Gorman raises $65,000 at fundraiser

Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman reported raising nearly $65,000 in donations at her fundraiser last night at Sam McGuires in Orland Park. Gorman said she has at least three more fundraisers planned over the next six weeks. Her collections can easily exceed $250,000 by the end of the year with no formal Republican party opposition in sight.

Much of the funding has come from individuals moved by Gorman's steady fight against beleaguered Cook County Board President Todd Stroger and Stroger's oppressive 1 percent sales tax. Gorman, along with other county board members including Democratic Commissioner John Daley, repeatedly sought to roll back, repeal and trim the sales tax. Though the battle was undercut by a backstabbing flip-flop Deborah "The Hack" Sims, who withdrew support of the repeal, the fact is Gorman's persistence has sent a strong message to Stroger that his days as County Board President are numbered and her enthusiasm in leading this fight helped taxpayers recognize that they can fight taxes.

Her Democratic rivals, Dr. Victor Forys from the north side of the 17th Cook County District, and Patrick Maher from Orland Township and president of the Orland Fire Protection District did not report collections from their recent fundraisers. Maher said he would give me a count later. According to reports, during his unsuccessful race for congress in Rahm Emanuel's old district (won by Mike Quigley) Forys raised $160,000 in a one month period.

Forys has the power going into the Feb. 2 Democratic primary election. Forys has a fundraiser Sept. 29 where he will formally receive endorsements from Congressman Mike Quigley, County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, County Commissioner Forest Claypool and Gov. Pat Quinn. Maher has or will receive backing from Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin, Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes (the leading Democratic candidate for governor), and Hynes 19th Ward power house father, Tom Hynes. Maher has another fundraiser planned for Oct. 9 at Fox's Pub.

Gorman drew a crowd of supporters and endorsements including from State Sen. Kirk Dillard, who is running for Governor, and several trustees from Orland Township (who ran with Democratic Paul O'Grady) and trustees from Orland Park, Orland Hills and Tinley Park, too.

More than 265 people attended the fundraiser, Gorman reported.

NOTE TO THE LITTLE BIRDIES OUT THERE: If you see any petitions circulating, please send me an email note with the names you see. email: RayHanania@Comcast.net

AND ... Le Shana Tovah a Tikkathev/vi to Jewish readers and fans whoa re celebrating their New Years holidays this weekend, Rosh Hashana, and Eid Mubarak to Muslim readers and fans who celebrate the end of Ramadan Sunday with the Eid.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

New Township supervisor scraps bids and hires employee to oversee new township building and move

In one of his first big moves, Orland Township Supervisor Paul O'Grady scraped the approved contracts for the new township building and created a new township job salaried at $50,000 a year that he gave to Angela Ryan, a candidate nominated by a partner in his law firm at Querrey & Harrow. Ryan will oversee the building and transition to the new township building, a plan originally started by his predecessor Robert Maher.

O'Grady acknowledged the position was not put out to bid and not posted public for residents of the township to apply for the position. He defended that saying Ryan was placed on the township payroll as an employee, presumably with full employee benefits, with the support of the Township Board.

"Her position is not a contract position. She will be a full time township employee. However, with that said, we will be launching our new web site in the next 30 days which will include an area to respond to RFP's/RFQ's," O'Grady explained in an email.

"She was referred to me by one of my law partners," O'Grady said.

O'Grady said Ryan was not a contributor to his campaign. "I recommended her to the board. ... I interviewed her for over an hour in addition to speaking with her on the phone. In my judgment she had good people skills. She communicated well, described past job accomplishments, and made a positive presentation which led me to the conclusion that she had good people skills and was competent."

The move raised eyebrows. O'Grady, Maher's camp argued, accused them of doing the exact same thing when Maher hired an architect referred to him by associates. Although Ryan is not related to anyone on the board or in the township, O'Grady acknowledged she has no construction experience, a point that has raised concerns in the township.

