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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.
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.
