Burr Ridge Mayor's Allies Prevail Over Rival: Election Results

BURR RIDGE, IL — Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso and his allies have removed a thorn from their sides — in the form of Trustee Zach Mottl. Three trustee seats were up for election.

The three candidates in the 1-2-3 for Burr Ridge coalition took the top three spots — incumbent Anita Mital (1,430 votes), incumbent Guy Franzese (1,413) and newcomer Russell Smith (1,383), according to unofficial election returns.

Mottl's ally, newcomer Elena Galinski, finished fourth with 501 votes. Mottl was last with 446. All precincts have reported.

Grasso ran unopposed.

"The cancer that is Zach Mottl has been overwhelmingly rejected and defeated by the voters almost 3-1," Grasso said in a text message to Patch. "Worse rejection than two years ago," referring to his defeat of Mottl in the 2019 mayoral race. "Burr Ridge is Back to the Future with Russ Smith, Anita Mital and Guy Franzese."

Mottl issued a statement Tuesday night, thanking his fiancé, family, friends and supporters.

"I'm happy. In the end, voters are going to get the government they have elected," Mottl said. "I'm pleased we all agree on the substantive issues like NO mayor pay raise. I hope citizens continue to hold our government accountable. I'm not going anywhere, and that together, with my team, we're going to keep shining the bright light of transparency."

Mottl also praised Galinski.

"I want people to know how important it is that Elena Galinski stepped up to run. She has great ideas," he said. "So do a lot of citizens. I hope more people like Elena will get involved and run."

The slogan for 1-2-3 for Burr Ridge was "Return civility and professionalism to the Boardroom" — a thinly veiled reference to Mottl.

With the 1-2-3 for Burr Ridge candidates victorious, Grasso will have a board unanimous in its support of his leadership.

Since late 2019, Mottl has been censured six times. In the April 2019 mayoral election, Grasso defeated Mottl with nearly two-thirds of the vote.

In that election, Trustee Joe Snyder supported Mottl, even donating to his campaign. Since, Snyder has joined the other trustees in denouncing Mottl. In fact, Snyder has written pieces on Patch critical of Mottl.

The censures have targeted a number of Mottl's statements. The first one was about his labeling of top Village Hall staffers as incompetent. The trustees also have accused Mottl of using ethnic slurs such as "godfather" against Grasso, who is an Italian-American.

In one case, Mottl said he hoped a resident who had spoken via Zoom at a board meeting had his pants on and wasn't masturbating, a reference to a scandal involving a CNN commentator. That drew one of the censures. Mottl later apologized.

In yet another censure, trustees said Mottl disrespected the police by failing to stand during a ceremony for police officers. They also took issue with Mottl's accusing the police chief of being dishonest.

Grasso has personally sued Mottl for defaming him during the 2019 election and afterward. Among other things, Mottl accused the mayor of "tax fraud," alleging he cheated taxpayers by taking homestead exemptions at homes in both Burr Ridge and Chicago. A taxpayer is allowed to have only one. Grasso said he did not know Cook County had attached the exemption to his Chicago property.

In one of the censure votes, Grasso, an attorney, prevented Mottl from voting, saying a trustee could not vote on an issue involving himself. However, after Patch asked Grasso about his power to do so, he could not point to any state law giving a mayor such authority. He later allowed Mottl to take part in censure votes.

As a minority on the board, Mottl has little power. But he has had victories. Along with Trustee Mital, Mottl opposed the referendum giving home rule powers to Burr Ridge, saying it would give the board too much authority to raise taxes. Grasso and the board majority argued in favor of the measure. In the March 2020 election, nearly 70 percent of voters sided with Mottl and Mital's position.

Also, early last year, Grasso informed all the trustees that the village would pay for them to attend an event involving Republican County Board Chairman Dan Cronin. It was a political event benefitting Cronin's campaign, which Mottl pointed out. Public money cannot be spent for political purposes, so Grasso rescinded the offer.

Last fall, Grasso and the Village Board majority arranged for the departure of Village Administrator Doug Pollock, who received nearly $40,000 in severance. The plan was to replace Pollock with Assistant Village Administrator Evan Walter.

But Mottl threw a wrench into the works when he divulged text messages that Walter sent to him earlier in the year. In those messages, Walter criticized Pollock, at least twice comparing Pollock to female genitalia. He also referred to the retirement of longtime Village Clerk Karen Thomas.

"I'm sorry to lose Karen's brain, but honestly I'm going to get someone 40 years younger to replace her for 70 percent of the cost," Walter wrote.

These messages showed Walter was exchanging private texts with the mayor's political rival, who had already been censured at least once.

The revelation of the text messages delayed the transition, as trustees weighed their options. Trustee Al Paveza, a mayoral ally, called Walter's comments "extremely juvenile." The mayor said Walter showed a "lapse in judgment" and had made the "appropriate apologies."

Walter was promoted to administrator on an interim basis, rather than permanently, as originally planned.

In recent weeks, Village Hall released information showing that it had spent $60,000 over 15 months in dealing with Mottl's public records requests and legal matters initiated by him.

Mottl said many of the legal expenditures in question were for the trustees' censure resolutions against him, efforts to block and remove him from meetings, and ways to frustrate his public records requests. He also said the lawyers were overcharging the village.

"If you disagree with me, fine. But let me talk. Let me sound stupid if that's what you think I am. Let me look ridiculous. Why spend all this money to shut me up?" Mottl said.

Grasso disagreed with Mottl's take.

"Very little comparably was spent on the censure motions compared to his 24 FOIA requests in the last 15 or so months," the mayor said in an email to Patch. "The more relevant point is that Mottl also caused those expenses by his disrespectful conduct at every turn to our police, staff and even a resident in 2019 and 2020. He did those things, not me or any Trustee. The other trustees all voted unanimously each time to censure him for his bad acts — six times. That's on Mottl — no one else."