North Cook News

Rep. Robert Martwick (D-Jefferson Park) stepped on some toes in expensive shoes recently, and now he has to step back, the Illinois GOP suggests in a press release.

Martwick introduced House Bill 2517 earlier in the current legislative session in an effort to reduce vacancy fraud. The bill would allow taxing bodies to file complaints about property owners when they believe those owners have applied for vacancy relief despite not working to sell, lease or alter their properties.

The Illinois GOP contends that Martwick pulled support for his own bill because billionaire J.B. Pritzker, a leading contender for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, did just that with a mansion he bought next door to his Chicago home. 

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Pritzker has received $230,000 in property tax relief from appeals that included, among other justifications, the mansion's vacant status.

Martwick announced that he would not support the bill after House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) signed onto it.

“Leader Durkin’s move smacks of political gamesmanship, and I have to believe it is being driven by the governor’s office in light of recent media reports on the governor’s race,” said Martwick. “There is no place for such political games on an important issue like this.”

The Illinois GOP responded: "Only a Madigan-Pritzker politician would attack bipartisanship."