Cook County’s watchdog found this week that Board of Review commissioner Samantha Steele made “an offer of employment” to her opponent in the March primary election, concluding she misled the public and “made blatantly false statements.”
For discipline, Cook County Inspector General Tirrell Paxton recommended Steele retake the Board of Review’s ethics seminar.
Last fall, Steele’s opponent in the Democratic primary, Liz Nicholson, complained that Steele offered her a job in the property tax appeal office via two intermediaries, suggesting it was an attempt to get her to drop out of the race. Nicholson filed a complaint with Paxton’s office and notified the county’s Democratic party.
Nicholson ended up winning the party’s endorsement and went on to beat Steele in the primary while the complaint was being investigated.
In a four-page response to the IG’s findings, Steele continued to “categorically and unequivocally deny the core allegation” that she offered Nicholson a job “in exchange for dropping out of the election.”
“I did not whisper any proposal of employment as a quid pro quo for withdrawing from the race,” nor did she ask the unnamed intermediary “to reach out to (Nicholson) on my behalf or present any employment opportunity as an inducement to exit the primary.”
The account given by that intermediary “reflects a misinterpretation or mischaracterization of the discussion,” Steele wrote, going on to accuse Paxton of amplifying “attacks on my character and professionalism by political colleagues and opponents” via “disproportionate, aggressive and at times politically inflected scrutiny that is not applied equally to all public officials.”
When the allegation went public in December 2025, Steele told reporters she would never offer Nicholson a job in the first place because she wasn’t qualified. Nicholson’s complaint, Steele claimed, was designed to “distract from the real issues in the race.”
The IG’s investigation included an interview with one of the intermediaries, their phone records and a voice message, statements Steele made to the media, and a review of her phone records. Steele did not reply or show up to an interview with the inspector — a violation of the county’s ethics code that requires participation in IG investigations.
Neither the IG’s report nor Steele’s response explained what was on that voice message or the content of the conversations with those other individuals.
In her written response, Steele said she declined the requested in-person interview because of her “legitimate concerns about the scope and conduct of OIIG investigations involving me,” and that the office didn’t propose any different dates, a virtual option, written process or other accommodation.
Steele wrote that she lost trust in OIIG, citing another investigation involving her outside assessment services business, Leonor Group, that was “inappropriate and aggressive” because the office contacted her clients, potentially interfering with her contract, “reputational harm, and potential damage to my livelihood and professional standing.”
The OIIG has issued prior findings involving Steele’s hiring and publicly disclosing what the OIIG said were confidential details involving the assessment of the Bears’ proposed Arlington Heights stadium. At the time of the primary, Steele was also fighting a DUI charge from 2024, which she was ultimately acquitted of. Steele later said her prosecution was “over the top” and her comments to police that night were also taken out of context.
