Keith Pekau didn’t sugarcoat it.
“I got shellacked,” he said.
The two-term mayor of Orland Park was beaten soundly 57.09% to 42.91% by former longtime trustee Jim Dodge in Cook County, according to the unofficial results from the county’s clerk’s office. Official numbers will come in the coming weeks after they are ratified. Absentee votes still need to be counted.
In raw numbers, as of April 1, Dodge received 8,916 votes to Pekau’s 6,701 in Cook County. In the sliver of the village located in Will County, Dodge won 22-9.
Meanwhile, Dodge’s Orland Park For All’s clerk and trustee candidates swept the election.
Mary Ryan Nowell, Dina M. Lawrence, Joanna M. Liotine and John Lawler are in while People Over Politics candidates Brian Riordan, Carol McGury and Sean Kampas are out.
Pekau was blunt about his loss. And at his concession speech at Papa Joe’s restaurant, he didn’t go away quietly. He had a bitter rivalry with Dodge and was disappointed with the results.
“People don’t want people who tell the truth – they want people who lie to them,” Pekau said. “I told them the truth. Every promise I made, I kept.
“Getting rid of pensions. Putting in term limits. Lowering the pay [of the mayor]. All of that. And they voted to go back to what they had before. Frankly, it’s not the town I thought it was.”
This was Pekau’s first setback in a mayoral race.
The first time he came out a winner in 2017, he unseated longtime incumbent Dan McLaughlin 6,774-5,622 in Cook County, although McLaughlin had a 38-29 advantage in Will County.
McLaughlin was mayor for 24 years and in 2021 wanted another shot at the job and challenged Pekau.
Pekau won again 7,132-6,827 in Cook County and 12-10 in Will County.
One of the things that some felt would sway in Dodge’s favor was a Feb. 5, 2024 meeting packed with pro-Palestine residents at which Pekau and the board refused to draw up a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The meeting featured chanting and shouting and Pekau had police clear the boardroom.
Several people who spoke said the pro-Palestine community would vote him and the other members of the board out of office.
His comment during the meeting of “You can go to another country and support that country and all power to you if you choose to do that,” was shortened to “Go to another country” in some presentations and that inflamed some people even more.
During his eight-year stint as village boss, Pekau said he, his family and board members and their families have endured threats and vile accusations.
“I’m going to be just fine, believe me,” he said. “What I’ve been put through for eight years…there are only a few people who really know.
“I know what we’ve done and I know we’ve run everything honestly and everything is clean but they are probably going to come after me and I’m going to have to hire a ton of lawyers. They are not going to find a thing. I will move on and I’ll be just fine.”
He said he is proud of the way the last eight years went and is not looking forward to seeing how the new board operates.
“Obviously the people spoke,” Pekau said. “I don’t recognize the voter in Orland Park anymore. We actually showed what good government can be and the people of Orland Park chose that they didn’t want that.
“People don’t get the government they want. They get the government they deserve.”
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