Two Cook County judges claim homeowner exemptions in Will County

Two of the 77 Cook County judges running for retention in November claim homeowner exemptions on Will County houses they have owned for years, Injustice Watch discovered as part of research for its 2024 Judicial Election Guide.

Illinois law requires judges to live in the jurisdiction they serve and allows homeowner exemptions, a form of tax break, only on their “principal residence.”

One of the judges, Shannon O'Malley, said he has lived in Cook County since he ran for judge in 2017, the same year he began living apart from his wife, although they remain married. She still lives in the Aurora home where they raised their family, according to his attorney and campaign consultant.

The other, E. Kenneth Wright Jr. — a judge since 1994, he now presides over the First Municipal District — offered no explanation.

“I don’t have time right now,” Wright said during a recess in his Daley Center courtroom. “We’ll call you when we’re ready.”

Wright, 83, has claimed a homeowner exemption since 1978 — long before he became a judge, records show.

But in 2018, Wright successfully applied for a second senior citizen exemption on his Will County property, records and interviews show. To qualify, Wright was required to present a birth certificate or government identification to verify his age and sign a sworn affidavit attesting he occupied the Joliet property as his “principal residence."

As the only taxpayer of record listed for the property, Wright alone was eligible to apply for the senior exemption, said Dale Butalla, the Will County supervisor of assessments. Will County would not provide a copy of Wright's senior exemption application, citing privacy protections.

The homeowner and senior exemptions combind trimmed Wright’s property tax bill by about $1,400 last year. Records show Wright also owns properties in Cook County, including a condo in River North and a single-family home in Morgan Park, but claims no homeowner or senior exemptions on any of his known Cook County properties.

The doorbell didn’t work at the Joliet home. A neighbor said she sees Wright mowing the lawn there on weekends.

A candidate transformed

O'Malley, meanwhile, has claimed his homeowner exemption in Will County since 2004. He and his wife own the home together. O'Malley is a judge in Cook County Juvenile Court.

Through his attorney, O’Malley said his homeowner exemption at the Aurora house is proper, since he no longer resides at the family home because he lives apart from his wife, although they remain married. In 2017, the same year he decided to run for Cook County judge, he signed an apartment lease in Cook County, records show.

To prove Cook County residency, his attorney Steven Laduzinsky presented a 6-inch stack of car and apartment leases, utility bills, and junk mail — even an expired driver’s license — from O’Malley’s residency in Cook County since 2017.

It’s not the first time O’Malley, 62, has changed his residence to coincide with a political candidacy.

In 2004, he unsuccessfully ran as a Republican for Cook County state’s attorney — but under a different name — Phillip Spiwak. Described in press reports as a self-employed Chicago attorney, Spiwak did not register a campaign committee, talk to reporters or respond to phone calls during the race, according to news reports and government records.

His residency was never questioned publicly during that campaign. But during the race, in the summer of 2004, he sold his former Aurora home and bought the one where he and his wife now claim that homeowners’ exemption. But Laduzinsky said his client moved to Chicago before that 2004 campaign.

“He moved out of the house, moved to Chicago, changed his driver’s license, and voter registration. He did everything to show he moved to Chicago,” Laduzinsky said.

Spiwak declared bankruptcy in 2005, reporting debts of $480,000, including two mortgages on the Aurora home in Will County and car loans, federal court records show.

Then in 2010, he ran for Will County Circuit Court judge as a Republican, again listing his family’s house in Aurora as his residence. He and his wife again served as chairs of his political committee. Again, he lost.

Changing party, name

But Spiwak’s political fortunes improved seven years later after he recast key aspects of his identity.

He legally changed his name to Shannon O’Malley in the Will County Circuit Court in 2012. He got an apartment in Cook County in 2017 and registered to vote as a Democrat. And this time, he filed to run in a north suburban judicial subcircuit poised to flip to the Democrats.

The 13th subcircuit — which includes the northwest suburbs of Schaumburg, Palatine, Wheeling, Hanover Park, and Barrington — had been a Republican stronghold but would sweep in Democrats to three bench seats that year.

