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Why so much emphasis in Illinois on protecting criminals?
Protecting criminals seems to be the priority of politicians in Cook County and in Illinois, and Springfield. And, why is Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau such a whining little baby. Pekau has spent his entire term in office personally attacking everyone and anyone, including me, and anyone who doesn’t agree with him on issues. Most recently, Pekau is spamming Orland Park residents with his “political email” complaining that “anonymous” people are attacking him. He then goes on to personally attack people he claims (without any proof) are behind criticism of him. Worse, Pekau doesn’t address the anonymous and vicious attacks from his own allies. It’s almost as if Pekau has no issues to discuss and doesn’t want to be held accountable for his decisions as he seeks to tighten his total control of everything in Orland Park. My non-anonymous opinions are in this column!
By Ray Hanania
Why do some politicians want to make life easier for criminals rather than making law-abiding citizens safer?
Look at the trends:
Immediately upon taking office, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx changed the felony retail theft law. Under Foxx’s change, criminals can now steal up to $1,000 before they can face Felony charges. Criminals convicted of misdemeanors face weaker penalties than those convicted of felonies.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who cares more about pleasing influential minority groups than protecting law-abiding citizens, exploited the national debate on gun violence to push through an assault weapons ban.
Recently, Pritzker signed a law that abolishes laws preventing convicted criminals from changing their names. The old law imposed a lifetime ban on people convicted of murder, arson, various sex crimes, and identity theft, and a 10-year waiting period for other lesser felonies.
In other states, laws have been passed to ban solitary confinement for convicted felons who are serving time in prison who violate prison rules.
The big question is, what is being done to protect law-abiding citizens?
We see videos of people breaking into retail stores and grabbing clothing and other products in Cook County, knowing full well that IF they are caught — and that is a big IF — chances are they wll get a slap on their hands.
So, there is a rise in retail theft crimes, thanks to Foxx.
Violence in Chicago has increased in part because criminals believe that the chances of being punished have been diminished by politicians who have made their concerns the focus over the concerns of the victims. In many cases, Mayor Lori Lightfoot will not prosecute people who vandalize buildings or attack individuals.
Police are under siege in Chicago because of incidents that get magnified nationally.
If a police officer pulls your car over and tells you to put your hands on the wheel, or to get out of the car, do what they tell you to do and you won’t end up like Tyre Nichols who refused orders from police and tried to escape. Unfortunately, the police acted excessively in responding to his violation of the law — it is a crime to refuse to follow the directions of police — and Nichols died fro the encounter several days later. George Floyd is another one who wa son drugs and was resisting arrest, and unfortunately, police responded too forcefully to apprehend him.
Had Floyd and Nichols did what they were told, they would be alive today.
Finally, the law banning assault weapons is incomplete. It takes assault weapons away from law-abiding citizens who follow the laws, but it does nothing to the criminals who don’t follow the laws.
The right thing to do would be for Pritzker to couple the assault weapons ban with a law toughening penalties for criminals convicted. Why won’t he do that?
But Pritzker won’t do that because he doesn’t care about the safety of law-abiding criminals as much as he cares about his political image and his alliances with failed Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and failed Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
VOTE YES ON ORLAND PARK REFERENDUM
Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau is a real comedian. He pushed through a referendum on the local Orland Park ballot asking, “Shall the Village of Orland Park retain the Managerial form of Government?” The question is deceiving because it is a negative-driven question. He should ask, “Shall the Village of Orland Park eliminate the Managerial form of Government?”
Pekau falsely claims he wants to get rid of the managerial form of government because Village Managers are not elected and should not have the power to make decisions.
The truth is that in Orland Park, the Village Manager makes recommendations but the Village Board, which Pekau controls tightly, can block the Village Manager’s decisions. In reality, the Orland Park Village Manager doesn’t do anything unless the board and Pekau want him to do it.
In other words, despite Pekau’s false claims, Pekau and the board can block any action taken by a Village Manager. The Village Manager is interviewed and hired and the contract is approved all by the village board. The previous village manager was fired by the Village Board.
Pekau wants more power. He eliminated all the committees, creating one that he controls. Eliminating the Managerial form of Government increases Pekau’s power and would increase the salary. It gives him total power over every aspect of the village, without transparency.
The mayor is clearly trying to take over every independent government board and agency in the village.
Village Managers are hired and managed and controlled by the Village Board, which in Orland Park is a Pekau rubber stamp.
Anything they do MUST be approved by the Village Board, in which Pekau also votes.
The lame response from his minions, who personally attack anyone who questions the Mayor’s actions, is to assert that the village manager is not elected by the people. Neither are the rest of the people who work for Orland Park.
And as for criticizing Pekau, he is employed by you and me, the taxpayers of Orland Park (where I live). He works for us, even though he doesn’t like to admit it and he doesn’t want to be accountable to anyone.
Don’t give Pekau that power. Vote Yes to retain the Managerial form of Government.
(Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter. A political analyst and CEO of Urban Strategies Group, Hanania’s opinion columns on mainstream issues are published in the Southwest News Newspaper Group in the Des Plaines Valley News, Southwest News-Herald, The Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers. His Middle East columns are published in the Arab News. For more information on Ray Hanania visit www.Hanania.com or email him at [email protected].)
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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