Must be Election Season

And the Machine has begun a low-intensity campaign to thin out the field:

• The chief executive of a major Cook County contractor alleged longtime county Treasurer Maria Pappas repeatedly subjected company executives to bullying, threats and “obscenity-filled tirades,” according to a copy of a letter obtained by WBEZ.

  For months, Pappas has blamed Texas-based Tyler Technologies for technological problems that delayed property tax revenue payments to school districts, local governments and other taxing bodies across the county.

  But in a letter Monday to Pappas, Tyler CEO H. Lynn Moore Jr. bemoaned what he called the “scapegoating” of the company, which has been working for years to upgrade the county’s property tax system. Moore alleged that the treasurer has shown a “lack of accountability” for mistakes by her own office in her efforts to “deflect blame and divert attention to us.”

This is in regard to the property tax bills being months and month late, along with almost $200 million in refunds being delayed because of computer issues with the switchover to a new program. 

Pappas has already replied, saying she's fighting for taxpayers. 

Prickwrinkle says she's referring the complaint to the county Ethics Board.

Allegations like these go nowhere, but do provide juicy gossip for the campaign flyers that will be going out over the summer. 

Pappas is obviously not the choice of the Prickwrinkle Machine.