Chicago’s Robert Martwick: Another Legislator Profiting off Property Tax Grift
Northwest Side state senator lives a good life doubling as a tax appeals attorney
In the last 15 months, two Chicago politicians, both powerful Democratic ward committeeman, Edward M. Burke and Michael J. Madigan, were convicted by federal juries on corruption charges.
The pair had more in common: Both men were name partners in Chicago law firms that specialized in property tax appeals.
Both power brokers were nearly universally condemned for profiting from this blatant conflict of interest.
You would want to know if there is another elected official in Chicago dancing the property tax-appeals two-step, right?
Well, there is at least one more. State Senator Robert “Rob” Martwick Jr. of Portage Park. Martwick represents the 10th Senate District, which covers parts of the Far Northwest Side as well as parts of Rosemont, Niles, and Norridge.
Martwick also serves as the Democratic Committeeman of Chicago’s 38th Ward.
According to Illinois Policy Institute’s Austin Berg, when Martwick served under former Speaker Mike Madigan in the state House, the Northwest Side senator also worked as a property tax lawyer.
"[Martwick] also works as a property tax appeals attorney for Finkel, Martwick & Colson. In July 2017, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation found Martwick failed to disclose $170,000 in income from his political consulting business, where he worked for clients such as Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios."
Martwick is the son of Robert F. Martwick Sr., the former Democratic committeeman of Norwood Park Township. The elder Martwick is a partner, as is Rob, at Finkel, Martwick & Colson. The law firm's law website boasts, "Our taxation lawyers have mastered the assessment process on behalf of our clients."
Also in 2018, WIND-AM host Dan Proft commented on Martwick “who along with his daddy have made more than six million dollars appealing property taxes over the past decade. We did this analysis over at chicagocitywire.com.”
An excerpt from that study read:
“The analysis tracked 1,508 Chicago properties represented by the Martwicks before the Cook County Board of Review between 2007 and 2017. It assumed they collected a fee of one-third of each client's first year savings, or on the low end of the typical ‘one-third to one half’ paid in Cook County, according to the Daily Herald.
The estimated $19.4 million in tax reductions were reallocated to other taxpayers. That's because when a property owner in Cook County receives a tax reduction, it doesn't mean local governments get less money in total. The difference is made up by increasing everyone else's bills”
To be fair, that $6 million may have been shared by other partners at Finkel, Martwick & Colson, but it's evident that both Martwicks have done well financially in the property tax appeals business.
Bruce Rauner, a Republican who was governor from 2015-2019, had many solid ideas for making Illinois a better state. Unfortunately, he was ham-handed regarding implementing his plans.
One of Rauner's proposals was to ban lawmakers from collecting money as property tax appeals lawyers.
“Why do we let legislators argue cases around property taxes when they set tax policy?” Rauner inquired at a press conference. “It’s unethical, clearly unethical.”
It certainly is.
Leading the opposition to Rauner during his single term as governor was Madigan, who was near the end of his decades-long career as speaker of the state House.
Naturally, Rauner's move to ban legislators from profiting from property tax appeals went nowhere.
Granted, what has been laid about Martwick might be called old news.
What has Rob Martwick been up to lately?
Last month, Martwick filed a bill in the General Assembly to eliminate the state's flat income tax clause in the Illinois Constitution and replace it with graduated tax rates. Martwick has been trying to ditch Illinois' flat income tax rate since he was a member of the Illinois House. His progressive income tax rate amendment, despite Governor J.B. Pritzker spending over $50 million of his own money promoting it, was rejected by 55 percent of voters in 2020.
Martwick introduced a similar bill in 2023.
The Illinois Policy Institute last month defended the state's current income tax law:
“Illinois’ flat income tax rate structure is currently one of the few advantages in the state’s tax code that boosts the state’s competitiveness. Removing this constitutional protection would weaken barriers to tax hikes that state legislators currently must overcome to raise taxes. It would also be a move that bucks national trends toward lower, flatter taxes.”
Many states have no income tax.
