illinois General Assembly, as a Republican Illinois state senator, and as Orland Park's first mayor.



Dodge is the first one to formally jump in to the race. Former Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka is also planning to officially announce and there are reports she is circulating her petitions, too, and will be running. Topinka has higher name recognition, but targeting Comptroller rather than the synch race for treasurer or governor might be an issue. Dodge needs to broaden his name recognition statewide. Both are friends and it is expected to be a cordially race.

* * * * *

Orland Fire District President Patrick Maher is also in the race for Cook County Commissioner in the 17th District. Maher, someone told me, was in the Lemont Parade (where I walked with my son). I didn't see him but I did see Mark Kirk and Judy Biggert.

I know because Maher's camp sent me their newsletter announcing his candidacy in the Democratic Primary Feb. 2. He'll face Dr. Victor Forys who has amassed a large campaign fund and ran once before for U.S. Congress.

I got the newsletter when I mentioned Maher in an earlier blog post. I also wrote that there have been more  sightings of one of Maher's top Fire Battalion Chiefs in their taxpayer-funded SUV gas guzzler driving his kids someplace outside the district again. Maher said he planned to look in to it. I thought he might actually act on the problem, because it is a major problem. But then again, all he did say was he would look in to it.


Here is Maher's campaign web site where he announces his candidacy: www.friendsofpatrickmaher.com.

He talks about the need to protect the interests of taxpayers, but I haven't seen him take any action on what I and other taxpayers consider a misuse of public vehicles, driving a Fire Protection District SUV outside of the district. Maher explained before that the 5 (?) battalion chiefs in the district drive the cars around on and off-duty so they are available when needed. Let's just hope that idea doesn't spread to other taxpayer funded government agencies.

The winner of the Democratic primary Feb. 2 will then face off with Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman, a Republican who has built a powerful front defending the rights of taxpayers leading the charge against the repressive 1 percent Todd Stroger Cook County Sales Tax. Maher didn't attack Stroger's sales tax plan in his newsletter discussion about fighting for taxpayer rights. That is going to be an hurdle that will be hard for him to overcome, the fact that Stroger and the Democratic Machine back him.

******

Former Cicero Town president Betty Loren-Maltese, who was convicted of corruption and spent seven years in the hoosegow and is now spending six months in a halfway house across the street from Circus Circus in Las Vegas, told FOX Chicago News reporter Anne Kavanaugh that she is writing a book called "Justice: Chicago Style" ... I thought it should be titled "Guilty."

Loren-Maltese, of course, never takes responsibility for her crimes or her vindictive ways and plays the victim so well. She's a split personality, on one side very likable and on the other vicious, cruel and mean. It's the Bad Betty and her greed that put her in jail and the Good Betty who only reappears when she needs sympathy.

When Kavanaugh asked me about whether her book would sell, I noted I would buy it, as a journalist. But, I wasn't sure a public that has had it up to here with former convicted criminals and convicts trying to make excuses for their actions would want to read the book. Betty most likely will simply fill the pages with junk about how it was everyone else's fault instead of her own, blame it on how "friends" betrayed her, and paint herself as the innocent victim of injustice, duped by male politicians.

The truth is if Betty were smart -- she has it in her -- she'd admit her responsibility in her crimes and her own life, stop playing the victim which is BS, and take responsibility for her own actions. Then, write about the colorful characters she met during her three year reign as Good Betty (93-96 when I was her consultant) and six year reign as Bad Betty (96-02 when politically sleazy PR consultants Dave Donahue and later Lee Harris ran her post-corruption defense campaigns under Ed Vrdolyak's direction. Donahue's greasy fingerprints are all over Orland Park and Township.)

I was her consultant when she was doing good and while she was quietly betraying everyone around her. Town Supervisor Joe DiChicio was found not guilty because the judge easily saw through her weak defense and efforts to manipulate the Town Clerk's board meeting records. I left her when I asked her if the FBI charges were true and she called Vrdolyak to tell him I spoke with the FBI, and Vrdolyak ordered Betty to fire me. Thank you Betty!

