From the Chicago Tribune:

Board of Review: Four years ago we swallowed hard and endorsed Democrat Brendan Houlihan to be the third Democrat on this, um, three-member property tax appeals board. We thought Houlihan, who occupies the so-called suburban seat, and incumbent Larry Rogers Jr. would isolate ethics-challenged incumbent Joe Berrios and shutter the cottage industry in which attorneys make fat campaign contributions to board members — and then win assessment reductions for their big commercial clients.

Reform hasn’t happened. Intramural tiffs and Berrios’ manipulation of the bureaucracy instead have prevailed. Clouted insiders still rule. In his questionnaire response to the Tribune, Houlihan laments that his board has “a paper-intensive process” and says he has a plan to modernize the tax review process “to ensure complete transparency, improve efficiency and cut waste.” Mr. Houlihan, you’ve had four years. Whom do you blame for not having that new system up and running right now? The fact that it isn’t is one reason why this board got so bogged down in the appeals process this year. That delay could wind up forcing local governments, or rather their taxpayers, to borrow money to pay basic expenses. Houlihan and Rogers — we really did have high hopes — should be ashamed that Berrios still has such sway.

The Tribune instead endorses Republican Dan Patlak, the Wheeling Township assessor who previously spent nearly eight years as an appeals analyst at the Board of Review. Patlak has so many ideas for economizing on county operations that he thinks the County Board can repeal the remainder of the sales tax increase — plus another three-fourths of a percentage point. Mostly we hope Patlak completes the modernization that Houlihan promised in 2006 — yet promises again in 2010.