Cook Co. Board candidate in hot water over questionnaire

Conflicting election questionnaire responses suggest a Cook County Board candidate may have been less than truthful about his criminal record, though his campaign blamed it on a staff member's mistake.

That candidate, Patrick Maher, runs on a platform of raising ethical standards in county government.

After responding in earlier newspaper questionnaires that he had no criminal background, Maher, an Orland Park Democrat running in Cook County County Board District 17, said in a Daily Herald questionnaire that he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor resulting from a fight over a girl as a student at Illinois State University.

The charges stemmed from a fight in which Maher and a friend went to another male student's dorm room. That student ended up in the hospital with a fractured skull, a fractured jaw, and a cut above his right eye. The student needed surgery and more than two dozen stitches, according to police reports.

"In 1992, when I was in college, I got into an altercation with another student," Maher, the current president of the Orland Fire Protection District, wrote. "As a result of that altercation I was charged with battery. I took responsibility for my actions and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. I was deeply ashamed of my actions and learned some valuable lessons about personal responsibility."

Maher's opponent, Republican incumbent Liz Gorman of Orland Park, is calling for a "truthful explanation of his false statements." They are vying to represent District 17, a long thin district that runs from Wheeling and Des Plaines on the north to Orland Park on the south.

But Maher says he "voluntarily" told the Daily Herald the details of the incident in the questionnaire issued last month, which asks about criminal history.

Court records show Maher was originally charged with felony battery. He did not indicate the more serious charge or that he had attended ISU on his Herald questionnaire. Maher also indicated on the survey that the incident occurred in 1992.

According to Illinois State University police records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, the incident occurred in the early hours of Nov. 10, 1991.

Maher and Timothy Bayer went to the Wilkins Residence Hall room of another male ISU student. That student, according to a signed statement, said he was home alone in his dorm room, and had fallen asleep after talking to his father on the phone.

Maher was dating the other student's ex-girlfriend at the time, and wanted to recover one of her sweatshirts from his room, an item the victim said he didn't have.

Shortly after arriving, things got heated between the three students.

The student was punched in the face repeatedly, sustaining a "significant amount of physical trauma," according to police.

"All I remember is just being hit in the face and I was being grabbed around my neck and could not get away and then I was being hit in the face more," he wrote in his police statement.

He eventually got free, and ran out of the room and down the residence hall, where he says Maher and Bayer caught up with him and slammed his head against the dorm wall.

Doctors treated the student for a broken jaw, a fractured skull, and gave him nearly 30 stitches. He reported later experiencing periods of memory loss.

According to the McLean County Clerk's office, Maher and Bayer both were originally charged in May 1993 - a year and a half after the fight - with felony aggravated battery. Two months later, their charges were reduced to a misdemeanor. They were put on probation and had to perform 100 hours of community service.

Maher comes from a politically connected family. His father, David, works in the county sheriff's office as an investigator and as clerk of the village of Orland Park. His cousin is state comptroller Dan Hynes.

Maher spokesman Bob Denneen called Maher's past omission about the charges "a mistake by a staffer. - Like any business, like anything the boss does not do the clerical work. It's staffers. They do they typing up of questionnaire."

Denneen maintained that Maher has not tried to hide his past.

"The record's always been out. It's been public record. There was no hiding of his past. We're discussing it (now) because people are asking for it."

At a news conference in Chicago Thursday, county Republican Party officials distributed copies of Maher's responses to Sun-Times and Southtown Star newspaper questionnaires, along with a portion of the police report.

In a letter issued Thursday morning, Maher said Gorman was conducting a smear campaign.

The victim has not returned calls seeking comment.

• Daily Herald Staff Writer Ted Cox contributed to this report.