Orland Park mayoral candidate Dan McLaughlin faces accusations that he engaged in “special insider” real estate deals. McLaughlin is also a former mayor of the municipality. | Photo Courtesy of Dan McLaughlin Facebook.
Orland Park mayoral candidate Dan McLaughlin faces accusations that he engaged in “special insider” real estate deals. McLaughlin is also a former mayor of the municipality. | Photo Courtesy of Dan McLaughlin Facebook.
Former Orland Park mayor Dan McLaughlin engaged in several "special insider" real estate deals to help his friends, neighbors and business partners, current Mayor Keith Pekau alleged in a statement.
McLaughlin is challenging Pekau in the mayoral race.
"Then to top it all off, the former mayor himself owned a property on Beacon [Avenue] and illegally hid his ownership from the village to financially benefit, violating state and village disclosure laws," Pekau alleged.
Two blocks away from McLaughlin's property on Beacon Avenue, the former mayor was "spending $64 million on a publicly funded housing project that would very likely raise his secret property's value," Pekau alleged. "Not to mention the other tens of millions spent on the Triangle Project, where friends of the former mayor got sweet deals, and other small business owners got screwed."
Pekau alleged that McLaughlin's deals were unethical and possibly criminal.
"The former mayor has stated repeatedly in his campaign that village hall is corrupt," Pekau said. "I think he meant to say that it was corrupt. Apparently, he ran again in 2021 to ensure that his pattern of corruption stayed hidden from the Orland Park citizens. Unfortunately for him, we stumbled across this inappropriate, unethical and possibly illegal behavior. This has all been uncovered in just the past month — I wonder what we haven't found yet. This is a stunning betrayal of the public trust!"
Pekau defeated McLaughlin for the mayor's seat in 2017. McLaughlin announced in December that he is challenging Pekau in 2021 in a rematch.
Village Trustee Michael Milani researched five single-family homes purchased by the village between 2004 and 2016. The village paid more than the appraised value for three of the five, Milani said, the mayor reported. Only one of the homes was in a flood zone, he said.
In 2016, the village paid $30,000 more than the appraised value for the flood zone property, 14403 Irving, Milani said.
"There seemed to be a push by the former mayor for an even higher price on more than one occasion," Milani claimed.
McLaughlin denied the allegations from his political opponent, and that was raised at a village meeting.
"I was asked and agreed to be a partner on the purchase. John Kelly and his wife, and my wife and I formed a 50/50 ownership of the property," McLaughlin said during a press conference, the local Patch website reported. "He started discussions with the village staff about what would be allowed. My primary input was that I directed the partners that we could not ask for anything outside normal procedures, requirements or regulations and everyone agreed."
McLaughlin denied any insider deals and said the village purchased the homes because of flooding problems.
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