In an upset that sets the stage for a seismic shakeup of the political order in Berwyn, independent candidate Michael O’Connor won Tuesday’s mayoral election by 20 percentage points over City Clerk Michael Woodward, according to unofficial election results.
O’Connor’s victory signals a sea change of sorts in Berwyn, where the city’s Regular Democratic Organization has run City Hall for decades but for more than a year has weathered an ongoing investigation that saw a former high-ranking official indicted on federal corruption charges.
“The voters wanted a change; they knew the machine was vulnerable,” O’Connor said Tuesday night amid a cheering group of supporters inside his election headquarters. “[The Regular Democrats] became very complacent. They got too greedy, and the pendulum has now swung the other way.”
Despite the support of retiring three-term Mayor Thomas Shaughnessy and Berwyn’s powerful Director of Public Safety Frank Marzullo, Woodward was unsuccessful in his bid to extend the Regular Democrats’ control of the city.
“We ran a positive campaign. We stuck to the issues,” Woodward said. “Maybe it was my fault for not getting my message across.”
O’Connor’s victory likely means the imminent retirement of Marzullo, who is as the No. 2 man for the Regular Democrats and who is paid about $165,000 in his appointed post. O’Connor has pledged to fire Marzullo after he’s sworn in.
It also means a coming shakeup of the city’s Building Department, where O’Connor’s father formerly worked as an inspector and where O’Connor has pledged to replace appointed department head Mark Fiebig.
Two other candidates in the four-man field for mayor finished well behind the two front-runners.
Ald. Raymond Fron received about 4.5 percent of the vote, while Republican candidate Anthony Castrogiovanni claimed just 3 percent.
The race for Bensenville village president was too close to call late Tuesday, as incumbent John Geils, a vocal opponent of the O’Hare International Airport expansion, was running neck-and-neck with village Park District President John Wassinger.
With 9 of 14 precincts reporting, Geils led Wassinger by less than 5 percent of the vote.
Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson, another loud opponent of the O’Hare expansion plans, was leading challenger Roger Bianco, 73 percent to 27 percent, with 29 of 33 precincts reporting.
Bensenville and Elk Grove Village have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting the airport expansion plan.
In the final weeks of the campaign, Geils accused Wassinger of receiving help from Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s political machine, pointing to literature that indicated Cook County-based unions supported Wassinger.
Geils’ supporters also snapped photographs of people they said were out-of-towners sent in by the unions to help unseat Geils, who became village president in 1985.
Wassinger scoffed at accusations that he was a Daley puppet, saying he opposes the airport expansion plan though he believes the village should engage in a dialogue with the city.
On Monday, Geils filed a lawsuit against Wassinger and his campaign organization, claiming they libeled him in a flier distributed over the weekend.
Tuesday’s election in Oak Brook was officially non-partisan, but candidates Jeff Kennedy, Robert Sanford and Kathryn Manofsky ran as a de facto bloc to win a seven-way race for three open trustee seats.
They will hold significant sway in the future direction of Oak Brook’s board of trustees, including how to resolve an ongoing legal scuffle between Trustee Stelios Aktipis and Village Atty. Ken Kubiesa. The three departing trustees were all supportive of Aktipis.
“All of us are extraordinarily appreciative and are glad the voters understood the issues,” Sanford said.
Elmhurst Mayor Tom Marcucci, facing his first challenge since being elected to the city’s top elected office a dozen years ago, held a 6 percentage point lead over Paula Pezza with 37 of 52 precincts reporting.
“It was clearly a tough race,” Marcucci said. “It was very hard-fought and competitive.”
David Pope appeared Tuesday night to have made history in Oak Park as the first candidate since 1953 to be elected village president without the backing of the Village Manager Association.
With 64 of 66 precincts reporting, Pope had about 42 percent of the vote in a three-way race. Trustee Robert Milstein had 35 percent, and outgoing Trustee Diana Carpenter, who was backed by the VMA, had about 22.5 percent of the vote.
In Melrose Park, incumbent Mayor Ron Serpico easily held off a challenge by his aunt, Donna Stamatakos. With 94 percent of precincts reporting, Serpico had 83 percent of the vote.
Just days after he was arrested by local police, Bellwood mayoral candidate David Ireland was trailing badly in his challenge of incumbent Mayor Frank Pasquale. Pasquale had 68 percent of the vote with 86 percent of precincts reporting.
Bellwood police arrested Ireland and a campaign worker and charged them with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after the two allegedly snatched unflattering campaign fliers from vehicle windows in a Metra parking lot.
Ireland last week decried the arrests as politically motivated.
Voters in Maywood apparently handed a defeat to Mayor Ralph Conner and turned over the mayor’s office to Henderson Yarbrough, the husband of state Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood).
Henderson Yarbrough declined late Tuesday to claim victory but he acknowledged that the vote “certainly looks favorable at this point.” With all precincts reporting, Yarbrough had about 32 percent of the vote in a five-way race. Conner had only about 17 percent.
“Ralph Conner is a hardworking man, I have to give him credit for that, but he has his priorities reversed,” Yarbrough said. “He’s been busy on economic development, while the citizens are looking at the things we’re touched by today.”
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BERWYN
MAYOR
Michael O’Connor 56%
Michael Woodward 36%
Raymond Fron 4%
A. Castrogiovanni 3%
100% of precincts reporting
OAK PARK
VILLAGE PRESIDENT
David Pope 42%
Robert Milstein 36%
Diana Carpenter 22%
97% of precincts reporting
OAK BROOK
TRUSTEES (THREE SEATS)
Jeff Kennedy 24%
Kathryn Manofsky 21%
Robert Sanford 21%
Moinuddin Saiyed 11%
Constantine Xinos 10%
Richard Arling 8%
Al Knuth 5%
100% of precincts reporting
