Joseph "Joe" Berrios (born February 14, 1952) is a Democrat politician who is Assessor and Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party of Cook County, Illinois, and a registered Illinois state government lobbying executive. He was the first Hispanic American to serve in the Illinois General Assembly and the first and only Hispanic American to lead the Democratic Party of Cook County. He is a Commissioner at the Cook County Review Board, the appeals panel for property tax assessments. He is also a Commissioner at the Cook County Board Review Board, the appeals panel for property tax assessments.
Throughout his career, Berrios combined government sector jobs, elected positions, unpaid party leadership positions, and private sector ownership in lobbying, consulting, and insurance sales. His political campaign strategy includes the challenge of access to vote for potential opponents. He has been the focus of investigation for alleged ethical violations and political corruption in connection with campaign fundraising and nepotism. In the press and in court, Berrios has repeatedly defended his rights as an elected official to hire relatives and to receive campaign contributions from those who do business with his office.
Berrios was defeated in the March 20th Democratic elections for Cook's Regional Adviser, who admitted Fritz Kaegi.
Video Joseph Berrios
Kehidupan awal, pendidikan, dan karir politik awal
Berrios was born on February 14, 1952, the eldest of seven children. Her parents are native Puerto Rican. When he was six years old, his family moved to public housing Cabrini-Green. At age 13 Berrios got a job as a dishwasher at the Tower Club, a private restaurant on the 39th floor of the Civic Opera House, worked there for seven years, and eventually became a waiter. Berrios graduated from High School of Preparation of Technical High School in Chicago, and received a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Illinois Chicago.
Berrios's first political role was the unpaid position of a police captain at Ward's 31st political organization, Alderman Thomas Keane, Chicago Mayor's main secretary Richard J. Daley at Chicago City Council. Berrios first met Keane when as a student at the University of Illinois Chicago, Berrios was ticketed for speeding on the Kennedy Expressway and summoned Keane's board members and administrators. In October 1974, Keane was convicted of conspiracy and mail fraud for using his chosen office to benefit from illegal real estate transactions. His wife Adeline succeeded him as a board member and Edward Nedza as committee. In 1978 Nedza won the Illinois State Senate seat from the 5th Senate district, which included the neighborhood of Humboldt Park in Chicago, and much of the 31st ward. Nedza, a Polish-American, acknowledged the growing Puerto Rican population in his district, and cared for Hispanics within the Democratic Party. Nedza's political figures include Alderman Miguel Santiago from the 31st ward, the only Hispanic on the Chicago City Council at the time, and Berrios.
Maps Joseph Berrios
Illinois State Representative
Chicago-Latino groups contest the Illinois Legislative District Legislative Map in US federal court. The panel of judges who ruled the case ordered a new map that gave the majority Hispanic men in the two Chicago District's 9th, House of Representatives-dominated districts, and the 20th, predominantly Mexican Americans. In 1982, Nedza sponsored Berrios, at the time of the chief of officers for the Council of Trustees of the Forced Council, Harry Semrow, in the 9th district. Berrios was one of three candidates nominating the nomination petition to run in the Democratic primary, but Berrios ran without resistance when the petitions of the other two candidates were challenged. Republicans did not field candidates in their main party, so Berrios was not involved in the election, and at age 30 became the first Hispanic American to serve in Illinois General Assembly. Berrios ran for re-election in the 1986 Fall election. He won a re-election twice, serving three two-year periods.
Berrios maintains his job in Chicago as the chief of the Cook County Board clerk, while serving part-time as a legislator in the state capital of Downstate Springfield, Illinois. In December 1985 he was one of 21 state legislators who were criticized for holding second office, taxpayer paid work in a report issued by the Coalition for Political Honesty, established by the Lawyers Board, Commissioner Patrick Quinn, then the Illinois Treasurer , Lieutenant Governor and Governor.
Democratic party post
environmental democratic committee 31
In March 1987, former state senator Edward Nedza, Berrios's mentor, was indicted in a federal investigation into bribery allegedly paid to city licensing officials. In April, 1987 Nedza resigned his position as committee of the 31st ward in Chicago and named Berrios as his successor. 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 the first period of Chicago's Major Harold Washington, the era of Board Wars. In 1987, Raymond Figueroa, with Washington's support, defeated Berrios candidate for municipal councilor Miguel Santiago, who helped close the Council's War. A year later, Figueroa defeated Berrios for the committee. In 1991, Figueroa decided not to run for re-election as a board member, and abandoned committee work the following year. Berrios regains committeeman post, a role he has since then.
