Joseph Berrios

Berrios' first political role was the unpaid position of a precinct captain in the 31st Ward political organization of Alderman Thomas Keane, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley's chief ally on the Chicago City Council.

Berrios first met Keane while a student at the University of Illinois Chicago, Berrios was ticketed for speeding on the Kennedy Expressway and called on his alderman and committeeman Keane.

Nedza's political protegés included Alderman Miguel Santiago of the 31st ward, the only Hispanic on the Chicago City Council at the time, and Berrios.

Chicago-area Latino groups contested the legislative district map of the Illinois General Assembly in United States federal court.

The panel of judges that decided the case ordered a new map that gave Hispanics a majority in two Illinois House of Representatives districts in Chicago, the 9th, which is predominantly Puerto Rican, and the 20th, which is predominantly Mexican American.

Joseph "Joe" Berrios (born February 14, 1952) is a Democratic politician who was the Assessor and Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party of Cook County, Illinois, as well as a registered Illinois state government lobbyist.

He was the first Hispanic American to serve in the Illinois General Assembly and the first and only Hispanic American to chair the Cook County Democratic Party.

He was also a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Review, a property tax assessment appeal panel.

Throughout his career, Berrios combined government sector jobs, elected office, unpaid political party leadership positions, and private-sector proprietorships in lobbying, consulting and insurance sales.

His political campaign strategies included ballot access challenges to potential opponents.

He has been the focus of investigations into allegations of ethics violations and political corruption with respect to campaign fund-raising and nepotism.

In the press and in the courts, Berrios has repeatedly defended his right as an elected official to hire relatives and to accept campaign contributions from those with business with his office.

Berrios was born on February 14, 1952, the oldest of seven children.

His parents were Puerto Rican natives.

When he was six, his family moved into the Cabrini-Green public housing high-rises.

In October 1974, Keane was convicted of conspiracy and mail fraud for using his elected office to profit from illegal real estate deals.

His wife, Adeline succeeded him as alderman and Edward Nedza as committeeman.

In 1978 Nedza won the Illinois state Senate seat from the 5th Senate district, which encompasses the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago, and much of the 31st ward.

Nedza, a Polish-American, recognized the growing Puerto Rican population in his district, and groomed Hispanics within the Democratic Party.

In 1982, Nedza sponsored Berrios, at the time chief clerk to Cook County Board of Appeals commissioner Harry H. Semrow, in the 9th district.

Berrios was one of three candidates who filed nominating petitions to run in the Democratic primary, but Berrios ran unopposed when the petitions of the other two candidates were successfully challenged.

Republicans fielded no candidate in their primary, so Berrios ran unopposed in the general election, and at the age of 30 became the first Hispanic American to serve in the Illinois General Assembly.

In December, 1985 he was one of 21 state legislators criticised for holding a second, taxpayer-salaried government job in a report issued by the Coalition for Political Honesty, founded by Board of (Tax) Appeals Commissioner Pat Quinn, later Illinois Treasurer, Lieutenant Governor and Governor.

Berrios ran for re-election unopposed in the Fall 1986 general election.

He won re-election twice, serving three two-year terms.

Berrios maintained his job in Chicago as chief clerk of the Cook County Board of (Tax) Appeals while serving part-time as a legislator in the state capital in downstate Springfield, Illinois.

In March 1987 then former State Senator Edward Nedza, Berrios' mentor, was indicted in a federal investigation of bribes allegedly paid to city licensing officials.

In April, 1987 Nedza resigned his position as committeeman of the 31st ward in Chicago and named Berrios as his replacement.

In August, 1987, Nedza was convicted on federal charges of using his political office for illegal financial gain.

Berrios allied with Alderman Edward Vrdolyak, during Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's first term, the Council Wars era.

In 1987 Raymond Figueroa, with Washington's backing, defeated Berrios's candidate for alderman, Miguel Santiago, which helped close the Council Wars.

A year later Figueroa defeated Berrios for committeeman.

In 1991, Figueroa decided not to run for re-election as alderman, and left the committeeman's job the following year.

Berrios regained the committeeman's post, a role he has held ever since.

Thomas G. Lyons, a veteran 45th Ward committeeman who had held the unpaid party position of chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party for nearly 17 years, was seriously ill and announced his retirement in January 2007, and died on January 12 at age 75.

Democrats met in Chicago on February 1 to fill the vacancy and elected Berrios as their new chairman.

At age 13, Berrios got a job as a dishwasher in the Tower Club, a private restaurant on the 39th floor of the Civic Opera House, worked there for seven years, and eventually become a waiter.

Berrios graduated from Lane Technical College Prep High School in Chicago, and received a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Illinois Chicago.

Berrios was defeated in the March 20, 2018 Democratic primary election for Cook County Assessor, conceding to Fritz Kaegi.

Berrios was the first Hispanic to hold the post, which he held until April 18, 2018, following his defeat in the Democratic primary for Cook County Assessor.