Ryan's hiring will also give O'Grady direct control in the awarding of the lucrative contract, already approved by the prior board. Seven contractors had vyed for the contract in an open process with bids ranging between $400,000 and $600,000. A new contractor is expected to be hired next month raising questions about the bidding process itself.

In other media reports, O'Grady acknowledged she has no construction experience, but will serve as a "point person/liaison" for the renovation plan.

"Her primary responsibilities will be to work on the new building project. This entails the bid and completion of the build out, the sale of the current building, and the logistics of the move. This will ensure Township services continue uninterrupted during the transition. Ultimately, the Board decided it was more beneficial to pay someone to get this done than to sit on two buildings indefinitely," O'Grady said.

"Additionally, she will work on the General Assistance project to help those who need it and oversee the rewriting of the General Assistance guidelines. She will also coordinate our new jobs training program. Finally, she will be doing other special projects as they arise, most notably the organization of the Township ordinances. At this point it is unclear where the ordinances are even located."

O'Grady blamed it all on his precedessor, asserting the building plan had remained stagnant and describing the bids as "incomplete."

"This was evidenced by the recent re-bid of the building after the incomplete bid packets sat untouched for months. We promised the voters to get this done," O'Grady asserted.

The transition between O'Grady and Maher was very bitter. O'Grady's campaign engaged in very tough and critical attacks that Maher called "throwing mud" and that "avoided" the issues.

Ryan begins her new job this week.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
rayhanania@comcast.net

Dan McLaughlin wins Orland Park elections, for himself and everyone else

Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin once again easily slid into re-election Tuesday to begin a record 5th term. McLaughlin served as a trustee for 8 years and 16 as mayor. But it was McLaughlin's coattails that are the story in this victory.

McLaughlin's challenger Gerald Maher, with little money, tried and did better than he did 8 years ago, garnering a higher percentage of votes. And while his candidacy insured that voters would get to hear the issues addressed, his message was swamped by mud-slinging. Not from McLaughlin, but from some of McLaughlin's circle of allies.

Clearly, the winner in this election was McLaughlin, although he ran the way any professional candidate would run, not taking anything for granted. I thought the race could have been friendlier, with less animosity. But while there were some contentious moments in the village elections, they didn't even come close to the namecalling and mud that dominated the Orland Township election fight.

The unofficial totals (all of the numbers here are unofficial) for Orland Park Village President (Mayor), with 58 or 60 precinct reporting:

OPF - Daniel J. McLaughlin 5287 64.02%
CCO - Gerald F. Maher 2971 35.98%

In the race for village Clerk:

OPF - David P. Maher 5327 66.50%
CCO - Patrice E. Pykett 2684 33.50%

In the race for 3 trustee seats:

OPF - James V. Dodge 4995 21.53%
OPF - Kathleen M. Fenton 4870 20.99%
OPF - Brad S. O'Halloran 4814 20.75%

CCO - Kenneth M. Wzorek 2847 12.27%
CCO - Marian M. Klemme 2880 12.42%
CCO - Kenneth M. Houston 2791 12.03%

In the election, some 8,258 votes were cast above for Mayor. In 2005, uncontested, McLaughlin received 9,248. In the 2001 election, McLaughlin won 6,775 votes to Maher's 2,704 votes. McLaughlin received more than 71 percent of the vote in the 2001 election battle, and slipped slightly with only 64 percent in this election.

Orland Township election results showed only real upset:

With 84 of 88 precincts reporting, Paul O'Grady swept into office on McLaughlin's coattails, easily defeating incumbent Robert Maher. McLaughlin made a last minute pitch and his pitches have resonance with voters who have supported his leadership for the past 16 years.

