Scaman wins re-election easily as Oak Park village president 

Vicki Scaman will remain Oak Park’s village president after a decisive victory. 

Scaman earned re-election as Oak Park’s top elected official Tuesday night, winning more than 62% of the vote to best Village Trustee Ravi Parakkat. She won election with a bigger margin than she did in her first bid, in which she beat Cate Readling with 56% of the vote. 

Scaman, who’s served as an elected official at Village Hall since she was elected village clerk in 2017, took the stage at her victory party at The Carleton Hotel flanked by her young granddaughters. She said she was humbled by the support she got on election night. 

“I looked out there and just saw love, I saw gratitude, I just feel like I’m so lucky,” Scaman said. “It’s the people in that room that keep me grounded, that keep me learning, that keep me listening, that challenge me. They trust me even though we don’t know what’s coming next.” 

The village board will have one lame duck session this month to review proposals for the municipal campus renovation and new police station construction, before the new board is sworn in May 6. 

Scaman worked as an art teacher, restaurant manager and nonprofit leader before winning her first election in 2017.  She had also served on the village’s liquor control and review board and worked as a program coordinator for Oak Park township.  

Scaman said that keeping the village on track for its sustainability and affordability goals and protecting its efforts to champion values of diversity, equity and inclusion are among her top priorities for the next four years. 

“Oak Park has shown the region, and the nation what a truly progressive community looks like,” she said in her victory speech. “We’ve shown that we embrace our differences to build a stronger, more united village as more attacks on our values come forward from the national level. We must remain a strong front; I am most uniquely prepared to lead against these attacks.” 

Parakkat, an international business executive turned non-profit leader who won election to the village board in 2021, had challenged Scaman’s record on affordability, particularly as it related to the village’s plan to renovate village hall and construct a new police station. 

He said he was proud of the work that he and his campaign volunteers did, and the trust that they put into his vision. 

“I’ve run against an incumbent without many of the endorsements, but these people have been my endorsements, and my campaign couldn’t have been what it is without them,” he said. 

In an interview shortly before the election Scaman said she felt one of the strongest aspects of her first term was the way she was able to help the board set its goals and pass legislation that progressively built towards those goals. 

“After I was elected in 2021, one of the first things that I did was bring the board together for a far more thorough, inclusive goal setting process,” she said. “My leadership here has also been that I have that historical knowledge to know what had support in the past and what didn’t. What made it inevitable that you were going to need to regroup after eight years and how is it that we can create something that stands the test of time?” 

Scaman took over as village president amid the COVID pandemic, and didn’t preside over her first in-person board meeting until well over a year into her tenure. She’d spent a term as village clerk before winning election in 2021 and said that the job had given her a good perspective on what had driven conflict for the previous board and how she could help the new group push forward.   

“There were approaches in leadership styles that were just oil and water,” she said. “So to respond to that moment, I was that more collaborative, empathetic leadership style. Somebody who was going to be willing to listen to both sides of the aisle and find where we overlap.” 

Scaman said that she will look to lean on relationships she’s built with other public and private leaders to help the village reach its aspirations, particularly when it comes to sustainability and economic vitality.  

“I didn’t enter office thinking that one of my big successes would be reaching out regionally,” she said. “The reason I did that was because I’m a problem solver. If Oak Park is going to invest in sustainability the way that we now are, then that money goes that much further if we’re doing that. There’s still a very practical side of me too that wants to see that greater collective effort.” 

While the majority of voters stood behind Scaman’s record, she said she will step forward from the campaign more intent than ever to weigh the perspectives of the entire community. 

“I’m listening and I want to be able to respond to our community and reflect on what more I can do to share information when making these tough decisions,” she said. “The best part about campaigning is that you get to talk to as many residents as you do. I’ve been thinking a lot about how we keep that up. I’m also thinking a great deal about how we come back together as one community. Again, listening is key, valuing somebody’s differing opinion without judgment, but with respect and looking for what it is you can learn.”