Harris and Donahue represented her when it was clear that she was the focus of a major corruption investigation that looted the Town of more than $10 million. That explains how Betty amassed all that money and property and big cars and high-flying gambling life.

If she got her act together, she could do some good with her life. but knowing Betty, she is always consumed with anger, hatred and meanness. Those are tough obstacles for anyone to overcome.

I liked the old, Good Betty, the one that shared leadership with other leaders in Cicero back in the early 1990s and opened the town together with progressive programs. But that Betty is just a memory that if came back would make her book a success. Bad, mean Betty writing a book. People who know her will buy it but that won't be enough to make it successful.

*****

Rumor is Rocky Wirtz, the owner of the Blackhawks and Judge & Dolph is a part of the investment group buying the Chicago Sun-Times. Wirtz is a smart guy. He put the Blackhawks back on the map and he is smart when it comes to business. I hope he can help re-organize the Sun-Times and keep it from closing.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Pundits say Gorman has trouble but I don't believe it

Going in to every election, incumbents always look vulnerable. There's a lot of big talk and big ambition by officeholders who dream of becoming the next political "phenom" like Barack Obama, who went from relative unknown to president of the United States in less than six years.

The candidates are already dreaming and some of those dreamers have set their sights on one incumbent in the Southwest Suburbs, 17th District Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman.

Gorman is not the darling of the downtown news media which analyzes everything in terms of either Mayor Daley or the Chicago Loop. Most major media, with some exceptions, ignore the suburbs and pretty much follow the pack when deciding who is or isn't vulnerable in elections. So bright stars in the suburbs often are overlooked.

There have been a few exceptions like Media darling Forrest Claypool, who every writer pretty much ordained would become the slayer of the evil tax lord, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. But Claypool discovered in his polling that he could neither raise the money nor could he count on real Democratic Party support. He would have lost to Stroger.

Then there is the other darling of the news media, Mike Quigley. Unlike Claypool, Quigley is made of much more genuine substance. He's more personable and less arrogant. He actually talks to people. Quigley was smart enough to throw his hat into the crowded Democratic primary battle to succeed Rahm Emanuel in Congress. It wasn't that Quigley was a phenom like Obama, but rather that the race for the congressional seat was more like the running of the bulls in Pamplona. Some people would luck out and make it through to the end of the race without getting gored, and a few unlucky ones would get gored.

Quigley got lucky. He has but two years to prove himself and he's working hard at showing he can handle the job, now that he was lucky enough to win.

Gorman is off the major media radar screen, except when the negative steamrollers come in to rehash all that deadweight about Ed Vrdolyak. Yes "Fast Eddie" will never leave the news. Ed happened to be friends with Gorman's husband, Gerry. They were business partners, too. But there isn't one politician Ed Vrdolyak hasn't helped, worked with or has not considered to be a friend. And he's done business with a lot of others, incuding a few who are among those being hailed by pundits as possible Gorman challengers.

The least known of the presumptive candidates to challenger Liz Gorman is in fact the front-runner, Pat Maher. President of the controversy-plagued Orland Fire Protection District (in two years its political legal spending went from nothing to hundreds of thousands) Maher is the son of a long time Orland Park village clerk, Dave Maher. Pat Maher has one brother who quietly and unsuccessfully ran for a village trustee post in nearby Lemont. In any other lifetime, the Mahers would be just an ordinary, bland suburban political family. Fat frogs sitting high on lilly pods in small pools. But this Maher family has ties to the powerful family of Tom Hynes, father of Comptroller Dan Hynes, who hail from the legendary 19th Ward where the the 19th Ward Machine stands ready at their beck and call.