OTF - Paul A. O'Grady 7028 65.04%
OTP - Robert J. Maher 3778 34.96%

Maher, who was hammered by O'Grady's constant attack brochures and literature, didn't come close to spending the money that O'Grady was able to raise from his Democratic supporters, union and 19th Ward supporters. Although O'Grady denied he had any ties to the 19th Ward -- something that really irked me about a candidate -- he had many 19th Ward workers including 19th Ward office holder Sheriff Tom Dart pitching for him in Orland Township.

But O'Grady didn't win it on the issues. He won it because McLaughlin gave him his public blessing and McLaughlin's blessing is the crown in Orland Park, without a doubt. he also had the hard backing of the Democratic Machine and lots of money, as seen by his assault of direct mail literature.

O'Grady also won because the Democrats came out strong behind him, while the Republicans seem to be losing some of the former grip on the township. That's an assessment that needs closer examination. Orland Township Republican Committeeman Liz Gorman tried to be more focused on what is best for Orland Park instead of simply following a hard ideological line. Gorman is focused on the bigger challenge facing voters, the rising taxation in Cook County. A member of the Cook County Board, Gorman strongly supported the Fight the Taxation Forum that Radio Chicagoland sponsored Monday March 30. And McLaughlin also came out. (So did Orland Trustees Pat Gira and Ed Schussler, indicating they, too, oppose the higher taxation choking suburban Cook County residents.)

Former Republican Committeeman Jim Dodge did what he always does, pushed himself hard in his bid for Orland Park trustee; it showed with him leading the pack of three incumbent trustees behind McLaughlin.

Voter turnout was pathetic for most of Cook County, but Orland Park voters maintained what they always do in elections, turning out better. Not strong. Better than the rest of the county. But that turnout is in part a result of the contested races, and contests and criticism may not be liked by the candidates or the incumbents, but it is what is best for the voters.

Total Registration and Turnout in Cook County was 299,178. That is about 19 percent of the 1,463,070 registered voters. Yikes!

The shift, though, clearly seems to reflect a move in Orland Park from the once strong Republican base to a voter base driven by Democrats and their Chicago machine ties in the 19th Ward. There were several 19th Ward former precinct captains and captians (some who I know personally) and others who just shrugged they were there as a part of a push by the downtown unions, to help O'Grady ... at McLaughlin's bidding.

In other races:

District 135 race, with 51 of 52 precincts counted, the four winners are:

Ann M. Gentile 4374 19.15%
Tom Cunningham 3567 15.62%
Lynne Donegan 3408 14.92%
Mary A. Bragg 3369 14.75%

The closest challenger is James W. Leib 3243 with more than 126 votes behind Bragg, making it difficult to win.

In District 230 schools, for sure 3 of the 4 winners are:

Laura Murphy 8201 16.66%
Frank J. Grabowski 7095 14.42%
Michael E. Hastings 6391 12.99%

Michael Hastings, whose resume impressed many voters, is the son of controversial Orland Hills Mayor Kyle Hastings. Baker was leading Peterson by 39 votes.

Carol Baker 6170 12.54%
Kathleen J. Murphy-Peterson 6131 12.46%

But, the site shows only 139 of 145 precincts were counted, which means the final results in that 4th place seat could easily change.

In the Moraine Valley Community College Race, the apparent winners for the two seats are:

Patrick D. Kennedy 28407 39.41%
Mark D. Weber 25234 35.01%

Robert M. Stokas received only 18,441 votes. Weber was a young appointee to the MVCC board who ran with the support of a lot of voters who believe the board needs more younger representation and fresh ideas.

In the race for Orland Fire Protection District, the result was unquestionably decisive for the one available seat.

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%

Ciciora was a young student who ran his first election and did a great job, although he fell short of what he needed to win. And Katsenes, a former board member battling OFPD President Patrick Maher, the son Orland Village Clerk Dave Maher, came in second.