Chairman, Cook County Democratic Party
Thomas G. Lyons, a 45th-member veteran committee veteran who has been holding unpaid party positions from chairman of Cook's Democratic Party for nearly 17 years, was seriously ill and announced his resignation in January 2007, and died on January 12 at age 75. The Democrats met in Chicago on February 1 to fill vacancies and elected Berrios as their new chief. Berrios was the first Hispanic man to hold the post, which he held since then.
"If they want to be independent, go ahead and form your own party," Berrios said in 2014, referring to a candidate in the Democratic presidential election that runs without benefit from slating by the Cook District Democrats.
Commissioner of the Cook County Board of (Taxes) Appeal
Berrios' boss in the Cook County County Board of Appeal, Harry H. Semrow, died November 23, 1987 at the age of 72. In accordance with state law, Circuit Cook County Circuit Court Judge appointed a temporary replacement, attorney Thomas A. Jaconetty, 34, a a deputy appraiser with Appeals (Tax) since 1981. Jaconnetty is a resident of the 31st and the secretary of the 31st Democratic environmental organization Berrios with whom Berrios captained police in the 31st Ward under Alderman Keane. Berrios ran for vacancies with support from the Democratic Party's organization. In the Democratic primary, Berrios won a nomination with a sizable margin on Jeffrey Paul Smith, company advisory assistant with City of Chicago whose nomination was sponsored by Quinn, by a former commissioner.
When first elected to the Council (Tax) Appeal in 1988, Berrios paid approximately $ 56,000 a year. In October 1990, Berrios added a part-time job as a legislative assistant to political allies, Democratic Country Representative Miguel Santiago. The work paid Berrios nearly $ 10,000 over the next two years. Also while working on the tax appeal board, Berrios works as a lobbyist and consultant to the state government, sometimes in association with his longtime business partner, Sam Panayotovich. From 1988 to 1993, Panayotovich and Berrios won a $ 185,000 non-tender contract as Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT's) liaison with parliamentarians and city officials.
On March 11, 1994, FBI agents executed a search warrant for confiscating records from the Cook County Board Appeals (Taxes) as part of an ongoing investigation. A few weeks later, federal agencies investigating phantom payrolls leaked financial records of some of the employees of the previous Board of Directors, including Berrios and Panayotovich. The US Treasury is investigating IDOT contracts with Berrios and Panayotovich, and the federal grand jury signed the contract. The federal Grand Jury in Chicago subpoena records documenting recipients of tuition fees to request university demands by three current state parliamentarians and two former parliamentarians, including Berrios and Panayotovich. The scholarship program, started in 1905, allows every state legislature to set aside tuition and fees from one of 12 state universities, for two students living within the district legislator, regardless of academic achievement or financial needs. No charges were filed against anyone in the Cook County Board Appeal (Tax). The Cook County Board of (Appeal) Appeal was re-established and renamed the Cook County Board of Review in 1998.
In a federal federal bribery trial from analysts of the Review Board, in a secret recording by an undercover FBI informer from 2008, the defendant named Berrios as a bribe recipient. Berrios is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Hiring family and friends
While the Commissioner on the Board of Review, sister Berrios, sister-in-law, son and daughter work for districts with annual salaries ranging from $ 48,000 to $ 86,000. "Let me see, one, two, three... yes, four," Berrios told the Associated Press. Berrios was also hired, as deputy chief commissioner, electoral law attorney Jaconetty, who wrote the chapter on voice mail access in courseware from the Illinois Institute for Continuing Law Education. Berrios responded to criticism over the recruitment of his relatives and friends, saying,
What you basically say is that Joe Berrios should get out of politics. If my brothers or anyone who wants to come and work in government, they should not work in government. If you want to pass a law that says one person is in government, then no friends or relatives can work in government, then you must pass the law.