Yet Pat Maher is not the name that everyone is talking about when it comes to the 17th District challenge to Liz Gorman. Take this paragraph from a recent column by my friend and capable columnist Russ Stewart (July 23) who looked at the county races from top to bottom:

17th District (Park Ridge, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, then south in a narrow corridor to Lemont, Orland Park and Tinley Park): Incumbent [Liz] Gorman’s husband was a business partner of Ed Vrdolyak, and there is some negative fallout attaching to her. She was first elected unopposed in 2002, and re-elected in 2006 with 55.6 percent. She is the Orland Township Republican committeeman, was briefly the Republican county chairman, and has been feuding with Peraica.

A likely 2010 Democratic candidate for the seat is Dr. Victor Forys, a Polish-American who garnered 11.7 percent of the vote in the 2009 Democratic congressional primary in the 5th District. If Forys can assemble both a geographic (north versus south) and ethnic coalition, he could win. Other candidates include Orland Park trustee Jim Dodge and RTA Board member Dennis Cook. But well-known Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin is also a possibility, and would be favored in a primary. The outlook: Gorman has huge problems.

The first thing you notice is that focus is not on Liz Gorman, who has come out swinging this past year with some major legislative initiatives. Rather, the focus is on her husband, Gerry, a businessman whose family is involved in politics. It's a funny thing. I'd heard a lot about Gerry Gorman that made him out to be some kind of behind-the-scenes T-Rex. Then I had a chance to meet him. Turns out he's just like any other family man who takes his kids to little league practice and spends a lot of time with his wife.

The second thing you notice in Russ Stewart's analysis is the absence of any recognition of Pat Maher. The focus instead is on: Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin; Jim Dodge, who Gorman appointed to the METRA Board; Dennis Cook, a member of the RTA board with the Illinois Federation of Young Republicans. And perennial candidate Victor Forys.

Now, I'm not knocking anyone but I can tell you this:

Dan McLaughlin may covet higher office, possibly lieutenant governor in the Democratic race for Governor in 2010, as the rmor mill is now swirling. But Dan has a big job with the Chicago Plumbers Union that pays well and takes up much of his time. Being president of a village with a great reputation and a high-paid village manager is a second job that pays some money but offers great rewards. Give that up for the undistinguished arena of the Cook County board? I don't think so. Maybe for statewide office, yes!

Dodge, the former Orland Township GOP Committeeman, has ambitions. But in a fight with an incumbent Republican, he'd have a difficult battle. A nice guy, what has he done on the METRA Board and how would the public even know him? Could he raise the money you'd need to run in this fight? And would you backstab someone who went to bat for you when you needed it?

Dennis Cook may want to enter the race simply to give himself higher name recognition because he just ain't too well known with the voters. A nice guy according to Republican insiders who I know. He has a future.

But Orland Park based challengers really have a disadvantage. The 17th District is shaped like the Via Dolorosa, the cobble-stone path that winds its way through the narrow streets of Jerusalem, where Jesus carried his cross before being crucified. In addition to including Orland Township, where Maher may do well, the 17th District runs all the way north to include many areas where names like Maher, McLaughlin, Cook, Dodge and others might not mean so much. Places where building name recognition is not easy like in Park Ridge, Des Plaines, and Mt. Prospect, just to name a few.

I give Liz Gorman credit. She's fearless. I wasn't her biggest fan several years back when she headed the Cook County Republican Organization. I thought she could have done more. But since leaving that party leadership post for others, she has done much. The truth is I don't think any Republican could have done much better with the county or with the state. Illinois House Speaker Mike J. Madigan has the legislature in a vice grip, and despite numerous opportunities to break through the Democratic headlock, Republican leaders have fallen short. The disarray at the state level only gets worse in many prominent Republican bastions. So maybe she did as well as anyone else might have done.

It takes more than party identity. It takes action, someone willing to stand up and fight the fight for the taxpayers. And boy do the taxpayers desperately need someone to standup and fight on their behalf as everyone seems to tripping up all over. Everyone that is, except Liz Gorman.

In the past year, I have seen Liz Gorman stand up and fight, and fight hard for the rights of taxpayers not just in the 17th District, but in Cook County, too. She was the driving force behind the battle to force Todd Stroger to repeal the oppressive 1 percent sales tax hike. If it wasn't for her, the repeal battle might not have been fought. That it was fought has given the county board ambition to push even harder and there is a chance that next week, a compromise will pass that forces Stroger to cut the sales tax by half.

