Berrios Files Complaint With IRS

By Kevin Robinson in News on Sep 17, 2010 3:00PM

Joe Berrios, who is running for Cook County Assessor, filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against the Better Government Association, claiming that they have misused their nonprofit status by getting involved in politics. "The BGA has crossed the line in their biased reports on the Cook County Assessor's race," Berrios said in a statement. "I believe the federal government should investigate whether Executive Director Andy Shaw and the BGA board of directors have violated the income tax law by filing a false exemption." Among the allegations that the Berrios campaign is making against the BGA is that many of the people that have made donations to the organization have also donated to the Claypool campaign, and that BGA has been issuing "one-sided reports about the Cook County assessor's race which show that the organization is attempting to persuade voters to elect Claypool, who is the candidate backed by the organization's major contributors," Berrios said.

In the most recent issue of Chicago Magazine, the Better Government Association contributed to an investigation into allegations that Berrios has taken large donations from property tax attorneys that have assessment appeals before the county board of review. Berrios sits on that board. “The only legitimate investigation needed here would be one investigating Joe Berrios for the millions of campaign dollars he’s taken from the very same property tax attorneys who practice before the Board of Review and won hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks for their clients,” said Tom Bowen, campaign manager for Forrest Claypool, who is challenging Berrios for the Assessor's seat in the upcoming election.