A Pekau
at the Beginning
A Pekau at the End
Donald Pekau Sr. entered Orland Park government in 1969. Keith Pekau left in 2025. Fifty-six years. The same party names. The same selective enforcement. The same victims. The same playbook.
Donald Pekau Sr.:
The Original Machine
Before Keith Pekau, there was Donald Pekau Sr. — the same family, the same village, the same playbook, fifty years earlier. Donald Pekau Sr. first appeared in Orland Park politics on the Zoning Board of Appeals before anyone elected him to anything. He knew the approvals process from the inside before he took a seat on the board that issued the approvals. That is not a coincidence. That is a strategy.
He won his first trustee seat on April 15, 1969 — the same election that cemented Melvin Doogan's machine. Pekau Sr. was re-elected to a four-year term in 1971. His biography in the League of Women Voters candidate forum confirmed he had served on the Zoning Board of Appeals before running — the exact body that reviewed development applications. Then he moved to the board that approved them. Every building permit, every annexation, every variance flowed through the same small group of men.
By December 21, 1975, the Tinley Park Star/Tribune had named the system for what it was: "A curious system of government by men, not by law." Donald Pekau Sr. was named in the same November 1975 article — called both "an ex-trustee" and "still on the board" in the same piece — a contradiction that suggested he was departing as the scandal broke. His son Keith would later claim his father was "voted out because of growth and Orland Square." The record shows something else: he disappeared from the board at the exact moment the two-tier justice system was publicly exposed.
"A curious system of government by men, not by law, has come to light in Orland Park... The situation mocks justice."Tinley Park Star/Tribune · December 21, 1975 · Page 12
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Father and Son
"Dodge has been using lawfare to target me for eight years."Keith Pekau · "Straight Down the Fairway" newsletter · July 2025 · This was said about the man who had been a village trustee quietly doing his job — the ONLY person to vote NO on every Edwards Realty deal.
Valentine Slachetka
to Arab Americans:
50 Years of the Same Injustice
The December 1975 scandal article documented two things simultaneously: Orland State Bank built a drive-in facility without the required special use permit, and the trustees looked the other way. Meanwhile, builder Gidlund had his permit revoked for the same ordinance violation. Two actors. Two outcomes. One principle: the rules applied to who the board liked, and didn't apply to who the board liked better.
In the same era — November 1975 — music shop owner Valentine Slachetka threatened to sue the village trustees over what he described as discriminatory business license conditions. He believed his shop was being treated differently than other businesses. The trustees reportedly objected to poster displays at his shop (described as "obscene"). Donald Pekau Sr.'s name appeared in that same article. The pattern was consistent: the board applied rules selectively to people it wanted to punish or control.
Same Orland Park. Same System. Different Targets.
"Chief, Clear
the Room"
It was a public meeting. Orland Park residents had collected 800 signatures. They came to the board to ask their elected representatives to adopt a ceasefire resolution — the same kind the village had adopted when supporting Ukraine. More than a half-dozen Arab American residents spoke respectfully at the February 5, 2024 board meeting. They made their case.
Pekau's response became national news. He told the residents: "If you're an American citizen and you don't feel that way, then in my opinion, you're entitled to that opinion, but you can certainly go and fight, go to another country and support that country." When the crowd responded with chants of "Ceasefire now!" — he called the police chief and ordered the room cleared. The audience was removed. Pekau then reconvened the meeting, on video, and continued speaking to an empty room.
CAIR-Chicago called it "racist ugly rants from a tone deaf local official." The Arab American community organized "Orland United." And the next day, Michael F. Henry filed a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General's office.
Illinois AG: Open Meetings Act Violated
Illinois Public Access Counselor (PAC) of the Attorney General's office found that Pekau's decision to "clear the room" violated the Open Meetings Act. July 19, 2024.
Source: Patch Orland Park, July 19, 2024
"First and foremost I'm an American. I'm not a German American, I'm an American. That's where my allegiances lie. Period. Dot. End of story. And if you're an American citizen and you don't feel that way, then in my opinion, you're entitled to that opinion, but you can certainly go and fight, go to another country and support that country."Keith Pekau · February 5, 2024 · Orland Park Village Board Meeting (recorded, broadcast on YouTube) · To Arab American Orland Park residents presenting an 800-signature petition
The Village Website
as a Personal Weapon
What Pekau Published on orlandpark.org
On the same day (July 19, 2024) that the AG issued its advisory opinion, Pekau published an official village press release — on the government website — that attacked Michael F. Henry, the private citizen who had filed the complaint. Key claims from the official village press release:
This is the critical fact that distinguishes Pekau's response from a normal political dispute. He did not respond on his personal Facebook page or in his personal newsletter. He responded on the official government website of the Village of Orland Park — orlandpark.org — using village staff time, village servers, and village communications infrastructure to personally attack the private citizen who had challenged him.