And while everyone else was hissing last year, Liz Gorman was the only county commissioner who stood up and asked why the board was going to give a $190,000 taxpayer funded loan to the regional schools superintendent, Charles Flowers. She fought hard trying to convince everyone that Flowers' office was drowning in mismanagement and wasteful spending. No one listened.

Turns out Liz Gorman was right on the money, where it counts for taxpayers. Gorman protested and last month, a state Audit concluded that Flowers had charged thousands of dollars worth of personal expenses on the taxpayers' credit card. And he couldn't provide receipts for more than 70 percent of those purchases. he also gave thousands of dollars in cash advances to his employees, including to one who is his sister.

Believe it or not, there are politicians like Flowers who think the public trough is their personal ATM machine where they can borrow money whenever they want.

Liz Gorman was the scissor who chopped up Flower's taxpayer funded Debit Card.

Two major initiatives defending the rights of the taxpayers just in the past two months. That has to make even the most seasoned of political challengers a bit wary wondering if Liz Gorman is really worth trying to unseat.

For the taxpayers, right now, the answer is Liz Gorman should remain in office.

I think if Pat Maher breaks from his father's shadow and starts to clean up the mess at the Orland Fire Protection District, he could make a name for himself as a champion for the taxpayer's too. And when Dan McLaughlin retires -- he's been in office a long time -- or moves on up the ladder as some are rumoring he will do in another bid for state wide office, Maher may want to try to run for village president.

And if he can do it without the help or meddling of the foreigners from the 19th ward, he just might make a great mayor. Someday.

By the way, there is one rumor that is worth looking at closely. Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy, the hero who took a bullet for President Ronald Reagan in the assassination attempt in the 1970s, is being rumored to be a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate seat on the Democratic side. McCarthy is a titan. he ran for statewide office once before but with two statewide candidates coming from the same village, it made it tough to win. With Illinois Attorney general Lisa Madigan out of the race, why not McCarthy.

-- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com

Forrest Claypool confides to colleagues he won't challenge Stroger

Forrest Claypool, one of the leading candidates who was expected to challenge Cook County Board President Todd Stroger in the February Democratic primary has told his party allies on the county board he will not run.

That leaves declared candidate Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, a reformer who appeals to African Americans and women dissatisfied with Stroger's rule, and opens up other possible challenges, changing the horse race completely. Another candidate in the race is Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown who has both strong name recognition, ties countywide and the ability to raise funds. She would be a formidable candidate in the Democratic primary.

Many believed Claypool was actually a weak candidate and some insiders argued that polling numbers over the past few months showed his appeal among countywide Democrats weakening. Rather than be a leader in the fight against the Stroger 1 percent sales tax, he has been meekly following along.

============= =============

Claypool's problem is reflected in the FACT that he is making

more news getting out of the race for Cook County Board President

than he ever did getting in to the race. He just never had it!

============= =============

County Commissioner Larry Suffredin immediately announced his plans to form an exploratory committee to decide if he can beat Stroger, who has been besieged by several controversies and growing unpopularity with the oppressive 1 percent sales tax hike. Suffredin originally opposed the sales tax hike, changed his vote hoping that it would bring some badly needed change to the county's health system, and then supported the repeal when those changes failed to materialize.

Another possibility is that County Sheriff Tom Dart might run for Board president in the Democratic primary.

While Democrats scramble to reposition themselves, Republicans are also taking a closer look at the race. With former Chicago Schools CEO Paul Vallas withdrawing from the contest, the Republicans are looking and possible contenders. One candidate, of course, is 17th District Commissioner Liz Doody Gorman, who has quickly risen to the top of the county list of stars first by leading the fight to repeal the Stroger sales tax and her recent victory in getting the board to reverse itself on last year's $190,000 loan to controversy-plagued Regional Schools Supt. Charles Flowers. She's been a powerful voice for voters on the county board.

