'Ghosts' out to scare voters in 36th District?

BY AMY LEE
With state Rep. James Brosnahan (D-Evergreen Park) leaving the 36th District House seat he's held for 14 years, Sue Gardner thought she should meet the four Democratic candidates vying to replace him.

The Evergreen Park resident and mother of four just had no idea how difficult that would be.

Only one of four Democratic candidates - Kelly Burke, of Evergreen Park - attended a forum held Jan. 20 at Oak View Center in Oak Lawn designed to introduce 36th voters to the candidates. The event was organized by the League of Women Voters Palos-Orland Area.

A second forum scheduled the next night and organized by the student council at Brother Rice High School was canceled because, again, only Burke responded.

Burke's opponents in the race - Evergreen Park's Michael Macellaio, Karen Sullivan Casey, of Oak Lawn, and Angela McMahon, of Evergreen Park - did not respond to Brother Rice's invite, school spokesman Brian Barkowski said.

"I know it's not mandatory for candidates to appear, but it struck me as odd," said Gardner, 50, a registered nurse who attended the Oak View Center forum and went to Brother Rice the next evening.