* ILGOP…

Days ago, the Chicago Tribune published a bombshell three-part report exposing how bosses of the Chicago political machine - Mike Madigan, John Cullerton, Joe Berrios and others involved in the property tax appeals business – have manufactured a property tax system that targets the poor and puts millions in their own pockets.

Today, the Illinois Republican Party is releasing a social media infographic highlighting how Chicago Machine insiders game the system to benefit themselves at the expense of low- and middle-income homeowners in Cook County.

Links to ILGOP social media posts are HERE and HERE.

The insiders:

Mike Madigan - longtime House Speaker and Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, Madigan controls all legislation in the Illinois House, particularly legislation affecting Illinois’ property tax system. Madigan also moonlights as one of Chicago’s top property tax appeals attorney and makes “over a million dollars” from Cook County’s rigged property tax system “in a good year.”

John Cullerton - one of Madigan’s former top lieutenants in the Illinois House and now President of the Illinois Senate, Cullerton, like Madigan, also controls legislation in the Senate, including bills concerning property taxes, and moonlights as a property tax appeals attorney.

Joe Berrios - Cook County Assessor, Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party and longtime Madigan ally, Berrios often mixes official business with politics, taking in over $2.5 million in campaign contributions since 2009 from property tax appeals attorneys whose appeals are at his mercy. Contributions from property tax appeals attorney amount to over half of Berrios’ total campaign cash.

Chris Kennedy - millionaire, inheritor of the Kennedy family fortune and now Democrat candidate for governor, Kennedy has hired Madigan & Getzendanner, Mike Madigan’s law firm, to appeal property taxes for the previously-Kennedy family-owned Chicago Merchandise Mart. Like Pritzker, Kennedy recently received a massive property tax break from an appeal on a downtown Chicago development spearheaded by Kennedy and his business associates.

J.B. Pritzker - billionaire, inheritor of the Hyatt family fortune and Mike Madigan’s preferred candidate for governor, Pritzker has been bankrolling and profiting from the Chicago Machine for decades. The Chicago Sun-Times recently revealed that Joe Berrios awarded J.B. Pritzker a $230,000 break on his property taxes for a multi-million dollar mansion Pritzker claimed was “uninhabitable.” The attorneys who oversaw Pritzker’s appeal have contributed over $100,000 to Berrios’ political organizations.

* The infographic…

…Adding… Cullerton’s spokesman says his boss hasn’t done any property tax appeals work in “many years.”

…Adding More… Heh…

…Adding Still More… Like Cullerton, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin works at a law firm that does property tax work. Click here.