Voters in District 2 have a difficult decision in the contest between the experienced but troubled incumbent Samantha Steele and challenger Elizabeth “Liz” Nicholson, a professional political fundraiser backed by the Cook County Democratic Party whose lack of experience in this field may perpetuate an unfair system.
The Cook County Board of Review, which is divided into three geographic districts, gives taxpayers an opportunity to appeal their property assessments. One of the biggest challenges facing the property tax process in Cook County is that the board and the assessor are using two different appraisal methods. This job cannot be done for the benefit of taxpayers if this fundamental disparity exists, and the problem must be resolved.
We’ve long been concerned that the Board of Review is too vulnerable to being influenced by contributions from property tax appeal attorneys and others who benefit from its role in reducing taxes on commercial properties. The practice of lawyers giving money to politicians responsible for their tax appeal cases is legal in Illinois, though it shouldn’t be. It must stop if taxpayers who don’t “pay to play” are ever going to get a fair shake.
Steele doesn’t take money from the property tax appeal industry, which notably sets her apart from her fellow incumbents on the three-member board, George Cardenas and Larry Rogers.
Right now, the board and the assessor, Fritz Kaegi, have an adversarial relationship. The members of the board themselves don’t get along, either. Both Steele and Cardenas told us they don’t speak to each other, an indication of just how dysfunctional this important office has become. That has to change, too.
Steele has other problems that raise serious concerns about the public trust.
She is contesting charges that she was driving drunk when she crashed a car in November 2024. She gave the police officers investigating the wreck a hard time, according to body-camera footage, initially refusing to provide her driver’s license, exit her damaged vehicle or take a sobriety test.
She also told them, “I’m an elected official,” evidently trying to persuade the officers to treat her differently from any other DUI suspect. The body-cam footage shows the officers discussing the smell of alcohol on her breath and the presence of a half-empty wine bottle in the car.
Steele maintains she was not driving drunk, saying a medical condition caused her to lose control of the car. Her criminal case has dragged on, unresolved, and she is entitled to be presumed innocent. But given her behavior with the arresting officers, we are skeptical of her explanation.
As if that conduct doesn’t raise enough questions about her fitness, Steele has faced reprimands for allowing staff to stray from official Board of Review business while on county time.
Also, Nicholson has filed a complaint accusing Steele, through intermediaries, of offering her a six-figure job in the Board of Review office if she would drop her election challenge. Steele has denied that accusation and demanded a retraction.
Nicholson is certain to benefit from Steele’s widely publicized problems. But it is rich indeed for a candidate taking money from the lawyers whose cases she would decide to declare that Steele’s controversies “undermine confidence in an office that requires the highest ethical standards.”
We enthusiastically endorsed Steele when she ran for her current post, and while we admire her independence we cannot endorse her again until questions about her conduct are resolved.
We are choosing to make no endorsement.
District 1
Voters have a clear choice for the other Board of Review seat at play in the primary. Cardenas is facing off against the dynamic Juanita Irizarry, former executive director at Friends of the Parks, who is backed by Kaegi.
Irizarry promises to bring greater transparency and oversight by expanding the scope of inspector general reviews and enforcing strict conflict-of-interest standards. She won’t take money from tax appeal lawyers or other firms that appear before the board, she declares. And she rightly denounces the system of “backroom deals” that hurt Cook County homeowners and renters.
Cardenas is a thoughtful public servant with a long track record, but it confounds us that he can’t put aside differences and have a functional working relationship with one of his fellow board members, which we view as disqualifying.
Irizarry is endorsed.
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