But the law has been changed and if Gorman does run in November against the Democratic nominee for president, she would not be able to run for re-election to her county seat. A difficult choice but possibly a great opportunity.

That might also save Pat Maher, whose expected candidacy for the 17th District has been overshadowed by Gorman's fast action leadership on the county board. In a head-to-head race, Gorman could easily beat Maher, the president of the Orland Fire Protection District who has no real name recognition outside of this small corner of the huge 17th district. Maher's only asset so far has been his name which his family has fought hard to protect in recent elections. But outside of Orland, the Maher name means little more than that. Maher's ties to the 19th Ward, which has a huge presence in Orland Park, could both help and hurt him in the suburban county district which runs into the far north suburbs. And his ties to Stroger, through the Democratic organization, could cause him some voter grief.

Gorman would be a great candidate to lead the Republican Party going into the election. Winning the primary would be a synch.

Tough choices would have to be made by the beginning of the Fall when filing begins.

-- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com

Everyone loves a parade: Orland Days a hit this year

Everyone loves a parade, including the kids who stand by the curb as the parade floats, fire and police vehicles and politicians and small businesses walk past tossing some neat candies to the excited kids.
This year's Orland Days Parade was excellent and had more people seated along the route, although it still could use more support from the community. And Orland Days, hosted and organized by volunteers from the Lions Club of Orland Park, was very well done, with some better food booths and a nice music tent nearby.

The Metra Station parking lot worked great for this year's event (held there last year too) and was far better than the spread at the old Homemaker's parking lot where Orland Days hit a low point. The food was terrible back then, but not this year. It was very good.

The corn on the cob from the Scouts was top notch and so were the sandwiches and the drinks. My favorite was the M8K Ur Own slush. Although the tickets were steep -- a sign of the still spiralling down economy, the rides were good. The best was the Inverter. Wow! Scary. And there were several others this year that included flips, spins and fast diving seating that were frightening to watch let alone actually ride.

The kids loved all the rides, of course. And the carnival atmosphere was appealing. But, still. As much as I enjoyed Orland Days, I wish we could have more. The rock band Janus was very good and there were many others. But the variety was narrow.

The parade, though had a great contingent from the Orland Fire Protection District headed by the nice-enough Pat Maher, who is planning to run for Cook County Commissioner. And that was Topic A1 at the Orland Days festival when I went there. Several firemen came up to me to say hello and said they appreciated having a columnist hold the politicians' feet to the fire regarding who gets promoted, who gets passed over, who is driving around in a taxpayer funded battalion chief's SUV and who has to schlep and do all the work.

It's my humble opinion Maher is going to lose to incumbent 17th District Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman who has been breaking headlines left and right leading the fight on behalf of the taxpayers against unresponsive and beleaguered Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. Stroger shoved a 1 percent sales tax hike down the throats of the taxpayers without once trying to reduce his own wasteful spending. And that will cost Stroger his job.

And it won't be soon enough as Stroger is a very vindictive and mean person surrounded by a bunch of vindictive and mean consultants and taxpayer-paid lapdogs who sing his praises to keep their high priced and wasteful jobs. (Of course, that doesn't include the competent Parliamentarian and Oak Lawn attorney Burton S. Odelson who does a good job. Too bad Stroger doesn't always listen to good advice.)

But Gorman was out there shaking hands and giving candy personally to all of the kids and she walked both sides to make sure no little tyke was without the booty. People were cheering her on and thanking her for leading the fight against the Stroger sales tax.

Maher's troubles begin with his father and the too obvious ties not just to Chicago's 19th Ward but to the power hungry Machine that wants to push Orland under its thumb.

It ain't gonna work. But, Maher will learn that he will be a better candidate in some future race and without the nudge from his father or the political consultants who are swarming around him like a coveted front-row seat ticket to a Rolling Stones' concert.

