Entries associated with the tag "Brendan Houlihan":

Patrick Botterman was one of a kind in Cook County Democratic politics -- a well-connected Democratic operative who had the guts to take on house speaker Michael Madigan and Mayor Richard Daley and the savvy to beat them. Botterman, the Democratic committeeman of Wheeling Township, died yesterday of a massive heart attack. He was 44 years old.

In 2006, he engineered Brendan Houlihan's successful campaign for Cook County Board of Review, over candidates backed by Madigan. And in 2007, he oversaw Scott Wauguespack's upset of 32nd Ward alderman Ted Matlack, who was backed by Daley and virtually every elected official on the north side.

I've interviewed Botterman enough over the years to know he didn't care if the big boys had it in for him -- in fact, he relished the fight.

There's a widespread cynicism about politics around here that undercuts the effectiveness of progressives or reformers. It says you can't beat the machine, so why even bother to try?

If there were more politicians like Botterman maybe there'd be less corruption infecting our our city and state government.

The first time I saw Brendan Houlihan (PDF) he was looking like a lamb lost among the wolves.

A rookie politician from the southwest suburbs, he was sitting in a downtown Cook County election board hearing room, fighting to stay on the ballot as a candidate for Cook County Board of Review, the three-person body that oversees property tax appeals. This was back in January 2006.

His opponent, Republican incumbent Maureen Murphy, had challenged the validity of his nomination petitions. Word had it that behind the scenes no less than Democratic Party chair and house speaker Michael Madigan was working for Murphy. Madigan's spokesman denied it, but one thing was certain: no major Democratic leaders from the southwest side were helping Houlihan, despite his coming from a political family (his father was a state rep from the far-south suburbs). With the exception of support from maverick Wheeling Township Democratic committeeman Patrick Botterman, Houlihan was on his own.

Eventually Murphy managed to find enough flaws in Houlihan's petitions to bounce him from the ballot. But Houlihan wasn't done yet. Since there were no other Democrats on the ballot, state law permitted the Democratic committeemen from his district to pick a nominee for the office.

The southwest-side Democrats got behind Bloom Township committeeman Terry Matthews. But Botterman stitched together enough support from north- and northwest-suburban committeeman to push Houlihan over the top, and he went on to defeat Murphy in November's general election.

On June 26 Houlihan held his first big fund-raiser since taking office. And guess who was the honorary host chairman? No, not Madigan -- that would have been too much irony even for Chicago. It was no less than Cook County Board commissioner and 11th Ward Democratic committeeman John Daley, the mayor's brother.

Houlihan didn't return calls for comment. As Botterman explained, Daley, like the mayor, was pretty much neutral in Houlihan's campaign. But Botterman says he's not surprised that Daley signed on after Houlihan won. "You know how it goes," he says. If they can't beat you at the polls, they welcome you into the club.

"Everybody loves a winner," Botterman says.

Thomas Jaconetty is a man who wears two hats. He's an election-law attorney, routinely called upon by Democratic incumbents to use his mastery of the election code to defend them agianst nominating-petition challenges or knock independents off the ballot. And since 1989 he's also been deputy chief commissioner of the Cook County Board of Review, the three-person body that oversees property tax appeals.

His election-law business remains steady, as evidenced by his presence at the County Building on Monday, December 11, where he accompanied one of his chief clients, 45th Ward alderman Patrick Levar, as he filed his nominating petitions for February's election. But his position at the board took a blow earlier in the month, when he was dumped as deputy chief commissioner. Greg Hinz at Crain's Chicago Business reports that Jaconetty was the victim of a power struggle that had newly elected commissioner Brendhan Houlihan (no relation to Cook County assessor James Houlihan) teaming up with incumbent commissioner Larry Rogers Jr. against commissioner Joseph Berrios to replace Berrios's pal Jaconetty with Rogers's chief of staff, Scott Guetzow.

Apparently Jaconetty landed on his feet. While watching Levar file his petitions, he told me that he was now on Berrios's staff and had no grudges against Rogers, Guetzow, or Houlihan. As long as Berrios is at the board, Jaconetty will be too. Their alliance goes back to the 70s, when they were young precinct captains in alderman Thomas Keane's legendary 31st Ward Democratic organization.

For property tax payers it's a tempest in a teapot. No matter who's in charge, our property tax system remains an unfair, seemingly arbitrary mass of contradictions. The well connected get big breaks; the rest of us suckers don't. Under the new regime, look for the Board of Review to continue doling out small breaks to the little guys smart enough to hire the right lawyers. As the commissioners see it, if they give enough little breaks to enough little people, we'll remember them with fondness come election time.