As soon as Cook County Board commissioner Forrest Claypool announced that he was running as an independent for county assessor in the November general election, the war was on.
Berrios’s other opponents, Republican Sharon Strobeck-Eckersall and Green Robert Grota, are underfunded and virtually unknown, so bouncing Claypool, who’s popular on the north side and in the suburbs, is tantamount to winning.
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To foil Claypool, Berrios has brought in Thomas Jaconetty, his longtime aide, as well as the legendary Michael Kasper, who generally handles election-law cases on behalf of state Democratic Party chieftain Michael Madigan. To that formidable pair he’s added a surprising powerhouse—Rich Means, who usually works for independents and has had some classic showdowns with Jaconetty and Kasper.
Houlihan has been an advocate for home owners, pushing to raise an exemption that lowers the amount they pay in taxes relative to the owners of commercial, industrial, and large apartment properties.
Claypool didn’t run in the primary. He’s running against Berrios in a different election, the general election. But Berrios intends to apply the law anyway and see if it sticks.
It’s hard to say what Berrios’s chances of completing this Hail Mary might be. “We’re still researching it,” says Means. “But generally the argument has been you can’t get two bites of the apple. You get one bite.”
