Commissioner faces ethics violation over leaked Bears tax complaint information

Samantha Steele, Commissioner of the Cook County Board of Review

Cook County’s inspector general has recommended that a member of the county’s audit board undergo ethics training over leaking confidential information about the Chicago Bears’ property tax appeal at Arlington Park to the Daily Herald and other media outlets.

Inspector General Tirrell Paxton’s report does not mention Commissioner Samantha Steele by name, but the facts of the case match previously reported details about the internal dispute at the quasi-judicial county agency that oversees appeals of property assessments.

The Office of the Independent Inspector General found that Steele – identified only as “BOR Official A” in the report – violated the board’s ethics guidelines when she disclosed confidential information about the Bears’ pending appeal and the duty of impartiality has disclosed the state regulations Property Tax Code.

Steele declined to comment Wednesday and has not yet responded to Paxton’s recommendation that he attend ethics training.

But in March, Steele told the Daily Herald that she was “trying to increase transparency in an office that has been shrouded in secrecy and corruption for far too long” in response to the board’s lawyer admonishing her for disclosing details about the land considerations in Arlington Park. ”

Paxton pointed to three instances in which Steele violated the ethics policy by disclosing confidential information, including talk of a tentative land value agreement for the 326-acre site, which were discussed by senior analysts for Steele and fellow commissioners Larry Rogers Jr . and George Cardenas.

In February, Steele said analysts agreed the property should be valued at $138 million, but a day later Cardenas and Rogers decided to lower the value to $124.7 million.

A spokesman for Cardenas denied in March that the commissioner had agreed on the $138 million price.

The inspector general’s report also alleged that some of Steele’s comments “indicated bias” against the Bears when she suggested in the press that the high-profile property’s valuation correlated with the $197.2 million purchase price paid.

The report said Steele also commented on how the appeal would impact funding for local school districts. Those comments “reflect an interest not in fair and impartial evaluation, but rather in funding intervening school districts,” Paxton wrote.

Paxton’s investigation included interviews with Steele as well as a manager and employees in her office. Inspector general staff also reviewed internal audit committee email records, Microsoft Teams chats and media reports.

The identity of the unnamed employee in the report points to Frank Calabrese, who filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit in June against Steele and her chief of staff Dan Balanoff. Calabrese’s lawsuit alleges he was fired in retaliation for speaking to the inspector general and seeking advice from the audit committee’s attorney, Cristin Duffy.

The Bears appealed the board’s $124.7 million assessment to the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, which would result in a tax liability of $8.9 million. The team wants the value reduced to $60 million, which would reduce the bill to $1.7 million. A decision is expected early next year.

· Daily Herald staff writer Jake Griffin contributed to this report.