A campaign kerfuffle over crime in Orland Park is rattling cages and creating tension among candidates in a Republican congressional race with three months to go until the June 28 primary.
The conflict involves Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau and Scott Kaspar of Orland Park, two of six hopefuls seeking the GOP nomination to face a Democrat in the 6th District in November.
Controversy creates headlines and many celebrity politicians will tell you there’s no so thing as bad publicity. A mantra in today’s partisan climate might as well be, “Never let the facts get in the way of a good campaign ad.”
Kaspar released a video campaign ad March 21 that claimed, “Some are saying crime in Orland Park is at a 27-year low. Arrests might be at a 27-year low in our city but crime is out of control, right here in Orland Park.” A narrator talks about how Kaspar would be tough on crime.
When the Orland Park Village Board met that evening, retiring police Chief Joe Mitchell seemed to take umbrage at the claims and made an impassioned defense of public safety in the community of nearly 59,000. A recent report rated Orland Park among the safest small towns in America, Mitchell said.
“I’m constantly hearing rhetoric, political rhetoric in campaign videos, that Orland Park arrests are at an all-time low but crime is out of control,” Mitchell said. “I want to set the record straight. Ladies and gentlemen, do not feed into this nonsense of the lies that are perpetrated by a person who is seeking elected office.”
Mitchell didn’t mention anyone by name but there was no doubt he was talking about Kaspar. Pekau also criticized the ad on social media.
“This is the type of contempt for police officers that we see from politicians on the left and now it is coming from a Republican candidate for Congress — I am appalled!” Pekau wrote.
With 90 days to go until the primary, the GOP race is likely to become more contentious as Election Day approaches.
On the Democratic side, 6th District Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove faces 3rd District Rep. Marie Newman of La Grange. The newly redrawn 6th District includes eastern Du Page County and parts of southwestern Cook that formerly were in the 3rd District.
That means voters in all or parts of Evergreen Park, Oak Lawn, Orland Park, Tinley Park, Chicago Ridge, Alsip, Crestwood, Bridgeview and other towns have moved into the 6th District from the 3rd District.
Many pundits consider the new district will be more competitive in November but that the winner of the Democratic primary will hold the seat. The other Republicans in the race are Niki Conforti of Glen Ellyn, ousted Oak Lawn school board member Rob Cruz, Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso and Catherine O’Shea of Oak Lawn.
Cruz recently posted on social media that he supports a federal bill to legalize marijuana. He also recently announced Will County Republican Party chair George Pearson has endorsed his candidacy.
Grasso is the only Republican in the race to publicly say unequivocally that Joe Biden is the duly elected and rightfully serving president of the United States. While others in the contest sling mud and tap into populist culture war slogans, Grasso has earned endorsement of several sane people who also happen to be Republicans.
Among them are former Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross, former Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar, former DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom, former U.S. attorney Dan Webb, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin and DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin.
The crowded field of candidates hoping to succeed Rep. Bobby Rush in the 1st Congressional District is likely to shrink. Sixteen candidates face challenges to their nominating petitions and electoral boards could bounce several hopefuls from ballots for failing to gather enough valid signatures.
The newly redrawn 1st District stretches southwest from Chicago’s South Side and covers parts of Blue Island, Posen, Midlothian, Oak Forest, Tinley Park, Mokena, Frankfort, New Lenox, Homer Glen and Lockport as well as other communities in Cook, Will and Kankakee counties.
Chicago Ald. Pat Dowell, state Sen. Jacqueline Collins and Jonathan Jackson, son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, are among front-runners in the Democratic primary. Five Republicans are running. Though the district gained more ground in rural areas, a Democrat is expected to continue representing the state’s oldest Black majority congressional district.
Former U.S. Sen. Carole Moseley Braun has endorsed Dowell and will host a fundraiser for her April 10 with Diana Rauner, wife of GOP former Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Several state lawmakers are supporting Collins, though former state Senate President Emil Jones Jr. has endorsed Jackson. Rush has endorsed Karin Norington-Reaves.
Former U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, who represented the 3rd District for many years before losing to Newman in the 2020 Democratic primary, is endorsing the Rev. Chris Butler. Both are Democrats who oppose abortion.
Illinois elections tend to produce a fair share of shenanigans, and this year appears to be no exception. Early indications are that a contest involving two Calumet City elected officials could get dirty.
Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones also is state representative for the 29th District. He faces a Democratic primary challenge from 2nd Ward Ald. Monet Wilson, the first Black woman elected alderman in Calumet City.
A website that at first glance looks like it was created for Wilson actually disparages her. The fake website, monet4staterep.com, was created March 15, according to domain registration services. The same services redacted the identity of the creator.
“As Alderwoman, she has stood with Clerk Nyota Figgs and joined court action designed to enable the destruction of city records sought by a financial audit,” according to the phony website.
Figgs is locked in a nasty feud with Jones, who sought to smear the clerk with a sloppily presented audit of city finances in December.
The fake website could be described as political satire. It features a donate button, but when I clicked on it Tuesday the link was inactive. The site looks like an attempt to deceive voters.
The website seems dirty and underhanded. The June 28 primary feels a long way off as we shiver in the waning subfreezing days of March. One wonders what other shenanigans political rivals have in store for each other this spring.
Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.
