Ray Hanania’s columns this week on Chicago, Orland Park and the Arab American community
A look at some of the most recent columns published by award-winning political and satire columnist Ray Hanania. The columns examine the political war at Chicago City Hall between aldermen and Mayor Brandon Johnson, and the continued financial exaggerations and political bullying of Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau. It also looks at the all-to-familiar problem facing Chicagoland’s Arab American community.
Ray Hanania’s opinion columns addressed several issues this week online on his syndicated columns page at Hanania.com, and in print in the Des Plaines Valley News, The Regional News Newspaper and the Southwest News-Herald.
In the DVN and SWNH, the column addresses how the pendulum of power has swung from when the Chicago Machine was run by Chicago’s Mayors starting with Mayor Richard J. Daley and the City Council members, the Aldermen had to fight for power.
During the heyday of the Chicago Mayoral Machines, aldermen were “rubberstamps” and a small handful of a few “independents” and “rebels” sought to increase their voice and influence.
We’ve seen the pendulum swing in the other direction in recent years in which Mayoral and Machine power has eroded and with power shfiting to the aldermen and a weakening of the office of the Mayor under Brandon Johnson.
The tragedy is that the shift has resulted in the same problem, instead of creating a relationship in which the mayor and aldermen share power, one side now controls government. And that is not good for the citizens of Chicago or the region the City Council influences.
Ideally, the power balance should be more equitable to both sides so the end result is compromise for the good of the citizens. Click here to read that column.
In The Regional, the focus is on the continued lying, exaggerations and bully by Keith Pekau who has undermined the financial stability of Orland Park in the Southwest Suburbs of Illinois.
Since Pekau has taken over, he has created huge debts, overspent and apparently to cover up those failings, he has intentionally delayed the filing of the annual village audits for 2022 and 2023, and won’t even get to 2024. His exploitation of the existing Downtown TIF has resulted in a loss of some $47 million to taxpayers.
Ironically, Pekau has been attacking his challenger, Jim Didge who has extensive financial background and experience. Pekau ran a landscape company and knew how to mow lawns, and apparently gave away money to contractors including to law firms and many of his developer donors.
The column also looks at Pekau’s hypocrisy and the placement or huge, ugly signs more than 6 weeks before the Feb. 25, 2025 elections. Click here to read that link.
In both columns, in a closing section, Hanania addresses the dysfunction of the Arab American community and the rise of groups like “Orland United” in Orland Park which was founded after Pekau told Arab residents to “go to another country” when they addressed the Village Board in February 2024.
Orland United was supposed to build the movement to undermine Pekau’s political power but ended up failing to slate any candidates for village offices. Instead, Orland United was merged into another newly created Arab American organization called “All United.”
Many believe that “All United” is an effort to undermine the Arab American Democratic/Democracy Coalition (AADC) which wads founded in 1983 and backed and slated more than 100 Arab Americans for elective office and registered more than 100,000 Arab Americans to vote. It looks like a power grab, in my opinion, folks.
Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall reporter who has lived in Orland Park since 1986. He writes for many suburban Chicagoland newspapers including The Regional News, and is the Senior US Correspondent for Arab News Newspaper, the leading English Language newspaper in the Middle East. For more information on this and other topics, or to get information on subscribing to his columns and video podcasts below, visit his website at hanania.com. You can Email Ray at rghanania@gmail.com.
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I write four to five (4-5) columns each week on mainstream American politics civering Chicago, Illinois and the nation, and also columns on seniors and slice of life humor and serious issues.
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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.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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