Resident Withdraws Objection Against Orland Park United's Candidate Slate
Andrea Williams wrote in a letter that she reluctantly withdrew her objection because the members of the electoral board signed petitions for the slate of candidates.
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An Orland Park woman has withdrawn the objection she filed last week against a petition submitted by three candidates running as a slate for seats on the Orland Park Village Board in April's election.
Andrea Williams delivered her withdrawal in a letter to the Orland Park Village Clerk’s Office on Friday afternoon. Assistant Village Clerk Joe LaMargo confirmed that the letter was received. In the letter, she wrote that she decided to withdraw because the three people who would have ruled on the objection had signed the petition in question.
Mayor Dan McLaughlin, Village Clerk David Maher and Trustee Bernard Murphy would have served as the three-member electoral board to decide if Williams’ objection to the slate’s petition would stand or not. The Orland Park United slate is comprised of Village Board trustee incumbents Patricia Gira and Ed Schussler, as well as newcomer Carole Ruzich.
In her letter, Williams asserts that McLaughlin, Maher and Murphy signed the petition for the Orland Park United slate. A copy of the petition shows that the three men did sign petition sheets for the slate. She also claims in her letter that Murphy’s signature is a forgery.
“Based on the above facts, I’ve concluded that this hearing will be nothing more than an egregious flex of political power by the current leadership of Orland Park,” Williams wrote in her letter. “I have no interest in wasting mine nor anyone else’s time, money, and aggravation on a mockery of the democratic process.”
Williams, whose husband Steve Williams also is running for Village Board in April's election, said she originally filed the objection because she saw problems with the petition.
“There has been quite a bit of press on the process, the electoral board, and as to whether it’s legal for candidates to notarize these petitions,” Williams said in a phone interview Friday. “I’ll let attorneys argue the technicalities, but as a citizen, it gives the appearance of impropriety.”
Illinois State Election Code dictates that the mayor, village clerk, and trustee with the most years of experience on a current board should serve as the judging body for objections in municipal elections.
McLaughlin, Maher and Murphy did not immediately return calls for comment.
Check back with Orland Park Patch for updates on this developing story.
Alan Perkaus
5:23 pm on Friday, January 7, 2011
I do feel the same as Mrs. Williams about this situation, but since We seem to be sheep run by the Democratic leadership here in Illinois that is the way we will in one way have to suffer through . We all seem to complain about higher taxes and politicians that don't listen to the people that elected them yet they some how continue to hold office. Maybe it is time to make some more changes?
paul cervenka
3:36 pm on Sunday, January 9, 2011
Your government is YOU. Take responsibility for what we have here in Orland Park today. Decades of residents that trusted the electeds to govern without diligent oversight has only shown how the southwestern Chicago wards have polluted a once fine quaint community with the Politics of money and power. Attend a school board meeting and ask, where is the state funding for our PUBLIC, or is it private schools? or, a Fire District meeting and ask why do we have the highest cost district in the entire state and why? or a village board meeting accounting for all village spending. If any of you do decide to attend , introduce yourself, I'd appreciate the company. Let us all know when your going to address any of these boards. I'll be there to support you.
Paul Cervenka