Cook County candidate who beat incumbent sued by campaign strategist in pay dispute

The path is officially cleared for a sea change on the Cook County Board of Review, a three-member elected body that hears appeals to property tax assessments. But what would be a celebratory occasion for the winning candidate is clouded by a lawsuit filed by her former campaign strategist, who alleges the candidate failed to pay her thousands of dollars.

Democratic incumbent Board of Review Commissioner Michael Cabonargi conceded to primary challenger Samantha Steele early Friday, meaning two of the board’s three seats are slated to be filled with newcomers. Steele, an assessment official who previously worked on Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s transition team, campaigned on a platform of reform and putting “in place best practices so we maintain the highest ethical standards.”

But a lawsuit filed by her former campaign operative, Rebecca Williams, claims Steele reneged on their contract and improperly canceled more than $19,000 in payments Steele owed her after a falling-out over a Juneteenth event.

Williams’ suit said she is also due a $15,000 “win” bonus now that Steele has prevailed in the election.

A Steele campaign spokesperson strongly denied the claims made in the lawsuit.

Williams’ attorney, Scott Kane, has handled a number of breach-of-contract and wage-payment dispute claims, and said Steele’s actions were “outrageous.”

According to the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court last week, Steele hired Williams and her company, Oasis Strategies, to consult for her campaign in February. The suit says Steele authorized Williams to issue checks on behalf of the campaign to pay for her own monthly fees and reimburse herself for campaign-related expenses that Williams incurred.

But Steele and Williams parted company after a dispute between the two about a Juneteenth event, the lawsuit says.

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“Afterwards, Steele refused to pay Plaintiffs’ $5,000 June monthly consulting fee, which had already been due since June 1,” according to the suit. On June 23, “under explicit threat of a lawsuit, Steele rushed to personally hand deliver a $5,000 check to Williams to avoid a lawsuit” days before the election.

“Immediately” after, the suit alleges, Steele put a “stop payment” order on that $5,000 check and “instructed her campaign’s bank to reverse payment on three previous checks” worth more than $14,000 dating back to April “based the false claim that these checks were ‘altered / fictitious.’”

Kane said Williams is at risk of having her bank account shut down due to lack of funds, and her “business cannot write a check or operate as a result of this.”

Steele and her attorney did not respond to interview requests, but a Steele campaign spokesperson issued a statement saying the “claims are baseless, false and without merit. We look forward to an opportunity to present before a judge and let the facts speak for themselves.”

Disputes over pay in campaigns are relatively common but often handled privately — politicians don’t want a reputation for not paying, and vendors don’t want a reputation for airing dirty laundry. But candidates have been in hot water for wage issues before.

Former Ald. Bob Fioretti faced repeated questions about why he and his law firm had not paid their bills after his campaigns. So did mayoral candidate Amara Enyia after the 2019 race. A movement for campaign workers to unionize picked up some steam in 2018, amid complaints that some candidates were using money at the end of campaigns to pay for last-minute advertising instead of workers’ wages.

As for Cabonargi, the former Securities and Exchange Commission prosecutor thanked supporters in a concession statement and recounted the “sweeping reform and modernization” he brought to the board over the past decade, including digitizing appeals, making the office more accessible to those who don’t speak English, and authoring the board’s first ethics policy.

Cabonargi is not exiting politics completely: He was reelected as a committeeman with the state’s Democratic Party, where he is currently vice chair.

The Republican Party did not run a candidate in the primary for the Board of Review seat.