Political fundraising from tax appeal attorneys
Board of Commissioners Appointments Commissioner Berrios regularly receives hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in campaign contributions from lawyers appealing property tax assessments before the Board. Berrios controls five private political action committees, excluding funds for the Democratic Party of Cook County, which he also controls. Berrios raised more than $ 3 million in political contributions between 2000 and 2010, 64 percent of property tax appeal lawyers. About a third of Berrios's campaign contribution in the decade came from 15 tax-winning property tax advisory firms that earned the most for their clients between 2006 and 2008, contributing nearly $ 1 million to six political action committees controlled by Berrios and his daughter, Illinois Country Representative Maria Antonia Berrios, Democrat of Illinois District Illinois 39th on the northwest side of Chicago. Berrios started in 2008 with $ 1.2 million in just one of his campaign funds, mostly from the lawyer who appeared before him.
Some of the most successful property tax appeal firms in Cook County have strong political connections. From 2006 to 2008, tax-appeals firms that received the biggest reduction for their clients were those of Representative Michael J. Madigan (Chairman of the Illinois House of Representatives, Chicago Democrat and close ally of Berrios), Patrick J. Cullerton (brother of the State Senator Illinois, John Cullerton, Illinois Senate president), and Chicago Alderman Edward M. Burke. Simultaneously, Berrios works as a registered lobbyist for the Illinois state government on issues such as legalizing video poker. Berrios lobbied Madigan and Cullerton in Springfield, while Assessors are vital to the practice of commercial real estate tax lucrative law firms, including those of Madigan and Cullerton. "Illinois, your name is a conflict of interest," wrote Executive Director of the Good Governing Association of Andy Shaw at the Chicago Tribune in 2009. "Even by the unstable standards of Illinois conflict of interest, Madigan-Berrios explained embarrassing connections, write Chicago Magazine in 2013.
Cook District reviewers
Campaigns and selections
Cook County researcher James Houlihan announced that he would not seek reelection in 2010. Within hours, Berrios said he planned to announce his nomination as an appraiser. On 2 February 2010, Berrios won three main Democratic lines with 39% of the vote, in first place with the lowest turn-out since 1958.
Berrios's nomination was denounced by the local editorial board. The Chicago Tribune editorial board described Berrios as a "bad candidate for a strong appraisal" and called Berrios' s removal of the Cook County Democrat as a "sad mistake", citing "his ignorance of ethical principles basic "and" conflict of interest. "The Chicago-Chicago Sun-Times editorial called the" tragedy "slate, describing Berrios as" a good example, in fact, why Illinois needs serious campaign reforms with teeth in it, "and quotes Berrios. 'Lack of transparency on the Review Board, his notes on hiring family and friends, and his "comfortable" relationship with Madigan. The editorial board of the Daily Herald called Berrios "is very much against what the office needs." A profile at Chicago Magazine describes him as a "perfect insider in Illinois politics" and "a real example of politics filled with infamous influence in Illinois."
On Monday morning, September 13, 2010, while the Berrios candidate was in a breakfast fundraising campaign, the Cook County Finance Committee Committee met and approved a package of ethical reforms in response to Berrios, including actions requiring candidates for Appraisers or the Review Board to refund contributions from attorney lawyers property tax appeals of more than $ 1,500, and prohibits public officials from engaging in political activity while working in the area or using county resources. "The law smells, essentially," Berrios said.
Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool submits a nominating petition to run as an independent candidate for the appraiser. Berrios dropped the challenge of nominating Claypool after Berrios's lawyers examined 90,000 Claypool signatures, 65,000 more than required. Berrios won the November 2010 election with 46 percent of the vote in a field that also included Republican Sharon Strobeck-Eckersall. Claypool connects his defeat with his failure to get enough suburban support to offset the Berrios organization in Chicago.
Fundraising campaigns that exceed the County limits
The Appraisal of Berrios is investigated by the Board of Cook's Ethics Council for allegedly receiving excessive political contributions from lawyers applying property taxes prior to the Valuers and the Review Board. The Ethics Council sent a letter to 15 tax lawyers, warning that their donations to Berrios during the 2010 election cycle had exceeded the limitations of regional campaign contributions. Berrios' lawyers objected that the rule was "illegal", and Berrios sought an advisory opinion from the Cook County State Prosecutor. In February 2011, a Defense State Attorney Cook County wrote an advisory opinion that the Regional Council has no home rule authority to limit the contribution of the campaign to the assessors and applicable state campaign finance laws. County Council counsel advises that the limits of new contributions are unconstitutional. Cook County commissioners lowered the campaign's financial reform law and the Board of Ethics Board Cook dropped his investigation into Berrios's campaign contributions.
