A former Cook County assessor’s office employee was sentenced Tuesday to three years probation for conspiring to accept golf outings at country clubs from two businessmen in exchange for helping reduce assessments on their properties and save thousands in taxes.
Basilio Clausen, 53, pleaded guilty in 2023 to a count of bribery conspiracy and testified at the trial last year of one of the businessmen, Robert Mitziga, who was ultimately acquitted of all charges by a federal jury.
Following that setback, prosecutors later dropped charges against Clausen’s former colleague at the assessor’s office, Lumni Likovski. A third assessor’s office employee, Lavdim Memisovski, has pleaded guilty in a separate case and is awaiting sentencing.
In handing down the sentence for Clausen, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said Tuesday the “corrosive and erosive effect” of such cases increase the level of distrust in citizens already skeptical about the workings of government.
“It’s part of the sorry state of affairs we find ourselves in these days where nobody trusts government,” Kennelly said.
In addition to the time on probation, Kennelly ordered Clausen to pay a $10,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Rothblatt had asked for five years of probation, citing Clausen’s extensive cooperation in the case.
Clausen’s attorney, Clarence Butler, said he didn’t believe even a period of probation was necessary.
“I have never had a defendant as remorseful as this one,” Butler said. “I don’t think there is an iota or scintilla of evidence that he will recidivate.”
Clausen was a residential field inspector when Mitziga, an old acquaintance from the Innsbrook Country Club in Merrillville, Indiana, asked him in 2017 about reducing property tax assessments for his company, Fence Masters, and for another firm called MARK 1 Restoration, which was owned by Mitziga’s friend Mark Snedden, according to court records and testimony.
Clausen testified he helped funnel property tax appeals for Fence Masters and MARK 1 to Likovsksy and Memisovski in exchange for free rounds of golf for all of them at the exclusive Lost Dunes club in Bridgman, Michigan, with Mitziga and Snedden splitting the tab.
On Nov. 9, 2017, the FBI recorded a call between Clausen and Memisovski regarding the Snedden’s appeals, which had just been significantly lowered, according to prosecutors.
“Well, sir. Absolutely awesome,” Clausen said on the call, according to the prosecution filing.
Later that month, the two had another call to discuss Mitziga’s appeal.
“He got a nice one too,” Memisovski told Clausen. “I think he’s actually gonna be happier than the other buddy.”
“That’s exactly what we want,” Clausen allegedly responded. “Yeah. That’s awesome, that’s awesome.”
Mitziga’s attorneys argued there was no connection between the golf outings and Mitziga’s routine property tax appeals. They also said there was no proof Mitziga believed he was helping his chances of lowering what he owed in taxes by paying for the rounds at Lost Dunes.
The jury deliberated over parts of two days before acquitting Mitziga on charges of bribery and conspiracy.
Though relatively low-level, the investigation offered a glimpse into the bureaucracy of the county’s property tax appeals system, which has been described by some as a legalized racket where initial assessments are artificially inflated, forcing property owners to jump through hoops to get them lowered.
At the time of the alleged scheme in 2017, the boss of the assessor’s office was Joseph Berrios, the then-chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party whose office was often criticized as a den of clout and patronage.
Berrios, who was not charged, lost his bid for a third term as assessor in the 2018 Democratic primary to Fritz Kaegi, who instituted a strict ethics code for all employees, “which forbids the use of the assessor’s office for personal gain.”
Snedden was not charged in Clausen’s case. But he’s facing federal charges in Pennsylvania that he arranged a slew of bribes — including trips to exotic islands, Bruno Mars tickets and a German shepherd puppy — to a corrupt Amtrak official to win millions of dollars in contract work for Dolton-based MARK 1 to renovate the old 30th Street train station in Philadelphia, court records show.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
