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the orland park prairie | January 17, 2019 | 3
From Jan. 10
Electoral Board boots mayor-backed slate from ballot, but it plans to challenge
Bill Jones, Editor
The Orland Integrity
Party will go into the April
election without any challengers
on the ballot for
three open Village trustee
seats. That is, if a recent
decision by the Orland Park
Municipal Officers’ Electoral
Board does not get overturned.
The Electoral Board voted
2-0 on Jan. 10 that there
was a “basis for confusion”
on petitions circulated in
support of the People Over
Politics party — a slate of
trustee candidates William
R. Healy, Michael R. Milani
and Cynthia Nelson
Katsenes, backed by Orland
Park Mayor Keith Pekau
— and removed all of its
candidates from the April 2
Consolidated Election ballot.
But John G. Fogarty Jr.,
the attorney who represented
the slate at two special
meetings, said they “were
going to take a look at appellate
options” following
the meeting.
“For certain, an incorrect
ruling was made today,”
Fogarty said after the meeting.
“It’s hard to stomach.”
Electoral Board Members
Kathy Fenton and John
Mehalek, who also serve as
Village trustee and clerk,
respectively, cast the two
votes needed to support the
challenge made by Christopher
Kasmer to the candidacy
of the party. Jim Dodge,
who also serves as a trustee,
was absent, after he was
called to serve in the third
position on the board when
Pekau recused himself over
a conflict of interest.
By that evening, People
Over Politics issued a press
release calling it a decision
made by a “sham election
board,” noting the two people
who voted on the board
collected petition signatures
for the opposing slate. They
argued the facts support
their case to be on the ballot
and pledged to go before
a Cook County Circuit
Court in an appeal of the decision.
“We’re highly confident
the judge will see through
this political charade, will
follow case law, will listen
to the will of 1200-plus
Orland Park residents and
won’t disenfranchise our
access to the ballot,” the release
states.
Mehalek, reached by
phone Friday, Jan. 11, said
he did not want to comment
on the party’s assertions,
with a final decision still
pending an appeal. Fenton
did not reply to an email
inquiring about the party’s
comments concerning petitioning
by press time.
Pekau, when asked for
further comment, provided
a statement that said, “based
on the law I believe the
wrong decision was made.
However, there is a process
for appealing the ruling, and
we should let the process
play out.”
Following the Jan. 10
meeting, Fenton and Mehalek
declined to answer
questions but instead issued
statements following the
decision.
“Based on state statutes
and evidence, and due to
lack of conformity to election
laws, it was deemed
necessary to uphold the
objection,” Mehalek wrote
regarding both the People
Over Politics decision and
another from a special
meeting held Jan. 2 that saw
the removal of independent
Village trustee candidate
Mohanned El Natour.
In that instance, the board
— including Pekau — voted
3-0 to uphold the challenge
because El Natour did not
meet the requirement for
D135 loses one independent candidate, gains another
Bill Jones, Editor
Candidate Eamon Walsh is no longer
running for the Orland School District 135
Board of Education, but there still will be a
race come April, as former Board Member
Dave Shalabi emerged late in the filing period
as a candidate.
Shalabi — who originally was appointed
to the board in 2015 to fill a vacancy
but lost a 2017 election bid after serving
almost two years — filed for this year’s
April 2 race on the last day of the filing
period, but originally was not listed by
the Cook County Clerk’s Office after the
deadline.
He is to join incumbents Linda-Peckham
number of signatures.
A second challenge was
made to El Natour’s candidacy,
but he already was
removed from the ballot at
the Jan. 2 meeting for the
aforementioned challenge,
also made by Kasmer. The
second challenge was dismissed
Jan. 10 after objector
David Wagner did not
appear.
Fenton’s statement also
addressed the several challenges
made.
“Based on the applicable
law and evidence presented,
the determination of our
Electoral Board was to sustain
the challenges which
were raised in two of these
cases,” Fenton wrote.
Arguing their cases
In his argument on behalf
of People Over Politics,
Fogarty asked the Electoral
Board to dismiss the
sole issue of the position
name that was challenged,
arguing it was apparent for
which positions the candidates
intended to run.
“These candidates named
the office perfectly,” he
said, basing the argument
on code and Village documents
that refer to the role
as “trustee.” “This is a manufactured
argument.”
He further stated those
who signed the petition
were not confused about
what they were signing.
And he noted that the policies
of Illinois favor ballot
access.
But Burt Odelson, who
spoke on behalf of the
challenger, argued that the
“clerk isn’t supposed to
guess what the office is.”
He cited cases related to
incorrect term lengths on
petitions and how a statement
of candidacy cannot
make up for mistakes on a
petition. He said candidates
must show the type of position
and for what government
entity they are seeking
office. He added there
should not be a question of
what was in voters’ minds at
the time they signed a petition.
“How far do you bend the
rules?” he asked, later adding,
“Other candidates got it
right and complied with the
law.”
Following arguments and
before the vote, Mehalek
noted the candidates in
Dodge, Angie Sexton and Gregory Okon in
a four-way race for three seats.
Walsh also filed to be on the ballot, but his
candidacy was challenged in recent weeks.
Walsh acknowledged several problems
with his paperwork, which he chalked up to
things he did not know in his first attempt at
running for office. He said he became upset
with the process and the obstacles before
him, and opted to simply withdraw from
the race.
“You live and learn,” he said. “It’s just
unfortunate. I was really looking forward to
the election.”
Walsh said he is taking some time to think
about things, and examining whether or not
he wants to pursue politics in the future.
question were “very clear”
on all documents, “except
for the petitions,” but the
latter is all that those signing
in support of candidacy
see. A “basis for confusion,”
he said, was “not only possible
but probable.”
Fenton concurred with his
argument, noting “there’s a
possibility of confusion.”
“The law is the law,” she
said.
Scott Uhler, who works
with the Village’s attorney,
Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins
Ltd., provided board members
counsel during the
special meetings. He noted
the signatures themselves
were not in dispute, but because
it was not specified
for what position the candidates
were petitioning, it
cannot be determined the
signatures were in support
of the office the candidates
intended.
The Orland Integrity
Party released a statement
the morning of the decision,
noting its candidates
“applaud” the Electoral
Board’s ruling, calling it the
“right decision.”
That slate of Kelly
O’Brien, Devin Hodge and
incumbent Trustee Carole
Griffin Ruzich is now to
be uncontested, at least in
terms of candidates officially
named on the ballot,
in the April 2 Consolidated
Election, pending the challenge
from People Over
Politics.
El Natour remains dedicated
to public service
El Natour tried to argue
Jan. 2 he used his “best effort
and best judgement”
in filing his paperwork. He
used nonpartisan numbers
for his petitions, thinking
Orland Park defaulted to a
nonpartisan election, when
in fact it is a partisan race,
requiring a higher percentage
of signatures on a petition
(646, in this case, to the
202 he got). He also filed
for a primary, rather than
the consolidated election.
But he said the mistakes
were honest.
“I’m here to give back to
my community,” he said.
“My candidacy does nothing
to harm the democratic
process for Orland Park.”
He asked the board to
reconsider, but Odelson argued
the letter of the law
and the board ultimately
sided with the challenge.
Pekau said the problem
with the signatures “would
do an injustice to candidates
that went out and got the required
signatures.”
While El Natour would
have preferred a different
outcome, he said after the
meeting he was not discouraged
by the decision but
rather was “learning about
the process.”
“This was just a first
step,” he said. “I still want
to give back to the community.”
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