On the issue of breaking from Cook County and fighting increased taxation:

The battle for secession from Cook County inched forward, the only real race worth fighting. Voters in Orland Township responded with a resounding rejection of the county sales tax increase. Voting NO by a whopping 9905 votes or 91.18% of the ballots. Not that Stroger is going to listen to anyone, and now that the Democrats have pretty much locked up Orland Township, the voice of the voters when it comes to Stroger, will be muted.

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

While Orland Mayor holds his own, Paul O'Grady moves in for a sweep

Democrat Paul O'Grady, who pelted Orland Township with expensive and tough literature, appears to have pulled off the impossible in a suburban election defeating an incumbent, Robert Maher.

Here's the latest election results as of 9 PM CST from the Cook County Clerk's election monitoring web site.

Township Supervisor Orland
2 Candidates - Vote for 1
Precincts Counted: 56 of 88 (63.64%)

Candidates Votes %
Paul A. O'Grady (OTF) 4,609 65.02%
Robert J. Maher (OTP) 2,480 34.98%

The odds of overcoming that lead are slim indeed.

Mud and mean campaigning in a low turnout election has its merits. O'Grady's slate may make it a sweep across the board. Who knew 19th Ward heavy Sheriff Tom Dart had so much pull in Orland Township.

Meanwhile, Robert Maher's brother, Gerald Maher, is on his way to losing his second try at unseating incumbent Dan McLaughlin.

Orland Park Village President
2 Candidates - Vote for 1
Precincts Counted: 37 of 60 (61.67%)

Candidates Votes %
Daniel J. McLaughlin (OPF) 3,403 64.70%
Gerald F. Maher (CCO) 1,857 35.30%

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Mudslinging in local Orland Township elections

Like many residents in Orland Park and Orland Township, I have been inundated with political mailers, mainly from one candidate, Paul O'Grady. O'Grady and his slate are challenging Orland Township Supervisor Robert Maher and his slate of incumbents.

While Robert Maher, I believe, has focused on the issues, O'Grady seems to be emphasizing the personal attacks. He begins in his mailers to talk about issues, but never explains how he will achieve his campaign promises. And then, he quickly shifts to what I feel are personal attacks against Robert Maher, including in a recent mailer in which he blasted Maher saying that he was wasting taxpayer dollars by taking people out for lunch on the taxpayer dime.

Really? Who were the people he dined with and why? All O'Grady did was list the expenses, which are made public at every board meeting for viewing. But O'Grady hasn't been talking about these issues for long. The first I heard of O'Grady was when he announced. Who is he and where has he been all these years?

Is O'Grady also saying that if he wins the election and he becomes an elected official that he won't file for expense reimbursements? That's not what he says in his slick mailers.

O'Grady and I exchanged emails in which he said he wasn't some 19th Ward hack trying to take over Orland Park, as many alleged. He insisted he had no relations to the big 19th ward heavies, nor was he tied to the 19th Ward political honchos.

But then, he comes out with a telephone campaign call from, you guessed it, 19th Ward heavy and County Sheriff Tom Dart.

When I wrote about it, O'Grady emailed me this passioned response expressing disappointment that somehow I didn't believe everything he has told me. In fairness, instead of publishing the email he sent me, I asked him, as a courtesy, to give me an email response that I could publish.

He hasn't responded. O'Grady stopped emailing me. The attitude reflected in his mean campaign mailers comes from somewhere. I'm not surprised that maybe he just decided to pack up his marbles, and ignore me. No problem, Paul. You want to be like that, fine. I've seen a lot of politicians like you come and go in the past 32 years of covering Chicagoland politics. Politicians always promise big things after coming out of nowhere. but the first sign of criticism and they run and whine, and stamp their feet in anger. They pick up their marbles and go someplace else. It isn't about educating the public. It's about wanting to win an election.

Your campaign literature is mean. I'm not sure Orland Township can afford to have a person who allows mean attacks to inundate our mail boxes to run the Township.

O'Grady says he has no 19th Ward ties, but using Dart -- who never mentions that he is a boyhood friend with O'Grady -- doesn't help O'Grady make his case. If anything, O'Grady's use of Dart suggests the opposite.

