Lake County Gazette

Ken Idstein wants to keep Mike Madigan as far away from the 62nd District as he can.

“Why would we want to bring the corrupt Chicago model that has made Mike Madigan, Joe Berrios, and Ed Burke millionaires to our community,” Idstein told the Lake County Gazette of state Rep. Sam Yingling’s  (D-Grayslake) measure to make the county's chief assessment officer an elected position. “Yingling is pushing to replicate the broken Chicago property tax model that has made Madigan a millionaire and Berrios the nation’s worst example of corrupt self-dealing.”

Idstein is hoping his run against Yingling in November’s general election will put to an end to what he sees as the storm that's now brewing.

Rep. Sam Yingling

“Yingling’s idea of property tax relief is always another politician to grow government,” he said. “You know what happens when we grow government? Your property taxes increase.”

While Yingling’s bill wouldn’t go into effect for another two years, Idstein said his rivals have already thoroughly considered what it could mean.

“An elected assessor creates a new market for Madigan,” he said. “Yingling’s proposal could help Madigan’s business interests. Is Yingling helping Madigan because Madigan gave him $1.4 million in campaign contributions?”

In the end, Idstein said what the people of the district truly need is clear to him.

“We need true property tax relief that lowers the actual dollar amount you pay every month by radically reforming state government spending, cutting waste, and reforming our big ticket systems,” he said. “We need a 1 percent hard cap on property taxes. In Grayslake, the effective property tax rate is 5.33 percent. On a 250,000 home, you pay $13,325 in property taxes. In Indiana, where they have 1 percent hard cap on property taxes, you’d pay $2,215.”

The 62nd District includes parts of Grayslake, the Round Lake communities, Hainesville, Wauconda and Gurnee.