3 more candidates for trustee tossed from Orland Park ballot; appeal in store

The Orland Park ballot for April’s election has, at least for now, been whittled to three candidates after an electoral board’s decision Thursday to remove three other candidates.

Challenges to the nominating petitions of William Healy, Cynthia Nelson Katsenes and Michael Milani, running on the People Over Politics ticket, alleged the candidates didn’t clearly specify the position they were seeking. The electoral board upheld the objection, which has the effect of knocking the three off the April 2 ballot.

An attorney for the candidates who were removed, John Fogarty Jr., said after the vote he planned to file an appeal in Cook County Circuit Court by Tuesday.

“We think that an incorrect decision was made (Thursday),” he said.

Burt Odelson, an attorney representing the objector, Chris Kasmer, argued before the panel that voters who signed the petitions could have been confused about what office the three were seeking, noting that there also will be elections in April for trustee positions on the public library board and the Orland Fire Protection District board.

“What trustee do these folks want to be?” he said.

Fogarty said the voter confusion issue was a “manufactured argument,” and that there was “only one office the candidates’ petitions could refer to,” being for village trustee. He said that he had affidavits from “scores” of voters who signed the candidates’ petitions stating they were not confused as to what office the candidates were seeking.

But the two-member electoral board thought otherwise.

In finding there was a “basis for confusion for the voters signing the nominating petitions,” board members Kathy Fenton, senior village trustee, and John Mehalek, village clerk, said other documents the candidates filed, such as statement of candidacy, clearly identified the office being sought.

Mehalek, however, pointed out the “petition is the only document the voter sees,” and that voter confusion about what office was being sought was “more likely probable.” Fenton agreed,

describing as “very confusing” what the three were running four.

Mayor Keith Pekau had been part of the electoral board but said he was stepping down due to a potential conflict of interest. He is supporting the People Over Politics candidates.

Trustee James Dodge had been scheduled to take Pekau’s place on the panel, but Dodge was unable to attend because of another commitment.

At an electoral board hearing last week, Pekau, Fenton and Mehalek had upheld an objection, also filed by Kasmer, to the nominating petitions of another trustee candidate, Mohanned El Natour. He was removed from the ballot due to an insufficient number of signatures.

Pending the outcome of an appeal by the People Over Politics candidates, incumbent Trustee Carole Griffin Ruzich, along with Devin Hodge and Kelly O’Brien, would be listed as the three candidates running for three four-year terms on the Village Board.

The three, campaigning together on the Orland Integrity Party ticket, issued a statement following the electoral board’s ruling Thursday, saying the panel had made the right decision in upholding the objections.