Lawmaker proposes Cook Co. property 'Bill of Rights'

Saying he is out to restore "the integrity of the state" and take on those who are "afraid" of House Speaker Michael Madigan, House Minority Leader Tom Cross Tuesday presented a package of bills he called the Cook County Property Owners' Bill of Rights and aimed specifically at undercutting the power of Democratic leaders Madigan and Joseph Berrios.

The bills would bar contributions to the Cook assessor or any commissioner on the Board of Review or the County Board by anyone with a pending assessment appeal, and also would ban those county officials from working as registered lobbyists on behalf of other entities.

The proposals would cut at the heart of what many have said is an overly cozy relationship between state Democratic leader Madigan and Berrios, head of the Cook County Democratic Party and a commissioner on the Board of Review ruling on assessment appeals.

"Speaker Madigan does this kind of work?" Cross, an Oswego Republican, asked facetiously at a news conference at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago. Then he launched into a description of how Madigan's law firm argues appeals before Berrios on the Board of Review, while Berrios lobbies before Madigan on behalf of clients like the electronic gaming industry downstate.

"These are all facts," Cross said. "I'm not editorializing. I'm not spinning."

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown questioned the timing of the proposals - in midsummer, after the regular legislative session has ended, and three months before the general election.

"If it walks like a duck and it talks like a duck, it must be a political stunt," Brown said, adding that newspaper investigations have turned up no evidence of preferential treatment for Madigan's clients.

Cross said reforms, including sunshine initiatives making the process more "fair, open and transparent" online, are needed to restore "the integrity of the state" and public confidence in government.

"As we talk in this state about pay to play and appearances of conflicts of interest," Cross said, "it's appropriate that we address this issue.

"I would suggest we haven't addressed it because people are afraid of the fact that (Madigan) is the most powerful Democrat in the state of Illinois," he added. "Let's just call it what it is. And who wants to take on the speaker?"

The question is whether the speaker will take up the bills.

"If Speaker Madigan wants to be part of cleaning up government, then this is something he needs to put before the Illinois General Assembly for a vote," Cross said, "regardless of the fact that he's involved in this very process."

Brown would not comment on whether Madigan would be likely to take up the bills.

Berrios did not return a call for comment, although he has already stated that he would give up his lobbying efforts if elected assessor in November, as he's trying to move up to replace the retiring James Houlihan.

Yet his independent opponent, Democratic Chicago County Board Commissioner Forrest Claypool, immediately backed the bills, calling them "strong ideas."

"They take dead aim at the outrageous conflicts of interest that raise our taxes and undermine the integrity of our property-assessment system," Claypool added. "As assessor, I will implement transparency initiatives on the office website so that citizens can see clearly how the process is operating, and for whom. I will also travel to Springfield to advocate for passage of these reforms so that voters in Cook County can have their faith in government restored."

Evanston Republican Sharon Strobeck-Eckersall and Chicago's Robert Grota of the Green Party are the other candidates in the assessor race.

Cross said his proposed bills - including measures calling on the assessor's office and the Board of Review to make the appeal process more open online and make it possible to search not just by properties, but by the law firms arguing the appeals - were arrived at with help from the Better Government Association. "These are not just our ideas," he said.

He also said he expected to garner bipartisan support, despite Madigan's expected opposition. "If people are allowed to vote on their own," Cross said, "then I think they're going to vote yes.

"If I were a legislator in Cook County," he added, "I'd think it would be very, very difficult to vote no on this package."