The Senate district Martwick represents has been described by others as moderate and even right-leaning. Many Chicago Police officers and Chicago firefighters reside there. However, the district actually leans a bit to the left.
Ideologically, where does Martwick stand?
"I am an unapologetic progressive," he told Cook County Board President and Democratic Party Boss Toni Preckwinkle on her "The 80" podcast in 2021.
The year prior, while a guest on the Ben Joravsky Show podcast, Martwick confided to the host:
“I remember even my father saying, ‘When did you become such a lefty?’ And I'm like, I don't know, it's just who I am, you know? A lot of people were surprised that my politics were as left as they were.”
Of course, Martwick is an enthusiastic supporter of the no-cash bail SAFE-T Act.
The far-left Chicago Teachers Union absolutely took notice of Martwick's hard-left leanings.
Last fall, the Illinois Policy Institute analyzed Chicago Teachers Union campaign contributions to members of the General Assembly dating back to 2010. Leading the pack with $147,864 in donations was Martwick. The CTU's donations to Martwick even outstrip what the teachers' union throws at House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch.
For years, Martwick sponsored bills calling for an elected Chicago school board. An elected board, along with having a mayor it can control, have long been prime political objectives of the CTU.
The union has achieved both of its goals. Former CTU organizer Brandon Johnson, who is now possibly the most unpopular big city mayor ever, was elected two years ago. And in 2021 Pritzker signed Martwick's bill, which transforms Chicago's school board to a fully elected one in 2026. Currently, the Chicago school board is a hybrid body. Ten members are appointed by the mayor, 11 other members are elected.
The CTU, which is Chicago's new political machine, obviously wants a school board it can control as a companion piece to the mayor.
However, last year's election offered mixed results to the union. Only four of the 11 Chicago Teachers Union-backed board candidates won. Johnson's unpopularity — and the toxicity of the CTU — were likely the reasons for those election outcomes.
Also victorious in 2024, in his state Senate general election race, was Martwick, capturing 61 percent of the vote over an under-funded Republican opponent.
How does Martwick keep winning elections despite the electorate of his district?
For starters, he has a huge campaign war chest.
Gerrymandering helps him too. In 1996, when Martwick first ran for a state Senate seat in the 7th District, which covers some of the same area now covered by the 10th, he was narrowly defeated by a Republican. Democrats created gerrymandered state legislature and congressional maps after the 2000 census and then followed suit in 2010 and 2020. While the geographic layout of the current 10th is not as contorted as the 2010 district, it does have curious COVID-virus like spikelets that probably favor the Democratic Party.
Martwick favors fair maps — but only if they are drawn nationally, as if that was a possibility. “Republican congressional candidates received only 48 percent of the votes cast,” Martwick said of the 2016 elections last year in a Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ election questionnaire while explaining his reasoning, “yet captured 55 percent of the seats in Congress.” Even if that is true, Martwick is still a colossal hypocrite. In the 2024 general election, Donald Trump won 43 percent of the vote in Illinois. But because of Democratic gerrymandering, Republicans only prevailed in only three of Illinois’ 17 congressional districts — a meager 18 percent.
Martwick also enjoys name recognition.
Here's a little-known political truth: Voters are understandably enthralled by high profile contests such as for president or governor, but as they move further down the ballot, they care much less. That explains why there hasn't been a Republican Cook County Clerk in over 100 years. As for Martwick, he’s been a member of the General Assembly since 2013. Some voters will remember his father as a Democratic committeeman, or recall that Richard Martwick, Rob's uncle, was the Cook County Superintendent of Schools. Richard was a horrible public servant, incidentally. Sadly, some voters will choose a familiar name at the ballot box with little consideration, as if they are at the supermarket buying a laundry detergent promoted by an annoying but memorable jingle.
Martwick is the devil they know, even without the jingle.
Also, usually around election time, Martwick offers pension sweeteners to Chicago Police officers and firefighters. He is the chairman of the state Senate Pension Committee. But are these sweeteners affordable?
Probably not.
