I agree it is a shame the residents of Orland Park have to pay for the improprieties of their Trustees. Mr. Schussler would like you to believe the objection was frivolous (and thus my fault), but that is not the case and the governing body of the notary publics agrees with me. One only needs to look at the Model Notary Act of 2010 for evidence that notarizing your own candidate petitions is not right. This new model makes it explicitly clear to those who cannot discern the obvious for themselves, that notarizing a document in which you have personal interest/involvement is not appropriate.

5-5 Disqualifications.
(a) A notary is disqualified from performing a notarial act if the
notary:
(1) is a party to or named in the document that is to be
notarized;

This reference and the complete Act can be found at http://www.nationalnotary.org/

The fact that the National Notary Association is taking care of this type of indiscretion going forward is the reason I decided not to spend my own time and money to pursue this issue in Circuit Court. Instead, I will direct my resources to ensuring Trustees Schussler and Gira are sincerely thanked for their service and shown the door in April.

It is a shame that the village, and others, incurred a cost for this frivolous objection. The Election Code that dictates who would be on the panel to hear the objection filed by Mrs Williams was in place when she filed that objection on December 27th. Nothing changed. The democratic process was taken advantage of by this individual in that she was able to make erroneous accusations, cost the village $1500, the Orland Park United slate $560 and yet not incur any cost or consequences of any kind. Senior Trustee Bernard Murphy would have sat on that panel. I am accused of forging Trustee Bernard Murphy's signature. If there were any truth in the accusations made, wouldn't the accuser be anxious to present her evidence to him?
The Orland Park United Party is committed to conducting an honorable and fact based campaign. The residents of Orland Park deserve no less.

Seriously? What would be the point of presenting the evidence? All three of the electoral board members SUPPORT YOUR CANDIDACY and SIGNED the petitions! You showed a lack of judgment ( it may not by law YET, doesn't mean it's right) when you notarized each others petitions. Your fellow trustees and village clerk showed lack of judgment when they did not recuse themselves from hearing the objection and certainly wouldn't be viewed by any reasonable person as shirking their responsibility if they had. In fact, their DUTY is to step aside when there is a conflict of interest. Also, as a matter of process, it is YOUR duty to prove that any challenged signatures on YOUR petitions are valid, not the other way around. Oh wait, Mr. Schussler said it was real, that should be adequate validation...mea culpa.

Second, $1500 for legal advice on a "frivolous" complaint? It would appear that you are either padding someones pocket or the objection isn't all that frivolous. In any event, why would the village be on the hook for defending your petitions? The arrogance and condescension of this board is quite impressive. If it isn't my concerns that are being attacked and "blown-off" as a irrelevant, it is the special needs residents or the triangle business owners. I can't speak for them, but I will not be dismissed, shamed nor bullied by this board. I certainly look forward to you beginning to conduct an honorable and fact-based campaign and hope it happens soon.

Give me a break Mrs. Gira. There are two lawyers on your slate; Mr. Schussler and Mrs. Ruzich. Both know that the law states that you can’t notarize anything you are a party of- plain and simple. Mrs. Ruzich should especially know this. She represents banks and specializes in foreclosures. As for the 1,500 dollar fee that Cline, Thrope, and Jenkins charged- that’s you fault. That law firm has made over one million dollars in legal fees between the Village and the Fire Protection District. Not once I have heard you or anyone on your slate question these bills. You and your running mates have remained silent while Mayor McLaughlin and Pat Maher received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from this law firm. I am sure your slate will receive a donation one way or another from this firm.

As for honesty Mrs. Gira, please explain how you and Mr. Schussler have sat by so silently while a convicted criminal runs a 35 million dollar Fire Protection District. In fact, you both endorsed Pat Maher and continue to remain silent about his criminal background and his overtaxing ways. SO Mrs. Gira, why don’t you have the Mayor or the criminal pick up the $1,500 tab? They both received enough money from this law firm.

Let’s do talk about the facts. The facts are this administration raised the property tax levy nearly $1 million and increased fees in numerous areas this year alone; spent tens of millions on the Metra Triangle to create how many jobs; reneged on the promise to return residents’ property tax levy if a home rule sales tax was passed; lost a corporate headquarter and replaced those jobs with near minimum wage restaurant and retail service positions; and spent or planned to spend tens of millions of dollars over the revenue taken-in during the last two budget cycles while calling them balanced budgets. Yet, you take issue with spending $1,500 on the election process? This is disingenuous and merely a red herring meant to distract residents from the real failings of these trustees, some of which I’ve outlined above. Where was your outrage over fiscal discipline and concern for community when you were enabling these events. However, I do agree with one aspect of Trustee Gira’s comments, nothing has changed and nothing will change if we keep electing the same people. On April 5th, vote for change by electing the Fiscal Voices for Orland slate of candidates.

Steven Williams
Candidate for Orland Park Trustee