'Sexist, Misogynistic' Posts Cause Caucus Party To Drop Candidate

SKOKIE, IL — Citing sexist social media posts highlighted by local women elected officials, the Skokie Caucus Party withdrew its support from one of its nominees in next month's municipal election. But it stopped short of endorsing his opponent.

Billy Haido was one of four newcomers endorsed for the village board by the Caucus Party's Community Screening Committee in November. Candidates endorsed by the party have won every village election for the past 60 years.

On Saturday, a group of seven women who live in, or have been elected to represent, Skokie signed on to a joint statement calling on their constituents to vote against Haido.

"We cannot elect a candidate who uses disgusting and abusive epithets toward women," the group said. "Respect is non-negotiable."

The elected officials included Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, State Sen. Laura Fine, State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioners Josina Morita and Debra Shore, Niles Township Supervisor Bonnie Khan Ognisanti, Skokie Park District Board Vice President and fellow Skokie Caucus Party nominee Khem Khoeun.

The message was accompanied by a selection of social media posts from Haido's accounts.

They include a meme that includes a misogynist slur shared approvingly by Haido in 2012, a 2015 post praising Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a 2017 post suggesting anyone upset at Melania Trump's holiday photography is likely "a ugly women," and a 2019 post accompanying an image of the Garden of Eden with the caption, "Girls have a hard time choosing where to eat, because the last time they chose, they doomed all of humanity."

Haido, 44, responded with a public apology posted on social media. He asked for forgiveness and pledged to remain committed to personal growth and to earn the public's respect and confidence. His social media accounts are no longer public.

"The Facebook Posts from almost a decade ago that have recently circulated, I am sorry to say, were mine. I apologize for these posts and comments. I was not mature in my thinking, reckless and thoughtless in my words and opinions," Haido said in the statement.

"In 2013, I married my wife Julie, and through my relationship with her, I became more self-aware as to how I needed to treat and respect other people. Becoming a father of two daughters and a son has taught me that words matter and how comments like the ones I made hurt others. I need to set a better example for my children," he added. "The person who wrote those posts back then is not the person I am today. I have grown and changed much since then."

The Skokie Caucus Party issued a statement condemning Haido's "sexist, misogynistic" social media posts and edited an image of the slate to cut Haido out of it.

"These ugly, shameful posts do not represent the values and beliefs of the Skokie Caucus Party," it said. "Accordingly, the Skokie Caucus Party no longer supports Billy Haido as part of the Skokie Caucus Party slate in the upcoming municipal election."

Before being slated, Haido served on the Niles Community Relations Commission, the Skokie Economic Development Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals and co-founded Vote Assyrian, a nonpartisan civil engagement group.

Haido, who came to the United States with his family at the age of 1 and grew up in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, told Patch that his work with the group had for years focused on supporting women.

"I'm not anti-woman. I have a wife, I have a mother, I have two sisters and I have two daughters. I have long been a supporter of women's activities. Being that I worked in the Assyrian community, I started almost every sports program that our women are involved in today," Haido said.

"So this is very bothersome to me that they'd take sophomoric attempts at humor on social media and try to paint a picture of who I am based on exactly that — sophomoric attempts at humor," he said. "That's all those were."

Along with a pair of fellow Vote Assyrian leaders, Haido is also a manager of the firm Lucky Bar Cafe, which last year unsuccessfully asked the Lincolnwood Village Board to authorize bars with video gambling machines at two locations in town. That business is now defunct, he said.

Haido was appointed to the Skokie Caucus Party board of directors in 2018, according to a press release the following year. He said he stepped down from the party's board once he was slated as one of its candidate.

Since 1997, Haido has worked as an information technology consultant, and has produced several Assyrian language feature films. He was the first Assyrian to be picked for the village board by Skokie Caucus Party officials, and he would be the first member of the community to be elected to village-wide office.

"I got involved in this to give this community of Assyrians a voice, and I realize that there's many ethnic communities here that don't have a voice. I am a champion of diversity, and I was excited to be the first Assyrian slated. It was thrilling for me. I worked four and a half years for this Caucus Party, fundraising and doing everything I had to do. They didn't pick me because it was a joke. They picked me because they thought I was going to do a good job, and they were forced to do this, I feel, because they have to protect the organization and I understand that," Haido said.

"It is an attempt to divide this Assyrian community that is extremely large. We are close to 30 percent of the population in Skokie, and they want to be able to stifle that."

Caucus Party representatives have not responded to requests for further information. According to its website, more than 20 people applied for its endorsement last fall.

The party is chaired by deputy village attorney Jim McCarthy, while the screening committee that picks candidates is chaired by Linda Perlin. Unlike in some other north suburban caucus parties, nominees are not selected via a public vote at a community meeting.

All six trustees on the Skokie Village Board are elected every four years. Only one candidate — high school teacher James Johnson — filed nominating petitions to run for trustee as an independent. The races for mayor and clerk are uncontested.

Johnson issued a statement in response to the local elected officials. He said his candidacy gave voters an opportunity to block Haido from the village board.

"I greatly appreciate that these incredible representatives are uniting to remind Skokie residents to vote their values. Once again, I am in awe of the women that sustain our local democracy," he said.

"As unpleasant as this episode is, it is also an opportunity to elect Skokie’s first Independent Trustee in 60+ years. The Skokie Caucus Party made a mistake in nominating Billy Haido to their slate of candidates, but they have an important role to play in reforming the electoral system that made this situation possible," he added. "This demonstrates the pitfalls of a one-party government that usually runs unopposed."

The Caucus Party's statement stopped short of endorsing the candidacy of Johnson — the only alternative to Haido winning election as trustee. Since no write-in candidates declared their candidacy before the deadline, no write-in votes will be counted.

Volunteer organizers of the "Vote No on Billy Haido" effort plan to continue their efforts to educate the public about Haido's social media postings.

Haido told Patch he believes whoever is orchestrating the "personal attack" against him would have similarly targeted any member of the Assyrian community who ran for village board.

"They're trying to paint me as an anti-democrat, they're trying to paint me as a sexist. The reality is for me, I'm an American first — not a political party first," Haido said. "As an American, I feel the Democrats have some great values and the Republicans have some great values, and at the end of the day, we have to meet in the middle. And I feel like that's where a majority of the people are."