Orland Park: McLaughlin slams Pekau’s political campaign lies

Three lies (and one just plain weird thing) Keith Pekau said during the Orland Park Chamber of Commerce Town Hall. At this point, we’re not sure if Keith Pekau even hears the lies he tells.

During Wednesday’s Chamber of Commerce Town Hall (Feb. 10, 2021), Mayor Keith Pekau continued his campaign of misinformation. This is yet another example of the mayor’s tendency to manufacture political talking points and point fingers instead of taking responsibility and getting to work for Orland Park residents.

Here are three lies (and one just plain weird thing) he said during the town hall.

1 – Claimed the Orland Square Mall is “probably the safest place to be in Orland Park.” Crime at the mall is real, and it’s one of the most common concerns villagers express.

Former Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin files petitions to unseat beleaguered Mayor Keith Pekau. Photo courtesy of McLaughlinc ampaign

The mall has been “the site of where many increased incidents of violence have taken place during the past few years,” and Pekau was caught on video admitting he doesn’t like going to the mall without carrying a gun — yet he’s done nothing to actually address citizens’ security concerns.

2 – Tried to cover up his failure to aid small businesses. Pekau said the village “doesn’t have the money” to help small businesses recover from the pandemic, yet he was able to conduct a failed, frivolous lawsuit over the state’s mask mandate, and he wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars by forcing through this summer’s concert, food festival, and keeping the pool open — all using taxpayer dollars. At the beginning of the pandemic, he even attacked a fellow village board member for advocating that the village should support small businesses.

3 – Lied about the history of development on the I-80 Corridor. To cover up for his own failings on the development of the I-80 Corridor, Pekau played his classic move of pointing fingers and looking backward. Meanwhile he’s failed to make any progress on the development of the I-80 corridor in the last four years.

Now for the weirdness — Pekau implied that he opposed the mask mandate and filed a failed taxpayer-funded lawsuit against the mandate, in part because he thinks babies could be arrested for not wearing a mask. We’re not even sure what to say about this one…but it’s certainly not a valid reason to oppose the CDC-recommended mask mandate and make it more confusing for businesses and residents to know what rules to follow so they can get back to work.

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Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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