The umbrella organization for Chicago unions is backing Pat Hynes for Cook County assessor against incumbent Fritz Kaegi in the March Democratic primary and taking sides in various contested County Board races.
The Chicago Federation of Labor announced its endorsement of Hynes and other Cook County candidates in a Wednesday morning release, saying the Lyons Township assessor and former employee of the assessor’s office “knows how to get the job done.”
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Hynes is also a volunteer Western Springs firefighter and the nephew of former county assessor Thomas Hynes and worked in the county assessor’s office between 1998 and 2021, when he quit at the tail end of Kaegi’s first term.
The CFL endorsed Kaegi’s opponents in the 2018 and 2022 races too.
“While we’ve endorsed in the past in the assessor’s race, I do feel like we are at an important moment in this election where we have a candidate who has done the actual job,” CFL President Bob Reiter told the Tribune, pointing at Kaegi’s “unpredictable and volatile” assessments as evidence of a need for change.
After backing Kaegi last cycle, the Cook County Democratic Party also sided with Hynes earlier this year. Both the CFL and party endorsement typically come with foot soldiers and fundraising or joint mail pieces.
Kaegi unveiled endorsements Wednesday from U.S. Reps. Delia Ramirez and Danny Davis. “We have a broad coalition supporting us across Cook County, from grassroots leaders to Congressional representatives to homeowners who want an assessor working for them,” Kaegi said in a release.
Kaegi has largely self-funded his previous runs and is less dependent on party or union support to pay for ads or mail.
Reiter told the Tribune the race is a “priority” for labor “because it’s hitting people in their pocketbook and in the halls of government … you’re seeing people’s assessments triple in neighborhoods across the city’s South and West Side and that plugs into the property tax levy and creates an incredible burden for working-class people in the city.”
Kaegi has said recent Chicago bill spikes were driven by successful appeals by big commercial building owners downtown at the county’s three-member appeals body, the Board of Review. Businesses say Kaegi has pegged their values too high and they are still suffering from widespread vacancies, lowered rents and plunging sales prices. An independent study comparing assessments and sales prices is due later this month, offering a rare fact check of both sides’ claims.
Kaegi, meanwhile, has rolled out his first TV ad on cable, YouTube and Meta. The ad shows a homeowner and a “Big Developer” sitting on opposite sides of a seesaw. Kaegi says “big developers rigged the appeals process, getting tax cuts they don’t deserve and shifting the burden onto middle-class families … I’m working to level the playing field by making developers pay what they owe so we can lower taxes for the middle class.”
The CFL voted to stay neutral in the other property tax-related elections for the Board of Review. Both incumbent Democrats up for reelection, Samantha Steele and George Cardenas, have challengers. Cardenas faces Juanita Irizarry, former executive director of the advocacy group Friends of the Parks.
Steele faces Liz Nicholson, a campaign and fundraising adviser who previously held various roles in state government and also won the county party’s endorsement. Steele continues to fight a DUI charge from last year and is due in court next month.
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“The consensus was that the time isn’t right to weigh in,” on the Steele-Nicholson race, Reiter said. The federation held off on Cardenas’ race because of a pending petition challenge. He said the group might endorse before March.
In open County Board races, the CFL backed Patricia Joan “Trish” Murphy in the 6th District. Current Commissioner Donna Miller is running for the congressional seat being vacated by Robin Kelly.
In the 12th District seat left empty with the coming exit of Commissioner Bridget Degnen, the CFL endorsed Liz Granato. She is the current chief of the county’s Bureau of Asset Management and married to state Sen. Ram Villivalam.
In the 17th District, where Republican Commissioner Sean Morrison announced he would not seek reelection, the CFL endorsed Elyse Hoffenberg, the Lyons Township clerk.
In the 16th District, the CFL also went against the incumbent, Democrat Frank Aguilar, instead backing Miranda Hernandez. A Cicero native and legislative deputy for State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, Hernandez worked for various congressional offices, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and the Department of Justice. She is the daughter of state Rep. Lisa Hernandez.
Reiter said Hernandez was “an up-and-comer” and “the right fit for that district,” but “that takes nothing away from Frank and his history as a union member and an advocate.”