Races for Cook County Assessor, Board President, and Board of Review Combine for $3.6 Million Fundraising

Four County Board Seats with Competitive Fundraising

CHICAGO, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Over two dozen Cook County offices are on the ballot this fall, but only a handful have two well-funded candidates battling for votes on Tuesday.  Forest Claypool, independent candidate for Cook County Assessor, leads all Cook County candidates in fundraising with $1.5 million amassed for the General Election.

Races for Board President and Board of Review, along with a small number of county board seats, also show significant fundraising by competing candidates.

In the race for County Board President, the Democrats nominated Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle, who has out-raised her opponents by almost 32:1.  Preckwinkle reports $1 million in resources for the General.  Republican Roger Keats trails with $30,800 and Green nominee Tom Tresser reports $3,600.  Preckwinkle's top donors include affiliates of public employee union SEIU at $235,700, the Illinois Education Association at $100,000, and Teamsters affiliates at $50,000.

In the closely-covered race for Cook County Assessor, Democrat Joe Berrios reports $852,400 compared with Democrat-turned-Independent Forest Claypool's $1,520,300.

Other Cook County races are sleepier.  Democratic candidates for  Treasurer and Sheriff are running against unfunded opponents while County Clerk David Orr has $467,200 against Republican Angel Garcia's $6,600.

For the Board of Review, which considers property tax appeals, the only seat on the ballot is the 1st District, where first-term Democrat Brendan Houlihan is running against Republican Dan Patlak.  Houlihan holds a fundraising lead which, while not as comfortable as Orr's or Preckwinkle's, is still better than 4:1.  Houlihan reports $349,400 to Patlak's $87,200.  Houlihan's biggest donors include the Illinois Education Association at $15,000, and the Prairie Political Committee, a federal PAC affiliated with Sen. Richard Durbin, and the Illinois Laborers, both at $5,000.  Patlak shows support from Jack Roeser's Republican Renaissance at $20,000 and several north-shore residents.

For information on races for seats on the county board and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, please see the fuller release at http://www.ilcampaign.org/cook-county-ascessor-race-contributions-election.

Contact: David Morrison, 312-335-1767

SOURCE Illinois Campaign for Political Reform