State Representative of the 3rd District, 1983 – 1988
Commissioner, Cook County Board of Review, 1988 – Present
31st Ward Democratic Committeeman, 1986 – 1988; 1992 - Present
Chairman, Cook County Democratic Party, February 2007 to Present

There is always more work to be done—more innovations and improvements to be made. The Board has just initiated a new computer program. It will greatly accelerate the processing of residential appeals and dramatically reduce the time to complete residential defense documentation to the Illinois State Property Tax Appeal Board (PTAB). My first initiative is to fine-tune and improve this new program as staff and analysts review its efficiency and suggest modifications and refinements.

Next, I will spearhead an effort with my fellow Commissioners to tap into the ever-growing number of community-based groups to expand our Outreach Program. We want to be able to present tax appeal seminars and forums to every block-club, business, commercial, community, condominium association, fraternal, neighborhood, political, social, religious, and veterans group that wants to learn how the Board of Review can help its members obtain fair and equitable assessments. I want to continue our already highly successful efforts to empower the average homeowner to do what the largest and most valuable of all property owners and corporations do—recognize that the real estate tax bill is an important component in everyone’s economic and financial planning.

Finally, I intend to encourage the Illinois General Assembly to revisit the various exemptions that are now in place, and administered by the Assessor’s Office, to determine where improvements can be made so that senior citizens and persons of fixed and moderate income are not hampered by artificially low income thresholds (such as the inclusion of occasional or sporadic income of college students and children working to support their education) that result in denying property tax relief to those who need it the most.

Ever since Abraham Lincoln won his tax assessment appeal in the Illinois Supreme Court in State of Illinois v. Illinois Central Railroad (1861), Illinois reviewing courts have consistently reiterated a basic principle that for income-producing property, it is its “income-generating potential” that provides the best measure of “fair cash value” for property taxation purposes. That seminal case, and the fifteen or twenty which have followed, reflect the standard appraisal theory that “no prudent investor would neglect to look at the income the property yields”. The consensus of learned opinion, including the Appraisal Foundation and the International Association of Assessing Officers, underscores the importance of the basic economic principle that an investor must consider “the present value of all expected future net earnings from an investment property after risk and the timing of cash flows are considered”. The Income Approach to valuation reflects very practical and objective concerns that relate directly to the economic vitality of investment real estate. For downtown properties, the Assessor’s office has testified in court and discusses in his website power point presentation that the income model of valuation is preferred as “the most accurate valuation method”. In so doing, he has mirrored the approach taken by almost all major assessment jurisdictions. It is the approach that the Board of Review, undervaluation appellants such as the City of Chicago and the Chicago Board of Education, and expert fee appraisers typically employ and, in most cases, favor.

There is also a significant amount of appellate authority pointing to the importance of the Sales Comparison Approach to value. Recent sales do help form a basis for valuation and provide significant data concerning the behavior of market participants. Sales assist in setting benchmarks and ranges of value and offer a valuable insight into market behavior. Yet, sales are no more or less "objective" than other forms of pertinent data.

Nevertheless, review of sales involving major downtown buildings in a complex and sophisticated market such as Chicago and Cook County pose unique and difficult challenges. Care must be taken to understand the motivation of the buyers and sellers. Undue influence and stimulus must be considered because those elements are at the heart of the judicial definitions of "fair market" and "fair cash" value. Non-real estate components of raw, unadjusted transaction sales data must be identified, isolated, and extracted (in whole or in part, depending upon applicable appraisal theory) to determine the underlying market value. These factors include business enterprise value or "business acumen"; income from tourist attractions, restaurants, antenna farms, and the like; and purely speculative investment or syndication values. In addition, contract and market rents must be compared, lease renewals and turnovers analyzed, vacancy and occupancy trends studied, and the general growth or decline of the local and national economy evaluated in order to place "sales" into proper perspective. The individual behavior and motivation of market participants has a significant impact on the relevance of such complex sales. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), foreign governments and pension funds, foreign nationals stimulated by disadvantageous tax consequences, buyers of "trophy" and so-called "government center" properties, and local purchasers engaged in IRS 1031 exchanges all may have motivations well beyond the "fair cash value" of a property. Sophisticated appraisal and assessment theory require that these factors must be carefully considered. As the Assessor again notes in his Loop power-point website presentation, "Sale prices reflect building specific circumstances that may or may not reflect the market."

Both of Income and the Sales Comparison approaches to valuation require skill, judgment, and expertise to arrive at fair and just results. Neither can be considered “objective” or “subjective”. Valuation necessarily is a reasoned and data-based opinion. Finally, the constitutional principle of “uniformity of assessments” is another factor that must be applied to make sure that properties of truly similar values, quality, and the like ultimately have similar property tax valuations. All assessment professionals must understand and apply these principles.

The Cook County Board of Review is a quasi-judicial and independent appellate body. It must consider all of the evidence presented to it, together with its own resources and data concerning the market, to determine assessments as “justice shall require”. However, it must operate within, and is necessarily constrained by, learned professional appraisal literature, the directives of the Illinois Property Tax Code, and the decisions of the Supreme and Appellate Courts of this State, all of which have established a variety of guiding legal and valuation principles