Court Orders Votes For Andrea Raila For Assessor To Be Counted

CHICAGO — An Illinois appellate court ruled this week that votes for Andrea Raila in the race for Cook County Assessor will count, overturning a ruling from a Cook County judge last month that upheld the county electoral board's decision to disqualify her from the ballot, even as her name remained on the Democratic primary ballot.

After Wednesday's order from a three-judge panel of the 1st District Illinois Appellate Court, Cook County officials said they would remove notices at polling places that said that votes for Raila would not count.

Raila is a former property tax appeal review and founded her own tax appeal consulting and public policy firm. She is facing the head of the county Democratic Party in incumbent Joe Berrios, and the Oak Park financial manager Fritz Kaegi.

Raila's lawyer demanded an apology from Kaegi, the clerk's office and the objectors. He also left open the possibility of calling for a special election.

The judges' order criticized the briefings presented by both sides in the case. Raila's was "argumentative and incomplete," while the objectors to her candidacy were "greatly lacking" in evidence to support their "conclusory arguments."

The court found 7,800 valid signatures for Raila had been wrongfully thrown out and the hearing officer "abused his discretion" by blocking testimony from Douglas Martin, a circulator for the Raila campaign whose improper notarization of petitions led to the finding of a "pattern of fraud" and the discounting of signatures not connected to his conduct.

Instead of allowing him to testify, the hearing officer only relied on affidavits that were preprinted with blank spaces for Martin to write his name and other details. They were prepared by investigators working for the objectors to Raila's candidacy, themselves affiliated with the Kaegi campaign.

Martin formerly worked for the Kaegi campaign and was allegedly terminated for low quality and poor petition circulating efforts. In several conflicting statements he first said he falsely signed pages of signatures as the circulator and he "saw many other people who were paid to turn in sheets without a notary signature or stamp," before reversing his story in a third affidavit.

The Kaegi campaign said it was considering all legal options. It could appeal the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court. A statement from Kaegi's campaign manager said Raila “personally engaged in an egregious pattern of ballot petition signature fraud." It said the reversal would set a dangerous precedent that will encourage people to engage in fraud "with no fear of repercussion" in future campaigns.

Close to 100,000 ballots have already been cast, and although the notices at polling places telling voters Raila has been disqualified have been removed, there's no way to unsend the tens of thousands of mail-in ballots that have already been dispatched carrying

Berrios, who has not commented on the case, is widely seen to benefit from the presence of a third candidate, even one that is sharply critical of his office.

The assessor since 2010, Berrios has faced mounting criticism and demands for reform after his office has been repeatedly demonstrated to effectively transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from poorer homeowners to cover the tax bills of the wealthiest property owners in a system that favors politically-connected property tax appeal attorneys.

» Read more from the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times

Complete March 14, 2018 order from the First District Appellate Court of Illinois in Raila v. The Cook County Officers Electoral Boards (1-18-0400):

Related:

• Alleging a "pattern of fraud," a hearing officer recommended a third candidate be tossed off the ballot
  
• Berrios fights ethics rules restricting him from taking cash from property tax lawyers
  
• "Regressive" Cook County property tax system shifts wealth to rich at poor's expensive, independent study finds.