Samantha Steele should resign in the wake of embarrassing DUI traffic stop

A major part of holding public office is the ability to maintain a sense of professionalism — whether the official is on or off duty.

Which brings us to the embarrassing situation of Cook County Board of (Tax) Review Commissioner Samantha Steele.

Steele was arrested on the North Side for DUI earlier this month, which is bad enough.

But her actions during the encounter as shown in recently released police body camera footage — from her refusal to cooperate with officers, to a pitiful attempt to throw around her weight as a public official — are enough to consider Steele unfit to hold elected office.

In fact, she should resign.

The public deserves the best from its public officials, particularly in a city and state where officeholders fall short far too often.

And while that can be a high bar, it's a necessary one, given the enormous powers we grant officeholders. Taxpayers and residents deserve to know the right people have been entrusted; and the people in those positions have to understand there's a standard of behavior to uphold.

Steele has violated that trust and must step down.

‘I’m an elected official’

Steele, 45, was pulled over by police Nov. 11 on the 5000 block of North Ashland Avenue after she crashed.

The front end of her vehicle was damaged, and she initially refused several requests from officers to show her driver's license or even get out of the car.

At one point during the stop, body camera footage showed one officer telling Steele, "Ma’am, if you don’t exit the vehicle … I’m going to help you to exit, and you don’t want that."

Steele replies: "You don’t want that! I’m an elected official."

The cop's nonchalant reply deserves an entry in the Chicago Quotes Hall of Fame: "Elected official of what?"

She also turned down taking a field sobriety test.

Cops allegedly found a half-empty bottle of red wine near the car's front passenger seat. Officers can be heard on the video saying that the bottle of cabernet sauvignon was "good stuff."

Police also mentioned finding breath mints in the car and that they detected alcohol on Steele's breath.

But telling the cop that she is an elected official is a threat that's meant to convey the officer would be in some kind of trouble for merely doing his duty.

And that — in addition to the misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol charge she racked up — is reason enough for Steele to turn in her resignation papers from the board of tax review.

The three-member board has the power to rule on property tax appeals, effectively reducing what might be owed. Steele, who lives in Evanston, represents a board's district that covers much of the North Side and the northern suburbs.

The ability to roll back property taxes is no small thing. And those who sit on the board should be responsible, trustworthy individuals who aren't looking to have their ring kissed, or show they are above the law — and those responsible for its enforcement.

Time to go

Back in 1997, state lawmakers deliberated impeaching sitting Illinois Supreme Court Chief Judge Thomas Heiple.

His offense? Disobeying police and trying to use his lofty position to get out of Downstate speeding tickets.

The Illinois House didn't impeach Heiple, but called him "arrogant" and "imperious" in their findings. He was censured by the Illinois Courts Commission and resigned as chief justice, although he did remain on the court.

No less can be said of Steele's behavior, as the police video shows.

Steele, a Democrat, was elected to the Board of Review in 2022. She and her chief of staff are facing a federal whistleblower lawsuit filed recently by former aide Frank Calabrese.

Calabrese, coincidentally, obtained the body-camera footage of Steele's arrest through an open-records request to police. He shared the video with the Sun-Times and WBEZ.

In addition to the whistleblower suit, Steele has also been criticized for giving a job at the Board of Review to a former northwest Indiana politician who had pleaded guilty in a federal case.

Steele has yet to speak publicly about the arrest.

But if she does, we know what she ought to say: "I'm a now a former elected official" — then vacate her seat.

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