GOP says Cook board hopeful Maher should release license application

Cook County Republicans are pressing Democratic county board candidate Patrick Maher to release a copy of a state license application to show how he answered a question about whether he'd ever been charged with a crime.

The issue arose after Maher, an Orland Park resident running in county board District 17, answered a Daily Herald survey question about any past charges by indicating he had pleaded guilty in 1993 to a misdemeanor charge resulting from a fight over a girl while he was a student at Illinois State University. That contradicted earlier answers his campaign had given on surveys from two other newspapers, which indicated he had no criminal record.

Maher blames the contradiction on a mistake by a campaign staffer on the first two surveys.

But the county Republican Party wants a copy of Maher's 2001 application for a real estate appraiser license to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

The party sent a letter to agency director Brent Adams asking for a copy of Maher's application.

However, the agency said it does not release applications due to confidentiality rules.

State records show Maher became a certified general real estate appraiser on April 11, 2001, for which he would have had to fully disclose his educational and criminal background. That license expires on Sept. 30, 2011.

Maher's Republican opponent, incumbent Liz Gorman of Orland Park, said it's a fair question to ask how he answered any related questions on the license application.

"It's a fairly consistent and fair question to ask," she said. "He needs to show the original application form from nine years ago, nothing that can be changed online."

Maher, meanwhile, said Gorman has led the charge on a smear campaign against him to divert attention from the real issues, such as increased property taxes.

"I have a clean record," Maher said. "This accusation is completely fabricated. She is clearly part of the problem in Cook County government. What is she going to look at next, my high school transcripts?"

Maher said he does not have a copy of the original application form he filed to get his appraiser's license.

"There is no law that says I have to submit it," he said. "I'm not going to explain myself about something that's so crazy."

If state officials learned that Maher lied on his application form, he would face immediate disciplinary action that could range from a reprimand to a revocation, said Susan Hofer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

However, "Patrick Maher's license has never been disciplined, and that's updated every 24 hours," she said.

All original application information is also confidential by law and cannot be produced even through a Freedom of Information Act request, Hofer added.

Maher and Gorman are vying to represent District 17, which stretches from Wheeling and Des Plaines on the north to Orland Park on the south. A Green Party candidate from Orland Park, Mathew Ogean, is also on the ballot.