“If you want to know why some factions of the machine don’t like me, it’s because I put a stop to the pay-to-play corruption detailed here by the feds” 

Chicago — Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi condemned the corruption detailed in today’s federal sentencing of Francisco Perez, calling the revelations a stark reminder of the culture of pay-to-play bribery that thrived under the Berrios administration. 

A federal probe exposed how officials working under former Assessor Joe Berrios routinely accepted bribes from tax appeal lawyers in exchange for lower assessments, forcing homeowners to shoulder a heavier tax burden. 

“Corruption has no place in Cook County. Every time the Berrios administration took a bribe and gave out a tax break in return, taxpayers had to make up the difference,” said Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, who defeated incumbent Joe Berrios in 2018. “My team has spent the last six years cleaning up this office and making it a model for transparency. This prosecution shows exactly why we can’t let it fall back into the hands of the old guard and their special interest donors.”

Federal prosecutors revealed that Perez, a former hearings officer under Berrios, accepted thousands of dollars in Chicago Bears, White Sox, Cubs, and Blackhawks tickets from tax appeal firms in exchange for special treatment on their clients' tax assessments. The investigation details a culture of normalized corruption with significant evidence of wrongdoing by others in the Berrios administration. 

When Fritz Kaegi took office, he signed “day one” ethics reforms that:

• Ban political contributions from those who do business before the Assessor’s office

• Prohibit the use of office resources for personal gain

• Ban all gifts from those who file appeals or prepare property appraisals

“On day one, we put in place strict ethics reforms to make the system fair and prevent high-ranking officials from enriching themselves. If you want to know why some factions of the machine don’t like me, it’s because I put a stop to the pay-to-play corruption detailed here by the feds,” said Kaegi. 

In addition to day one ethics reforms, the office has anonymized appeals to prevent favoritism, requires multiple layers of approval for significant reductions, moved to a digital platform that tracks all changes, and established an appeal oversight unit that acts as a watchdog against corruption. The Kaegi administration has also ended the practice of nepotism in hiring.