Warner Todd Huston of The Prairie State Report has a story on the Cook County Board of Review Race.
Charges Made in Cook County Board of Review Race Getting Serious
It may seem awfully early for full broadsides in the world of primary politics for anything other than the GOP presidential primary, but the race for a GOP seat on the Cook County Board of Review is already filled with charges, some of them seemingly quite serious.
Now, the Cook County Board of Review is a sort of arcane office in the first place. You go to the Board of Review if you think your property taxes are too high and you want a reassessment of that bill. Since it has a pretty singular focus having some good knowledge about the appeals process would seem like a must for any worthy candidate. One would also hope that any candidate offering himself for the board would be free of ties to corrupting influences as well, but, well, we are in Illinois, right?
Past tales of corruption with the Board are legendary, of course. This is why, not long ago, the Board was expanded from two members to three. But the question we need to contend with is just this: is incumbent GOP Board member Dan Patlak involved in any of this corruption? Challenger Republican candidate Sean Morrison has made pretty bold charges that he is involved in quid pro quo, pay-to-play corruption. He’s charged that Patlak is taking large sums of money from lawyers and in return giving them favorable reassessments.
This is a pretty hefty corruption charge, and if proven should really hurt first term Commissioner Patlak.