Does Cook County need a Recorder of Deeds?

Candidates for the office are asking that question as they campaign to replace incumbent Democrat Eugene "Gene" Moore.

The recorder is responsible for maintaining a record of real estate transactions and ownership.

Green Party candidate Terrence Gilhooly says that, if elected, he would convene a panel of legal experts to determine whether the office should continue to exist, operate in a diminished role, or be incorporated under the Cook County Board  of Commissioners.

Gilhooly graduated from Loyola University and is a retired transportation policy analyst.

He also criticizes the recorder's certificate of compliance program. It began earlier this year and requires buyers to certify that they aren't receiving a sub-prime mortgage.

Gilhooly says the certificates unnecessarily complicate "an already complicated mortgage process."

He says the office is not working for the people, but instead adding costly billing hours to lawyers' fees.

Gilhooly says Moore, who has served as recorder of deeds since 1999, is uninterested in changing anything.

Republican candidate Gregory Goldstein, a Louisiana native, says he moved to Chicago to enjoy its "Midwest values and charm." He obtained his law degree from Chicago's John Marshall Law School and runs a private practice in the Loop. 

Goldstein is against eliminating the recorder's office, but criticizes the office's current $8 million budget and 180 employees. He says that in his first year he will reduce manpower by 25 percent.

In response to Gilhooly's plan to remove the certificate of compliance requirement, Goldstein says the benefits would be minor.

"[The certificate] is not a big deal. It doesn't cost much of anything," he says.

Goldstein says he'll focus on making all of the office's records searchable by computer, and says he will not ask for an increase in appropriations to do that.

Moore is a member of the Maywood Chamber of Commerce; an executive board member of the Community Economic Development Association (C.E.D.A.) of Cook County; a former member of the Board of Directors of the Proviso Council on Aging; and, an Executive Board Member of the John C. Vaughn’s Scholarship Fund, Inc.

Moore is also a long-term board member of the Boys and Girls Club of West Cook County and has served as an executive board member of the Proviso-Leyden Council on Community Action for the past 25 years.
 
He says he has spent his time in office implementing technologies to improve efficiency, has worked hard to improve service, and has earned another term.

He says his office, during the current term, reduced the turnaround time of getting a document recorded and published on the recorder's website to two days. He's also working on providing customers with certified documents via the Internet.

Moore says Goldstein's plan to implement search technology would require a lot of work by staffers at the recorder's office, and thus wouldn't add efficiency.

He defends certificates of compliance, saying they're necessary to protect citizens from predatory lenders.

Discuss

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