Lake Forest Caucus sets second election for controversial proposed officer slate

The Lake Forest Caucus has scheduled a second election for its proposed officer slate after the general membership voted down most of the group last month.

The caucus has set a special election for May 30 for its officer candidates for the 2024-25 year at the Gorton Community Center. The new election follows a 132-125 defeat of the proposed slate recommended by the Caucus Committee in April.

The slate includes seven Lake Forest residents for various roles, led by Joe Oriti, the candidate for president of the caucus.

The Caucus Committee – which is composed of 43 people from the city’s four wards — is asking for general members to take a second look at the slate after stating the organization’s bylaws were not clear on how to proceed after the general membership turned down the initial slate.

The Caucus Committee had suggested just to move forward with the officer slate regardless of the general membership vote, but eventually chose not to do so after a threat of litigation from some residents.

The caucus posted a note on its website explaining the decision to go forward with most of the same group, including Oriti, who is currently the vice president of the organization.

“Five of the six Caucus Committee Officers eligible for president per the bylaws do not want to serve in that role,” the website note read. “This leaves one eligible member – Joe Oriti – to serve as President. Joe is also, in the judgment of the Caucus Committee, the best qualified to serve as President.

“All Officer candidates have demonstrated the skills (leadership, problem solving, project management, finance, technical, marketing, communication, collaboration, teamwork, etc.), experience, dedication, and willingness to serve,” the post said.

The latest decision raised concerns from one of the leaders of Lake Forest For Transparency, a citizen advocacy group.

“The caucus needs to recognize that this problem isn’t going away, and needs to address the residents in a meaningful manner to work towards restoring trust in the community,” said John Trkla, pointing to previous votes where the caucus leadership attempted to move ahead without the general membership approval.

The rest of the recommended caucus slate includes Regina Etherton for vice president, Fred Brewer for treasurer, Dale Tauke for secretary, Jennifer McGregor for fundraising and Mark Pickett and Armando Guzman for communication roles.

The only difference from the previous slate is that Jason Akemann is not running again for one of the communication positions. Caucus President Christopher Benes said via text that Akemann was no longer interested in the role.