OP Trustee James Dodge not seeking re-election this April

Dodge to ‘retire’ from Village politics after 32 years

By Jon DePaolis

ORLAND PARK, Ill. — After three decades of service to Orland Park, Trustee James Dodge is walking away from Village politics.

Dodge, who was first elected to a Village office in 1989, announced on his Facebook page earlier this month that he would not seek re-election as a Village trustee in the upcoming April 2021 municipal election.

In an interview with Richard Free Press, Dodge said his decision to retire from Orland Park politics dates back several years. In fact, he said he had conversations with family and friends going into the 2017 election cycle about walking away.

“I wanted to do other things,” he said.

Those other things included making a run at state treasurer in 2018, though, he ultimately lost the election to the incumbent, Mike Frerichs.

“I’ve always thought that there were some other ways that I could serve,” Dodge said. “So, this has been in the back of my mind for a while.”

Getting his start

Dodge’s career in Orland Park government began in 1989. But he said he initially “caught the bug” in his college-age years.

“I saw all the things going on in the world, primarily with the [Jimmy] Carter administration,” Dodge said. “Then, along came [Ronald] Reagan, and broadly, things right of center have always made more sense to me than left of center.”

Dodge said he got involved with several political campaigns during those years before eventually moving to Orland Park in 1986.

Then, in 1989, he started talking to a few people he knew in town — including then-Mayor Frederick Owens, and former Orland Park elected officials like Ed Schussler and Dan McLaughlin. At the time, Dodge was in the Illinois Army National Guard and getting his master’s degree at the University of Chicago. But after some conversations, Dodge decided he would make a run at Village clerk.

“I’ve always enjoyed public service and being in an elected office felt like a pretty good way to be a public servant,” he said.

Dodge won that election, and he was re-elected to the position in 1993.

In 1996, however, after a trustee died, McLaughlin and Village Board members approached Dodge to take the vacant trustee seat. Before accepting, in order to be nonpartisan, Dodge decided to stop being a Republican Party committeeman.

He has served as a trustee ever since.

“I think I’ve always taken it as a measure of trust that I’ve stood before the voters eight times over 32 years to say that I’d like to continue being a public servant here,” Dodge said.

Watching Orland Park grow

During his time on the Village Board, Dodge has seen Orland Park’s growth.

“The town has effectively doubled, and geographically it is a pretty big town,” he said. “By then, we already had the mall, Centennial Park and the new Village Hall that was under construction when I first got elected.”

Dodge said the Village Board members have always “hired well” in terms of Village staff, which has helped Orland Park over the years.

“That is the basis for success,” Dodge said. “Orland has had its economic challenges, but we’ve known for a while that we were a strong retail base and that was our strength. So, how do you diversify your economy and get all the roads done? Those are big, long-term projects that a series of boards with different trustees have worked on. The town has changed a lot, but the main pieces were there.”

Dodge said he is proud that every neighborhood in the Village is not much more than a half-mile from a park. He also pointed to something he accomplished as Village clerk — bringing in a new way of sharing meeting minutes and trustees’ voting history with the residents. He also is proud of improving transparency with the Village Board by partnering with the Illinois Policy Institute.

“We were the first community in Illinois to earn their grade of 100 percent in terms of transparency, primarily by getting a lot of Village information up and online readily available so people didn’t have to come in and ask their government for data or insights,” Dodge said.

He also is proud of the work he did in helping lead redevelopment efforts at Orland Square Mall, as well as investing in bigger parks like Centennial Park West. He also mentioned being part of the Village Boards that helped get LaGrange Road improved and widened.

“We’ve designed a great town,” Dodge said.

Looking to serve in a different way

Dodge is still the youngest person to ever be elected to the Village Board. So, why after 32 years is he stepping away?

While he noted the acrimony that currently exists in not only in national politics but also Orland Park, Dodge said that was not a factor in his decision to not seek re-election. It is, however, something that is on his mind.

“It pains me to see the un-fraying of America … and we are in the middle of it, where a new normal is being created,” Dodge said. “Who knows what the hell it looks like, but God save America if we can’t figure out how to be civil and thoughtful and find ways to solve problems instead of these personal attacks and all the nastiness that has been infecting politics.

“This wave of nastiness has been building in the system, and it showed up in Orland Park recently. That’s disappointing, but it has nothing to do with me saying this is the time for me to exit.”

In the short-term, Dodge said he is leading a pro-bono consulting project with the University of Chicago Booth School of Business to help a nonprofit focused on homelessness for veterans.

He also did not shut the door completely on returning to politics in the future.

But for now, Dodge expressed gratitude to the voters of Orland Park for allowing him to serve for more than a quarter of a century.

“Thank you,” he said. “I sincerely appreciate being chosen eight times to be part of the board.”

And, as he finishes out his term over the next few months, Dodge also gave some parting thoughts for residents to consider when looking ahead to the April 2021 election and beyond.

“As we go into these next few cycles, choose well and be very thoughtful about who you are putting on the board and what they want to accomplish,” Dodge said. “Politics in America has changed so fundamentally. The people have to see through the personal attack, so they can get at the truth and make the best choice.

“That’s my best wish to Orland Park going forward.”