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

A lawsuit you probably haven't heard much about in Orland Park

About one year after the heated Orland Park Fire Protection District (OPFPD) trustee election battle on April 17, 2007 between Arthur Granat Jr. and Cynthia Nelson Katsenes on one side, and Marty McGill and Glenn Michalak on the other side, Granat filed a defamation lawsuit.

The lawsuit deals indirectly with that embarrassing event in January 2007 involving Lt. Lawrence Masa, who claimed he needed paid leave from the OPFPD because he was serving his country in Iraq and Afghanistan, between 2003 and 2006. Masa was charged in January 2007 by the Cook County State's Attorney with ripping off taxpayers of $200,000 in salary during that period because, well, he wasn't serving in Iraq or Afghanistan at all, apparently. The Masa case is pending.

Granat alleges in his lawsuit, filed by attorney John Partelow, that his opponents for the trustee seat in collusion with the other board members -- the OPFPD attorneys, a computer company that has close ties to Mayor Dan McLaughlin, and the Orland Park Prairie -- used the Masa controversy to make it look like he was responsible. They defamed him, Granat alleges in his lawsuit, in order to make him lose the election.

Granat apparently had nothing to do with the Masa scandal, but the OPFPD quietly hired a contractor in February 2007, for about $10,000 according to Granat's attorney, to investigate Granat's "role" in the Masa affair, a role which apparently did not exist. Oops! It all centers around a computer that Granat was given permission by then acting Chief Donald Bettenhausen to take home. Granat's opponents on the board quietly hired a "computer forensic expert" to determine if Granat was hiding any files protecting Masa and that information was fed to the media to discredit Granat just before the April 2007 election.

Two of the 13 defendants in Granat's suit are McGill, Michalak, now OPFDP trustees. Of course, with the mud flying, they defeated Granat and Katsenes for the two trustee seats. Katsenes had been an outspoken champion to force the OPFPD to improve its sloppy and wasteful ways, which made her disliked on the board, and Granat, who was a 38 year OPFPD employee and deputy fire chief, had an impeccable record until the election mudslinging took place.

But, there are 11 other defendants in the lawsuit, and chances are you, the Orland Park taxpayer are most likely going to get socked with the tab if, as it should, Granat's suit is affirmed by a jury.

The remaining defendants round out what Granat's attorney spells out was a conspiracy to defame Granat and destroy his reputation in a mudslinging effort just before the election. They are:

Patrick Maher, the son of the Orland Park Village Clerk and the president and a trustee on the OPFPD who allegedly authorized the spending of $10,000 in OPFPD and taxpayer money to investigate his political rival.

OPFPD trustees Patricia Corcoran and Salvatore Cacciato who also supported the decision.

The OPFPD district itself, as the abusive government entity.

The OPFPD district's law firm Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, (KTJ) which has very close ties to the Village of Orland Park, too.

Michael J. Duggan and Dennis G. Walsh, lawyers with KTJ.

The Orland Park Prairie Newspaper, which published the stories apparently fed to it by a certain Orland Park employee.

Marjorie Owens-Klotz, daughter of the late Mayor Fred Owens and a "big shot" in the Village of Orland Park who handles media relations with the local newspapers and publicity and also handled media for the OPFPD, according to the lawsuit. She's married to a top ranking firefighter at the OPFPD, too. A sister was appointed to the OPFPD Commission.

Computer Bits, Inc., the firm hired by Maher and the anti-Granat/Katsenes board members to investigate the issue. Computer Bits Inc. has very close ties to the Village of Orland Park and is a major contributor to Mayor McLaughlin.

James T. Harmening, the owner of Computer Bits Inc., and a self-professed "forensic computer expert," according tot he lawsuit.

Apparently, the Daily Southtown ran the harmful and misleading story but later acknowledged, according to Granat's attorney, that Granat was unfairly slammed. The Orland Park Prairie (my favorite newspaper, or MFN), has not said anything.

Here's the lawsuit. Read it for yourself:

I've reached out to the attorneys, KJT, for a response to the lawsuit and will post it as soon as it comes in.