Smear the Clear: Mayor Keith Ogle’s Campaign Against Transparency

In the lead-up to the pivotal April 1st mayoral election, Frankfort Mayor Keith Ogle has unleashed a full-scale campaign of distortion, deceit, and deflection, using every political dirty trick in the book to smear his critics and protect his own image. The most recent example? His disingenuous public response to an election interference complaint filed against him by local developer Daniel A. Rose with the Illinois State Board of Elections. Instead of addressing the legitimate charge—Ogle's illegal use of the Village of Frankfort logo in campaign materials—the mayor has chosen to obfuscate, misrepresent, and launch personal attacks.

The Complaint: A Clear Violation, A Cloud of Deception

Frankfort Trustee Jessica Petrow, who is no stranger to Ogle’s pattern of political misconduct, minced no words regarding his violation.
“Keith is a politician, check his LinkedIn,” Petrow said. “He has run several campaigns, including Trustee, County, and Mayoral. He knows you cannot use the village logo but he did so anyway! It’s illegal because it misleads the public to think the village is sponsoring or supporting a specific campaign.”
Rather than owning up to the blatant misuse of the official village seal—a clear violation of election rules—Ogle attempted to downplay the incident. “The most shocking statement I saw was when Keith claims he did nothing wrong while quietly removing the logo from his pages,” Petrow remarked. “Keith claims the logo he used is not the official logo. It just happens to be on every letterhead, every press release, our Village of Frankfort social media, every sign, and even stamped onto the entrance of Village Hall.”

From Legitimate Complaint to Political Weapon

Instead of addressing the complaint with integrity, Ogle used it as a political weapon, attempting to discredit Daniel Rose by framing him as a partisan operative. Ogle falsely claimed that Rose was a "public supporter and contributor" to his opponent, Justin Ozinga’s campaign.

“The grand sum of my contributions to Justin Ozinga’s campaign is $40,” Rose clarified. “This was the price of two tickets for his Meet and Greet event: one for me and one for my father.”
Ogle’s smear tactics didn’t stop there. He attempted to paint the entire complaint as a political hit job, claiming it was orchestrated by Ozinga and his supporters. However, the facts reveal otherwise. Rose filed the complaint independently, based on Ogle’s clear violation of election law.

Ogle’s Deflection and Gaslighting: A Pattern of Deception

Ogle’s response to the complaint follows a familiar playbook—one that relies on gaslighting and misinformation. In a Patch interview dated March 24, 2025, Ogle accused his opponent of running a "defamatory and misleading campaign," claiming:
“Unfortunately, my opponent and his supporters have launched one of the most defamatory and misleading campaigns that Frankfort voters have ever encountered. This is not the way we elect leaders in our community.”
Ozinga, in turn, responded slamming Ogle’s response as blatant gaslighting.
“Ogle thinks ‘I can treat everybody else terribly and make up lies,’” Ozinga said. “But ultimately this is just the ultimate gaslighting.”
“The first debate I saw this come out in was, ironically, with Ogle in 2017,” says Petrow, Ogle’s history of dishonesty and smear tactics, “he was running for Trustee, after his appointment to Trustee, and attacking Sam Giordano repeatedly.”
“We should all hold ourselves to a higher standard,” states Petrow in response to Ogle’s many years of deceptive and vicious political attacks.

Clavio’s Testimony: Ogle’s Long History of Dirty Campaigning

The current mayor's pattern of political deceit stretches back years, as evidenced by former mayoral candidate John Clavio, who was the target of Ogle’s vicious smear tactics during the 2021 election. In a Facebook post dated March 26, 2025, Ozinga shared Clavio’s recollection of Ogle’s dirty tricks:
“Certainly Mr. Ogle would know about defamatory and misleading campaigning. As he and ‘his supporters’ without a doubt launched THE MOST defamatory and misleading campaign in the history of Frankfort.”
Clavio detailed how, during his campaign, Ogle and his allies targeted his family and personal life in despicable ways.
“Four years ago this week, the phone rang very early in the morning with the news that my mother-in-law had passed away during the night. That same day, the postal service delivered to the residents of Frankfort, misleading and embellished flyers about my profession. An area that per the oath of campaigning is off-limits.”
Ogle and his backers didn’t stop at cheap mailers. They allegedly harassed Clavio and his family, spreading lies and engaging in intimidation tactics.
“During the campaign and for even months afterwards, we had to endure "supporters" filming our house from the trail, riding by our house throwing debris in the front yard, fake facebook posts making false aspersions and accusations, signs posted in direct neighbors yards without permission, lies about which village employee I would fire first and how much I was in favor or video gaming (not my words, those of "the supporters") to the point that even after the election, local businesses were told by Mr. Ogle that I promised them, when it never happened.
We were told, by others who were in politics, ‘this is just politics, get over it’.”
Clavio revealed that even after the campaign ended, Ogle’s retribution continued.
“Local businesses were told by Mr. Ogle that I promised them [something], when it never happened.”
Trustee Jessica Petrow says “I won’t soon forget the hate mail campaign against John Clavio.”

The Smear Machine Rolls On

Ogle’s campaign of deception and character assassination is not a one-time incident—it is a pattern of behavior. As Clavio pointed out, Ogle was even served with a Cease and Desist order during a previous election for his negative campaigning and personal attacks on two sitting trustees.
“I had to send our current mayor a cease-and-desist letter due to fabrications and slander,” she disclosed. “Frankfort politics have gotten uglier” under Ogle’s leadership.
Clavio summed up the situation with a powerful warning:
“Please do not mistake in this election someone presenting factual information of an elected official's political record as being defamatory and misleading. It is presenting the facts. If it sounds negative, that is because it is. They did wrong and should be called out for their actions.”

The Bottom Line: Frankfort Deserves Better

The residents of Frankfort deserve a mayor who leads with transparency, fairness, and integrity. Keith Ogle, instead, has shown himself to be a politician who will stop at nothing to cling to power—including smearing his opponents, distorting facts, and deceiving the public.
In his own words, Ogle declared:
“This is not the way we elect leaders in our community.”
Indeed, Mr. Ogle. It is not.