MEANEST HAS TO DO WITH NAMES

The meannest was the Ad published in the Orland Park Prairie Newspaper, which goes to every home in Orland Park. The Ad is signed by Village Clerk Dave Maher, his son Orland Fire Protection District President Patrick Maher and Brian Maher, a trustee in Tinely Park who is a cousin. The letter blasts Robert Maher and Gerald Maher, (Robert's brother is running for mayor in Orland Park against Village President Dan McLaughlin). It's mean, too, and it was paid for by Paul O'Grady's political committee.

I spoke with Dave Maher about it. He alleged that Robert Maher and Gerald Maher have been telling everyone they are related to Dave Maher and his family, riding on their election coattails.

To be honest, I spoke with Robert and Gerald Maher and not once did they ever say they were related to Dave Maher or his family. Not once did they ever imply they were related. And not once have I seen any official and unofficial literature claiming to be related to Dave Maher's family, or to ride on Dave Maher's coattails as Village Clerk. I wrote about the issue of how the names sound the same but are unreleated and I doubt anyone believes the families are related.

But I have seen O'Grady's team slate someone with a name that sounds like two of the candidates on Robert Maher's slate. Brian Younker who is the candidate for Highway Commissioner challenging the incumbent and highly praised Highway Commissioner running for re-election on Robert Maher's slate, Donald Yunker.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black? Sounds a little hypocritical to me.

Of course, Dave Maher couldn't have designed the Ad because the Ad lists Dave Maher as the "Orland Park Village Manager." Ooops! I think Village Manager Paul Grimes would take issue with that. It lists Pat Maher as :President Orland Park Fire Department" -- who is the president of the Orland Fire Protection District. It ends with a big, boldfaced call to "Vote Paul O'Grady Supervisor of Orland Township," although I would not have been surprised if it had a mistake, too, and urged that we vote for O'Grady to be Alderman of the 19th Ward. At least, Paul O'Grady got his own totle right!

MEANNESS IS AN ISSUE IN ELECTIONS

I am sure Paul O'Grady will take this opinion commentary personally. I think that is what people who don't explain how they will improve things campaign. How do you plan to make Orland Township a better place to live? Waste ink on that. We could use more details.

In my opinion, the meanness crosses the line. Instead of reflecting badly on Robert Maher it says more about Paul O'Grady.

Too bad. I thought Paul would be a great candidate for public office. I am disappointed. And of course, this is an election. Some candidates have great respect for the right of the public to challenge them. And then there are others who feel they are above criticism and can do no wrong.

I know Orland Township Supervisor Robert Maher respects how the public feels. O'Grady's literature doesn't say the same about Paul O'Grady; as an individual, though, O'Grady comes across as a decent individual. I wish his campaign material reflected that instead.

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

Paul O'Grady

For a guy with no political clout (or ties to the 19th Ward), Paul O'Grady is doing pretty well when it comes to raising money and getting the word out on his election.

Names drive many races in Orland Park and Township

Names mean a lot. It's a fact that if you have an Irish name, for example, you have a better chance of winning a spot as a judge, if you are not already appointed to one by the Chicago Democratic machine.

If you have an Arab name, chances are even before Sept. 11, 2001 in Orland Park, you couldn’t get elected to any office, not even to a racist school district board.

But the ethnicity of names is one factor in elections. The similarity of names is another.

For example, there are four people named "Maher" either in office or seeking office in Orland Park.

There is Robert Maher, the highly praised incumbent Supervisor of Orland Township. Robert Maher blew the doors off of Thomas Mahoney and ousted him from the supervisor's office in 2005. Mahoney barely beat his own predecessor Michael Brennan in 2001 – winning by only 207 votes out of more than 13,000 township votes cast. Mahoney was plagued by criticism of his performance, and is engaged in a lengthy lawsuit against Maher that I think is purely political.

