Politics

Critics Accuse Richard Irvin’s Supporters of Underhanded Campaign Tactics in Aurora Mayoral Election

Ken Maurice thought he was sitting down to watch some TV and enjoy a snack.

But when he saw someone across the street putting up signs for Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin’s reelection bid on the lawn of his mother’s house, he wasn’t quite sure what was happening. Maurice said when he stepped outside to ask, the conversation wasn’t quite what he expected.

“The guy said, ‘stay out of this, this has nothing to do with you, this is none of your business, sir,’” Maurice told WTTW News. “I said, ‘it is my business … I own that property, (and) you’re not authorized to be on the property.’”

Maurice said he made clear he didn’t want the campaign signs on his property, but that the outreach team he encountered was belligerent and persistent.

The interaction ultimately led to his arrest for battery after a campaign worker told Aurora police officers that Maurice was verbally abusive and spit on them — claims Maurice and his many supporters strenuously deny.

“I’ve been knowing him since high school, and from his professional life. I’ve never heard the man ever — ever — use profanity,” said friend and fellow Aurora native Ray Hull. “He’s spent his whole lifetime trying to have an image that people could look up to.”

They’re not the only ones who have taken issue with Irvin’s campaign workers and supporters. Numerous backers of Irvin’s opponent in the April 1 election, Alderman At-Large John Laesch, say they’ve had Laesch signs stolen or defaced. Other critics say Irvin’s campaign has obfuscated his political beliefs — both in this race and in previous elections. And Irvin once again faced charges that the many people and companies who do business with the city — and that back his and his allies’ campaign funds — means Illinois’ second most populous city is mired in pay-to-play politics.

“We have an Aurora that works very well if you’re on that inside rail, if you’re politically connected, you’re working for the mayor’s campaign, you’ve donated to his campaign,” Laesch said in an interview. “For the majority of us who are paying higher taxes and struggling paycheck to paycheck, playing by the rules … it’s very frustrating.”

The Irvin campaign did not respond to requests for comment on this story. His campaign has touted public safety and economic development as some of his major achievements and areas of focus during his time in office.

Ken Maurice stands outside his home in Aurora on March 18, 2025. (Nick Blumberg / WTTW News)

Conflict Over Campaign Signs

In an interview at his home on a wide, leafy street, Maurice recounted the events leading up to his arrest — and the aftermath that left him angry and frustrated.

After telling Irvin’s street team that he didn’t want campaign signs placed on his property, Maurice said that one of them again replied that he should stay out of it, since the person who answered the door gave him permission to put up signage on the lawn — which Maurice later learned wasn’t the case. Maurice said he reiterated that he was the property owner and to remove the signs, and that after some back and forth among the campaign workers, the person who’d placed the signs removed them.

“I didn’t appreciate the pushback, but I’m going back in the house. It seems resolved,” Maurice said.

As he was leaving, Maurice said he told the campaign workers if Irvin wanted his signs in the yard, he’d need to pay a visit to the house himself.

“Everybody who puts a sign in my yard, I either require them to come and talk with me directly or to leave me a sheet, a position paper, contact information,” Maurice said. “That’s just a standard practice.”

It was at that point he said the campaign workers began to swear at and berate him, eventually driving their car from in front of Maurice’s mother’s house and parking across the street from his driveway.

“They’re continuing to give me the business, just a lot of obstinate and belligerent stuff coming my way,” Maurice recalled. “I was pretty much in a state of shock.”

He was even more shocked when Aurora police officers soon showed up at his front door.

According to the police incident report, the campaign workers called 911 and said it was Maurice who was profane and aggressive. And they claim he spit on one of the campaign workers multiple times.

Maurice said there’s no way for that to have happened and denies using any profanity. He said that he remembers spitting in the yard next to his driveway — more than 25 feet away from where the campaign workers were parked.

According to the report, the alleged victim said that “Maurice’s spit landed on his legs. … I observed (the person) to be wearing snow pants, and they were dry where he stated that the spit landed.”

The report adds that it was 17 degrees that day, “leading me to believe that any residue left on his pants could have dried by the time I arrived.”

Water evaporates more slowly the colder the temperature.

While he is hopeful the judicial system will treat him impartially and is still strongly pro-law enforcement, Maurice said he’s disappointed that police took the word of the campaign worker and his colleagues in deciding to arrest him. The police report says that no neighbors saw the incident, nor did any security cameras capture footage.

“Until you experience it, you never understand that some people can literally make up a story and you get arrested for it,” Maurice said.

Fellow Aurora residents supporting Maurice have echoed his disbelief — and the assertion that the battery charge is completely out of character for a well-respected public servant of many years. Former Ald. Rick Lawrence knows him both as a neighbor and through Maurice’s many years working in various community, youth and senior services roles for both the city and township of Aurora.

“Knowing Ken, knowing his personality, knowing him for as long as I did, I knew the story wasn’t true,” Lawrence said. “People like Ken should have support in the neighborhood and should want to stay here.”

But Maurice is considering leaving his hometown. He’s especially upset because he said the stress of his arrest exacerbated his mother’s underlying health issues, causing her to have a heart attack. He’s supporting Laesch, Irvin’s opponent in the election.

“(Irvin) ran for governor — so that tells you right there his priority isn’t the city of Aurora,” Maurice said. “John needs to be given a chance, that’s the way I see it. We need change.”

Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) listen to one of the speakers at an event Irvin hosted for Black Republicans attending the RNC on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

Complaints of Theft, Vandalism and Misrepresentation

Laesch’s campaign has received dozens of complaints about his signs being stolen out of yards, some multiple times, or of city employees telling people the signs have to be removed. Other supporters have shared stories of signage being defaced.

Tracey Sherman Falcon and her husband put up a large sign promoting Laesch’s candidacy outside property they own on Lake Street, a busy thoroughfare. Security footage shows two people emerging from a car and putting stickers on either side of the sign that read “defund the police” and “socialist” — although socialist was misspelled.

Falcon, a 30-year resident of Aurora, said the vandalism felt like both a violation and a sign that the Irvin campaign is concerned about his prospects.

“This insanity that’s happening around an election for Aurora is ridiculous,” she said. “I haven’t liked the bullying that I’ve seen for the past several years from Richard Irvin.”

Other Irvin critics have been put off by his campaign workers, too. Julie DiCaro, who has lived in Aurora for more than two decades, said members of Irvin’s team came to her door encouraging her to support the mayor’s reelection bid and put a sign in her yard. A regular donor to Democratic campaigns, DiCaro was surprised the former GOP gubernatorial candidate’s outreach workers asked for her by name.

“I said, ‘I’m a Democrat, he’s not a Democrat,’” DiCaro said, pointing out to the workers that just this past summer he attended the Republican National Convention. “They were like, ‘yeah, yeah, he’s a Democrat!’ They were just acting appalled that I didn’t know that he was a Democrat.”

While Aurora elections are nonpartisan, it’s not just party leanings that worry DiCaro. Although he frequently deflected questions about abortion access during his failed run for governor, Irvin has described himself as “pro-life” with exceptions for rape and incest. A supporter of access to reproductive health care, DiCaro is concerned about Irvin’s past criticism of Planned Parenthood’s local clinic as “bad for Aurora.” She is also concerned about the large population of immigrants in the city.

DiCaro’s experience isn’t necessarily a new one. Some mailers from a previous mayoral race shared with WTTW News tout Irvin’s bona fides with the left, others with the right. But since his 2022 run in the Republican primary for governor, Irvin has continued his public lean rightward. At the RNC in July, Irvin hosted an event as part of an organization he founded and chairs called the Black Republican Mayors Association.

While his bid for governor ended in a third-place finish despite $50 million in funding from billionaire Ken Griffin, the leftover cash from that race has given him and his allies a fundraising advantage. After his loss, Irvin transferred more than $400,000 of the remaining campaign money to an Oak Brook-based nonprofit called Rise Up, headed up by his longtime political associate Dennis Cook.

According to its filing with the IRS, Rise Up “works to educating the public as to issues within the criminal justice system; works to advance reform in the criminal justice system; and promotes Pro Safety Pro Economic and Pro Education policies within the community.”

Rise Up is registered to the same Oak Brook address as the Black Republican Mayor’s Association, as well as Cook’s PAC called Build R Future. During the current election cycle, Rise Up and Build R Future have together donated more than $52,000 to Irvin’s campaign committee.

As WTTW News has previously reported, Build R Future has also benefited heavily from contributions made by people and companies doing business with and receiving lucrative incentives from the city of Aurora — as have Irvin, members of the City Council and Irvin’s former law partner.

A view of Aurora from the Fox River is pictured in a file photo. (The Paramount Theater in Aurora is pictured in a file photo. (EJ Rodriquez / iStock)

On the Issues

Those cozy relationships are why ethics reform is a centerpiece of Laesch’s campaign. He wants to see caps on contributions by city contractors, and saw his push for an advisory referendum on the issue blocked by the mayor and his allies thanks to their sway over what appears on Aurora voters’ ballots.

“Pay to play is prevalent in both political parties and every level of government, and I think it would be completely outstanding to have really strict ethics reform to eliminate it,” Laesch said. “That would … make sure that the contracts that we as a city are negotiating are in the best interest and at the best price for Aurora taxpayers. I believe that we’re paying something called a corruption tax.”

Laesch also wants to see more investment in infrastructure like street lights, sidewalks, and curbs, as well as replacing lead pipes and outdated water mains. He’s concerned about quality-of-life issues like a sound barrier along a main artery, improving unsafe intersections and curbing odors from a food production facility. Laesch also advocates for green building standards to lower energy costs and create jobs.

“None of this is sexy, like getting the Chicago Bears to Aurora or some of the other hype that the mayor has put out there, but it’s things that residents want,” he said.

While Irvin did not respond to a request for an interview, his campaign has touted public safety and economic development as some of his major achievements and areas of focus.

That includes championing a new Hollywood Casino near Interstate 88, as well as work to attract residents and businesses to the city’s historic downtown — including several businesses who have supported the mayor’s campaign fund.

His reelection bid has been endorsed by the Daily Herald and Chicago Tribune editorial boards, as well as a handful of labor and first responder unions.

Laesch — whose endorsements include U.S. Reps. Jesús “Chuy” García and Delia Ramirez, former Gov. Pat Quinn and state Sen. Karina Villa — said he thinks Aurora residents are ready for change.

Irvin and Laesch advanced to the general election out of a field of five active candidates in a late February primary. In that first round of voting, Irvin garnered 39.5% and Laesch 34.1% according to the most recent vote totals available.

The Aurora mayoral election is April 1.

Contact Nick Blumberg: [email protected] | (773) 509-5434 | @ndblumberg

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