Patlak to run for Cook Board of Review

Proclaiming he wants to be the "canary in the coal mine" as a Republican on the Cook County Board of Review, Wheeling's Dan Patlak has announced he's running for the First District commissioner's seat now held by Brendan Houlihan.

In a statement sent to supporters and posted on his campaign Web site, the Wheeling Township assessor pointed to how the Cook County government is controlled by Democrats, with the assessor's office and the Board of Review overseeing its business all Democratic as well. He concludes, "This one-party control is a recipe for abuse."

Patlak is out to avenge Maureen Murphy, whom he worked under from 1999 through 2006 as a property assessment appeal analyst when she was First District commissioner, until Houlihan, a southwest suburban Democrat, beat her in the general election. Patlak also served as Murphy's public information officer.

He began his political career as an anti-tax activist in the early '90s and also was press secretary for Al Salvi on his unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate. Patlak has a background of more than 20 years in local real estate.

The Board of Review's First District encircles the other two districts, centered in Chicago, and stretches from Lake Michigan in the northern suburbs all the way around to the Indiana border in the southern suburbs.