Robert Maher’s brother, Gerald Maher, is running a second time against the unaccountable Village of Orland Park President (Mayor) Dan McLaughlin. Gerald Maher ran against McLaughlin in April 2001, and nearly took 30 percent of the vote at a time when McLaughlin was riding high on a great economy and high public hopes for the village.

This time things will be different for McLaughlin. The economy tanked and the Mayor has been forced to break all of his promises. But instead of standing up and forthrightly explaining his new property tax increases, fee increases, new fees for formerly free programs, the trimming of programs and his failure to better protect the village from the economic fallout of a crash in the retail market, he prefers to run government by “Happy Talk” press releases which ignore all he problems and paint a fairy tale image of the village.

Wasted money at the Bermuda Triangle development near 143rd Street and LaGrange Road, the gutting of the property tax rebate plan he implemented and promised would off-set the burden of his .75 percent sales take hike in the village make him the perfect target for ouster.

Then there is McLaughlin’s running mate. I’m not talking about the unaccountable trustees who share in McLaughlin’s arrogance. I’m talking about David Maher, the village clerk. Although David Maher and I had a brief dispute over the issue of the Open Meetings Act – which I believe he violated, but is slowly correcting without admitting a mistake – David Maher has done a good job.

His one duty is to make the village’s public records public and he hasn’t hesitated to do that. And that makes David Maher accountable, which is the only thing the public can demand from their elected officials besides honesty and doing the best job they can.

McLaughlin and his Chicago Machine cohorts from the Chicago 19th Ward – who over the years have transformed Orland Park into a satellite Chicago ward (we don’t even get garbage can lids here like they do in Chicago in exchange for votes!) – could learn from David Maher’s record.

But then, it’s not always like father and like son. David Maher’s son is Patrick Maher, the controversial and politically driven head of the Orland Park Fire Protection District, who recently decided to force senior citizens to pay when the Orland Fire Department ambulance comes to pick them up in emergencies. And he has been involved in some controversial law suits that have entangled the Village.

Who is paying for the 8 or more attorneys representing all of the defendants in the Orland Fire Protection District law suit? You should see the list of the lawyers squeezing money out of that one!

The Maher name is not unfamiliar to village residents who have lived here for a while. There was William F Mahar – slightly different spelling, the former Illinois State Senator and his father who served before him. (I should note that Bill’s brother, Tom, was my fraternity brother at Northern Illinois University and we were best friends, although we lost contact during the political years after.)

Then there are the "trickster" names that play on popular names to draw away votes.

For example, in the Orland Township elections, Donald Yunker, who I have criticized in the past but have come to like after more carefully examining his record and talking to constituents, is being challenged by “Brian Younker,” a colleague of the Orland Hills police attorney Paul O’Grady who is challenging Robert Maher for Township supervisor.

Paul O’Grady is an interesting chap, although I always look at anything carefully when dealing with controversy plague Orland Hills.

The word on the "street" is that O’Grady was picked to succeed Mayor McLaughlin, who everyone expected would retire this year. I’ve emailed O’Grady (there’s a familiar name in politics) to get his response to the widely held rumors that he was to be Orland Park’s new mayor and his response to some who believe he is too closely tied to 19th Ward politicians like the Sheehans, Joyces, and Hynes.

Regardless, this election in April is going to be a hopper.

The voter turnout in the village of Orland Park has been around 9,000 or so. And in the township, the numbers will be about 13,000. Those are the numbers to watch. We’ll help keep tabs on the campaign financing and where the money is coming from and being spent by the candidates.

And we’ll be talking about the Orland races on upcoming segments of my morning radio show on WJJG 1530 AM Radio (Monday – Friday, 8-9:30 am.) It’s broadcast live on radio and simulcast on the Internet, too, at www.RadioChicagoland.com.

(Check out this Southtown/Star story for a good rundown of the Orland area contests.)

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