Say what you will about [Illinois’]Oak Lawn Village Board members, they know how to put on a show.

Shouting, name-calling, calls for resignation and accusations of criminal behavior recently have become standard fare in the latest chapter of a long-running feud between Mayor Dave Heilmann and members of the board's majority and Trustee Jerry Hurckes.

The dispute even has gone national, as questions have been raised in Washington, D.C., about whether Hurckes has violated Congressional ethics rules. The Chicago-area chief of staff for Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Western Springs), Hurckes is considering running against Heilmann in next year's election.

To his foes, Hurckes is a power-hungry, Chicago-style political operator with little regard for the truth or good government. For their part, Hurckes and his backers view his enemies on the board as thin-skinned, intolerant of opposition and constantly looking to blame someone else for their failings. Hovering over every interaction between the two sides is a history of campaign skullduggery and personal attacks.

The recent battling has its origins in the board's decision to consider hiring a federal lobbyist. Hurckes called the idea an attack on him and his boss and a waste of money, given that Lipinski has helped secure millions of dollars for the village. In response, trustees dropped any pretense of excluding Lipinski from their criticism, resulting in the rarely seen spectacle of municipal officials attacking their own congressman.

The Oak Lawn Village Board's controversy has put Lipinski in an awkward position, as he acknowledged in a conversation with the SouthtownStar. Lipinski called for a truce between the warring parties, taking care to avoid direct criticism of the mayor and his allies but vigorously defending his efforts to secure funding for Oak Lawn.

"I think that for the best of the residents of Oak Lawn, things really do need to calm down there politically," Lipinski said. "Clearly it doesn't help me ... that I'm dragged into this."

A source said Lipinski has made it clear Hurckes would have to give up his chief-of-staff job if he became mayor. It is extremely rare for a congressional staffer to hold elected office.

Among other things, House ethics rules prohibit staffers who hold elected office from "representing anyone else - including the local government by which they are employed - before federal agencies." When it proves impossible to maintain "an absolute separation of the two positions," the rules say the staffer should resign from one.

Hurckes has been on the board since 1999 and has repeatedly touted his success in bringing back federal money to Oak Lawn. But no one had publicly asked if his efforts and boasts violated ethics rules until a March 24 story in the Washington, D.C., newspaper Roll Call.

Representatives of congressional watchdog groups contacted this week said Hurckes' actions raise red flags. Melanie Sloan, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the House ethics committee should investigate.

"It seems clear that he has violated the prohibition against using congressional resources in furtherance of his position as an elected official," she said.

Hurckes said he makes every effort to keep his jobs separate. He said he would leave the interpretation of the rules to committee members.

"If the ethics committee tells me it's no longer in the best interest for me to be a trustee, I'll understand that," he said.

Lipinski emphasized the decision-making power in his office rests with him, not Hurckes, who was the chief of staff for Lipinski's father, William, when he was a congressman.

"With all the political talk going on there, there may have been some hyperbole used on all sides, including from Jerry Hurckes," he said.

Hurckes' opponents on the village board have seized on the Roll Call story. But their primary contention has been that Hurckes has not done enough to bring home federal dollars.

Trustees repeatedly have complained the village still has not seen a dollar of a $3.9 million earmark for Oak Lawn that Lipinski placed in the 2005 federal transportation bill. Trustee Robert Streit called the millions "make-believe money."

"We were told it's stuck on Capitol Hill, it's down with the state, it's with (the Illinois Department of Transportation), it's everywhere but here," said Trustee Tom Phelan. He suggested the delay allowed the money to be earmarked for other communities, allowing for "a political double-bang for those bucks."

Trustees also have made much of the fact that the amount originally was $4.1 million, expressing bewilderment about the supposed reduction. In fact, the village received two separate earmarks: One for $3.92 million for roadwork and one for $192,000 for traffic signals. The traffic signal money still is available, according to IDOT.

The larger earmark also is administered by IDOT. A letter about the money sent to the village's former director of public works by IDOT in September 2006 states the agency had not yet heard from the village. It asks the village to contact officials "to schedule a kick-off meeting during which the project's scope, schedule and budget will be discussed."

"The money has been available to the village for the last 2 ½ years," Lipinski said. "It's all a process that has to be gone through with the state ... That part is in no way connected to me or my office."

Heilmann maintains the state told the village in late 2006 or early 2007 "flat out ... the money's not here."

Hurckes blames the delay on the village, which he says under Heilmann sat on its hands until Village Manager Larry Deetjen arrived on the job in early August. Previously, the village had largely been without a full-time manager for several years.

Deetjen since has had trustees vote to select an engineering firm to handle the project, a key first step in the process the village previously had not taken. Deetjen said he expects Oak Lawn will get the money and spend it at least in part on resurfacing local streets next year.

Trustees also have criticized Lipinski about a $600,000 federal grant the village secured in February, less than a year after it applied for the money. The money will be used to buy the fire department a ladder truck.

Streit said Hurckes "had nothing to do with" the grant. The village applied to FEMA for the grant in the spring of last year. A few months later, on his first day as manager, Deetjen discovered the village's application had a letter of support from both Illinois senators but not from Lipinski. Hurckes said no one informed him the village had applied for the grant prior to Deetjen's arrival.

Within days, Lipinski sent a letter to FEMA supporting the application. Lipinski said he met with a top FEMA official to discuss the grant in January. Not long after, he announced the money had been secured.

"This is outstanding, and on behalf of our entire administration, I would like to thank our congressman and the staff that worked so hard to bring this grant to fruition!" Deetjen said in an e-mail to Lipinski's office after he was told of the award. Deetjen said he expects the village will place an order for the truck in the near future.

Lipinski said the village "has done very, very well in terms of getting funding."

A review of a list of earmarks in the 2005 transportation bill indicates only a handful of communities in northeastern Illinois received as much as Oak Lawn.

Although Hurckes has filed paperwork to create a mayoral campaign committee, he has resisted announcing he is running. Lipinski said he does not view Hurckes' campaign as a foregone conclusion.

"As far as I'm concerned, right now, Jerry Hurckes is not running for mayor," Lipinski said. "Certainly that is something we are going to discuss."

Nathaniel Zimmer can be reached at nzimmer@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5994.