Former Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin to challenge incumbent Pekau in April mayoral election
McLaughlin talks to Richard Free Press about reasons for running again, 2017 campaign missteps and why he disagrees with 'career politician' label
Pictured is former Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin, who announced his candidacy for the position in the upcoming April 2021 municipal election. PHOTO SUBMITTED
By Jon DePaolis
ORLAND PARK, Ill. — The mayoral rematch is set as Dan McLaughlin officially announced his bid Wednesday, Dec. 16, to reclaim his former position in the upcoming April municipal election.
McLaughlin — who served as mayor in Orland Park for 24 years and as a trustee for eight years — was ousted from office by current Mayor Keith Pekau in the 2017 election.
“We have an opportunity to rise out of this pandemic stronger than ever,” McLaughlin stated in a press release announcing his candidacy. “But to do that, we need someone who can build strong, bipartisan coalitions and get things done — and we need to end the corruption that’s wasting your tax dollars and hurting the citizens of Orland Park.”
In a subsequent interview with Richard Free Press later in the morning, McLaughlin spoke about why he decided to enter the mayoral race and what his plans are for the Village if he were to be elected.
“I just feel that I left the job incomplete,” McLaughlin said. “There were so many jobs that I was in the middle of or that we were getting close to seeing some real progress on, like the downtown area and the I-80 corridor.”
After watching the current leadership over the past four years, McLaughlin said he felt the Village was “moving backward not forward.”
“I think there is a lot of divisiveness out there and not a lot of progress and not a lot of economic development to speak of,” he said. “I just can’t sit still and not do anything.”
McLaughlin pointed to several areas his campaign will focus on in 2021, such as economic development for not only the I-80 corridor but also the Village as a whole.
“We have to constantly be making Orland Park the place to come for businesses, and we have to reach out to businesses to come in and fill all the vacancies as they occur,” he said.
He also said public safety will be a priority and noted that he has some ideas on how to curb crime in the commercial areas of the Village. McLaughlin also said he wants to continue to try and make the downtown area an attraction by bringing in small businesses.
The former mayor also said the Village may need to create a new economic development plan that factors in how Zoom and remote working may negatively impact the need for office space moving forward.
McLaughlin also addressed where he stands on the issue of masks given the coronavirus pandemic.
“The science is the science, the facts are the facts, and the numbers are the numbers,” McLaughlin said. “This has taken a toll on thousands and thousands of families, and the simple idea of wearing a mask is what science and doctors recommend.
“All the nurses in my family and my friends talk about their experiences in dealing with COVID patients at their different hospitals and watching people die when their loved ones cannot even be with them. I just think the science and the recommendations of wearing masks is critical.”
He also said it must be shown by leadership as an example of what is right and what is wrong.
“I do think fighting the state and suing the governor on what is coming out in terms of recommendations is ridiculous and a waste of money,” McLaughlin added.
2017 decision to make mayor position full-time ‘a mistake’
McLaughlin — who is running as a member of the One Orland Party — also addressed what he called the “mistakes” of his 2017 campaign. Chief among them was the decision by the Village Board to turn the mayoralty into a full-time economic development position with a $153,000 annual salary.
He said it was “a mistake doing it the way we did.”
“But it is something that I own and something that I paid for,” McLaughlin said. “I think we had the right intentions at the time to do more economic development, but it was just the wrong way to do it. Going forward, they reduced the salary back to the [previous salary of] $43,000, and I’m committing to not even taking that, because it was never about the money.”
However, McLaughlin also said Pekau kept mayoral salary the past four years while also hiring an economic development director “to do what the [mayor’s] job was supposed to be doing.”
McLaughlin also commented on some other ways his 2017 campaign may have missed the mark. He said that while he did not participate in any debates, he did speak at about 35 small events in residents’ living rooms or elsewhere in town. But what he realized after the election was that he may not have been reaching as wide of an audience as he had hoped.
“We also weren’t into social media as much, and so we will be doing that more this time,” McLaughlin said.
‘I’m looking forward’
If McLaughlin were to win in April, he would be returning to a vastly different makeup of not only the Village Board but also Village staff, as most of the department leaders he worked with have left Orland Park.
“I think I’ve got a history of working with people and finding common ground,” McLaughlin said. “If the trustees who are on the board and the staff are interested in what’s good for Orland Park, then the good government issues that I’ve brought up through the years will resonate with people. I have no problem working with people with different views as long as their goals are the same as mine — working toward making Orland Park a great community.”
He also fought back against the notion that by serving as long as he did or by running again, he is a career politician.
“I’m looking forward,” McLaughlin said. “How do we make Orland Park in the future one of the best communities in the Chicagoland area? I understand the reasoning behind term limits. But right now, there is a choice — me or Pekau.
“When you talk about a career politician, just because I spent a number of years serving the community does not make me a career politician. I never made a living off it. Pekau has made a living off of this, making $153,000 a year for four years.
“I don’t consider being a community activist and working for the community while I was working full-time elsewhere makes me a full-time politician.”
With the April election less than four months away, Round 2 of the McLaughlin-Pekau battle is officially set.
“I think there are a lot of things going on right now that are just not moving the Village forward, and I think we need to change that,” McLaughlin said. “People have a choice.”