Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi survived a primary challenge from an opponent who said his higher commercial valuations were driving business away from Chicago, winning the Democratic nomination
With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Kaegi had garnered more than 56 percent of the vote, while Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Kari Steele had about 44 percent, according to the Cook County clerk’s website. He declared victory Tuesday night, multiple news outlets reported.
“The voters of Cook County have spoken,” Kaegi wrote in a statement. “Reform was on the ballot and voters have made it clear they want to continue moving forward in repairing our property tax system.”
Kaegi ran an anti-corruption campaign in 2018, after his predecessor, Joseph Berrios, was ousted due, in part, to his resistance to releasing assessment data. Kaegi sought to undo Berrios’ office’s overestimation of single-family homes in lower-income neighborhoods by shifting more of the county’s property tax burden onto commercial players.
That rankled big landlords, investors and appeals attorneys, many of whom backed Steele, along with groups including the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago and construction worker trade unions. Steele noted problems with Kaegi’s administration, including issues with a technological upgrade and a likely monthslong delay in the delivery of the next property tax bill.
Kaegi’s office has stumbled over fulfilling open records requests and come under fire for Covid tax breaks for wealthy neighborhoods.
Steele is married to Maze Jackson, a lobbyist for Onni Group, one of the most active developers in Chicago during the past 10 years. Kaegi’s campaign sought to highlight the potential conflict of interest, while Steele said Jackson wouldn’t lobby the assessor’s office and would recuse herself from anything that appeared to be a conflict of interest.
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[Chicago Tribune] – Rachel Herzog