The village press release went further than disputing the AG ruling. It attacked the complainant's character, criminal history, and litigation record — none of which are relevant to whether the Open Meetings Act was violated at a public meeting. The AG ruled on the CONDUCT AT THE MEETING. The press release changed the subject to the complainant.
This is the pattern: when the government is found to have done something wrong, use the government itself to attack whoever exposed it. Donald Pekau Sr.'s era did the same thing — the December 1975 scandal article documented that the village dismissed concerns by characterizing critics as disruptive or seeking personal gain. Fifty years later, the tactic was identical. Different name. Same machine.
"The Board fully complied with the Open Meetings Act and will not alter any safety procedures in place to ensure the Village can effectively conduct its business."Keith Pekau · Official Village of Orland Park press release · July 19, 2024 · After Illinois AG ruled the board had violated the Open Meetings Act · Published on orlandpark.org on public funds
He Lost. He Won't Stop.
Jim Dodge:
The Man Who Said No
"We are all people who live in Orland Park and we want to see the best things for our community, for our families and for our children. It's about attitude."
While Pekau spent the months after losing his election attacking Dodge on Facebook, publishing confidential village documents, and calling the man who won 57% of the vote a user of "lawfare" — Jim Dodge was governing. The Edwards TIF eliminated. The Owens sign restored. The debt trajectory announced honestly. The books opened. The schools receiving money that had been trapped in TIF accounts. Professional. Methodical. Accountable.
It is worth noting what Dodge did not do. He did not retaliate. He did not launch a newsletter attacking Pekau's character. He did not use the village website to personally attack the man who was harassing him. When the village filed the TRO application, it was to protect taxpayer interests in active litigation — not to silence political speech. The court agreed, twice.
Pekau once stood in a gray Dodge Durango (his own truck) and followed Orland Fire Protection District candidates door to door while they were knocking on residents' doors. Sean Kampas rode shotgun. That image — the mayor of a city, in his SUV, following volunteer candidates through residential neighborhoods — tells you everything about the style of governance Orland Park just survived.
192 Acres.
150 Miles of Trails.
30+ Golf Courses.
Here is what Orland Park is when the politicians are not stealing from it: Centennial Park opened in 1992 — 192 acres with Lake Sedgewick, a 95-acre lake named for the village's original train depot. Baseball diamonds, soccer fields, a water park, an ice rink, a dog park, fishing piers, a gazebo, a council ring. Free parking. Free skating. All of it built for the people who live here.
The Orland Park Bikeway runs 6.7 miles from 159th Street through Centennial Park, past the John Humphrey Complex and the Orland Park History Museum, over LaGrange Road on a dedicated pedestrian bridge, and connects to the Tinley Creek Trail — which feeds into 15,000 acres of Cook County Forest Preserves. That is one of the great outdoor systems in the Chicago metropolitan area, and most of it is free.
The World's Golf Center claim on the water towers isn't wrong. Silver Lake Country Club — North course built 1928, South course 1944, Rolling Hills added later — at 14700 S. 82nd Avenue, is one of the great public golf complexes in Illinois. Thirty-plus courses within and adjacent to village borders. The Midwest Golf House. X-Golf indoor simulators. This is a community that takes its outdoor life seriously.
None of this happened because of the political machine. It happened because 57,757 people chose to make their lives here — in the subdivisions with the Ivy League floor plan names, in the neighborhoods that received the white flight migrants from Roseland and Calumet Park, in the developments that were permitted through the machine's tollbooth. The people built something real. The politicians tried to monetize it. The people ultimately got it back.
"Orland Park for All. Every voice heard and valued."Jim Dodge · Election night, April 1, 2025 · After defeating Keith Pekau 9,500–6,940
"A curious system of government by men, not by law, has come to light in Orland Park... The situation mocks justice."
Tinley Park Star/Tribune · December 21, 1975 · Donald Pekau Sr. era"Jim Dodge and his goons just sent me a cease-and-desist letter. Why? Because I shared the truth — and they're afraid of what you'll find out. I won't be silenced."
Keith Pekau · Facebook · July 2025 · After losing 57%–43% · Before Cook County court issued a TRO
Father. Son.
Fifty Years.
One Playbook.
One Verdict.
Orland Park voters chose Jim Dodge 57% to 43% · April 1, 2025