The two Democratic candidates for Cook County Recorder of Deeds are eager to tout their plans for improving the office. But first they have to explain to voters what the hell it is.
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The recorder’s office is primarily responsible for managing and maintaining millions of property and tax lien records and collecting the fees paid every time a new document is entered into the system. Last year, according to Moore, it collected about $67 million. About $9 million covered administrative costs and salaries for the recorder’s 188 employees; the rest went into the county’s general coffers.
Moore says he’d like another term so he can finish the work he’s started. Since he came on, the office has computerized all of its records from 1985 onward and made them searchable on the Web. By this summer the online database should go back to 1970, he says.
“We don’t discriminate against people coming to our [political] events,” Moore insists. “Some people want to come out and volunteer. Some people want to help. But nobody is forced to.”
Smith says he voted for the most recent budget—as he’s voted for Daley’s other budgets—because it included funding for a range of programs that needy residents in his ward rely on. “I’m my own man,” he says, noting that he’s voted against Daley on many issues, from the city’s smoking ban to the big-box minimum-wage ordinance.