Spiwak’s name change, first reported by Injustice Watch, made him the subject of biting news coverage. Powerful Democrats called his seemingly Irish and female name a “naked attempt to improve his electoral prospects.”

He did not participate in bar evaluations. The Chicago Council of Lawyers presumed O’Malley was a woman, writing: “The council finds her not recommended for the circuit court.” Other leading bar associations did likewise.

O'Malley told reporters he changed his name to honor a mentor and surrogate father. His campaign video said O’Malley was orphaned at age 11.

He self-funded his 2018 political committee with $37,615. Most of it — $32,165 — went to a political consulting company run by 46th Ward Democratic Committeeman Sean Tenner.

The 30-second campaign video Tenner produced for O’Malley doesn’t clearly identify O’Malley’s gender or even what he looks like.

Tenner said he didn’t verify where O’Malley was living and became aware of the name change only after the election. “My interaction with him was very limited in that campaign,” Tenner said.

‘Don’t tell her I live here’

In his 2018 run for Cook County judge, O’Malley prevailed with 51% of the vote.

Mary Kay Dawson, a political consultant hired by this year’s Cook County retention class, responded in an email to inquiries about O'Malley's residency: “He asked me to inform you he doesn’t live in Aurora and hadn’t for 7 years. He and his wife are legally separated.”

In a subsequent interview, she said O’Malley “filed legal separation papers. … He transferred the house to her name. … He is no longer holding the property in Aurora jointly.”

None of Dawson’s statements was true, according to Laduzinsky.

He didn't file for separation, Laduzinsky said, noting: "Even an agreed upon divorce can be financially devastating.”

O’Malley’s family home in Aurora remains under joint ownership with his wife, Laduzinsky confirmed. She claims the Will County homeowner exemption. He still pays part of the mortgage, but does not deduct the property benefit on his individual tax return, Laduzinsky said.

“I’ve met him in the apartment in Schaumburg,” Laduzinsky said. “It’s furnished.”

When Injustice Watch telephoned the Aurora home recently, his wife answered.

“Hey, Phil, it’s the reporter,” she was heard saying.

O’Malley was heard saying: “Don’t tell her I live here.”

He declined to come to the phone.

Sanctions are rare

The judicial residency requirement is a basic test of public trust, said Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois Springfield.

“The general principle behind all of this is that residency is an indication that candidates have a connection and commitment to the area that they’re elected from,” Redfield said.

Claiming residency outside the judicial district to get a tax break "calls into question the honesty of the judge," Redfield added. Moving out of the district, in turn, means “they are violating the election code. Both of these actions are unethical and a violation of the public trust.”

Sanctions against judges who violate residency requirements are rare in Illinois. Only two sitting judges have been disciplined by the Illinois Courts Commission for residency requirement violations in the last 25 years.

The Illinois State Board of Elections does not verify whether candidates for judge live in the county or circuit where they run for office, board spokesperson Matt Dietrich said.

“There is no verification process for looking into the residence they file on their statement of candidacy or nominating petitions,” Dietrich said.

State election authorities instead rely on political opponents and citizens to challenge the residency of judicial candidates, Dietrich said.

That means challenges are unlikely when candidates run unopposed, as is the case with O'Malley and Wright — voters are asked simply “yes” or “no.”

If an average citizen is caught falsely claiming a Will County homeowner exemption, officials simply collect one year’s worth of erroneously claimed taxes and end the exemption for future years.

But for elected officials improperly claiming the exemption, the political fallout can be explosive.

In 2004, the Illinois Courts Commission removed then-Cook County Judge Francis X. Golniewicz III from the bench after finding he lied about living in Chicago; he actually lived in the suburbs.

And in 2016, the commission censured Cook County Judge Beatriz Santiago for being deceptive about where she lived. She was suspended from the bench for six months but then resumed her duties.

News coverage of the Golniewicz case suggests judicial residency violations were casually accepted at the time: Supervisors in the Maywood Courthouse kept a master list titled “Real Addresses of 4th District Judges,” so they could contact judges at home in case of emergency.

Contributing: Grace Asiegbu, Injustice Watch

This article first appeared on Injustice Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. Sign up here to get their weekly newsletter.