Hire and promote relatives and friends
A few days after taking office, Berrios hires his son, sister, and Jaconetty to work for him, taking them from the property tax appeal council. Family members receive an increase in their new positions. Berrios was also brought in from a staff member of the court of property tax court veterans, Felix Cardona Jr., treasurer for the Citizens for Maria A. Berrios, Berrios women's campaign committee. Asked whether the tenant confirmed past criticism, Berrios said: "I still win the election."
Patrick Blanchard, Inspector General of the area, and MaryNic Foster, Executive Director of the Board of Cook's Ethics Council, two leading county supervisors in County, issued a joint advocacy memo to Toni Preckwinkle County Council President, all 17 Cook County commissioners, and nine other elected district officials , including Berrios, warned them that employing relatives violated local ethics laws. The Board of Ethics Council Cook initiated an investigation into Berrios. The federal court appointed a lawyer who oversees the City of Chicago and Cook County in accordance with Shakman's decision, designed to prevent politics affecting most of the personnel decisions, filed objections to as many as 27 hirings and dismissal in the first month of Berrios administration from the office Assessor. On January 28, 2011, to meet County President President Preckwinkle's request to cut the overall budget by 16 percent to help cover the budget shortfall of $ 487 million, Berrios fired 53 employees, 48 ​​of whom were union members, but Berrios' Family remained on the list salary. On July 17, 2013, the Cook County Council approved $ 529,000 in settlements to 11 former employees of the Appraiser's office designated by the judgment-appointed judgment monitors Shakman had been illegally fired by Berrios for political reasons.
While consideration of the Board of Cook County Ethics about possible breaches of Berrios nepotism rule may be delayed, reports by WGN-TV, Better Government Association, and Chicago Magazine questioned Berrios's relationship with John J. Pikarski, Chairman of the Board, an old and famous real estate zoning lawyer. Pikarski's law firm has represented clients before the County Board of Review served by Berrios, and has donated thousands of dollars to Berrios political campaigns. One day after the launch of the joint investigation, Pikarski resigned.
In the final determination of June 20, 2012, the Board of Cook's Board of Ethics recommends that Berrios remove his sons and sisters from the County payroll and fined Berrios $ 10,000 ($ 5,000 for each of his two relatives). "For me it's no big deal, because I've been told by their state's lawyers not having power over us," Berrios said. The Editorial Chicago Tribune called Berrios' hired his relatives "a striking violation of the county's ethical rules." President of the City Council Preckwinkle said,
I always say throughout my political career that if you are in a public office, you should not hire your relatives. This is not right. And it leads to the perception that the government is only for friends and family. And it's not good or right.
Preckwinkle fired Foster in May 2013. "Joe is a political ally," Preckwinkle said.
Cook County State Prosecutor Anita Alvarez refused to represent Berrios or the Ethics Council on the issue of nepotism, citing conflict of interest. A Cook Circuit Court judge appoints an outside lawyer to represent Berrios before the Ethics Council commences in April 2011, and the company collects $ 4,773 for his work in September 2012. The Ethics Council rejects Berrios appeal for final determination. As of November 2012, 15 members of the Berrios family are on state or county salaries or receiving state or county pensions. Berrios topped the "Hall of Shame" category at "Chicago's Best and Worst Politicians of 2012" in the edition of Chicago Magazine in December 2012. The Ethics Council petitioned the court for a special prosecutor, and the judge appointed a lawyer and former Chicago Inspector General David H. Hoffman. In March 2013, Berrios has charged $ 24,716 for his defense of the Ethics Council decision. In April 2015, the judge ruled that the Ethics Council was not authorized to impose fines to the assessors. In June 2016, twelve Berrios relatives were government employees or received public pensions, totaling nearly $ 1.1 million per year.
Cook County homeowners are eligible for a property tax break in their main residence, but a manager in the Assessor's office is granted an exemption of the homeowner on two homes. In 2012, Cook County Inspector Blanchard called the office of the Penatator to search for documents relating to the exemption. Berrios disregarded the summons, claiming that the Regional Inspector General had no authority over it. Blanchard filed a lawsuit against Berrios. Berrios was represented in a lawsuit by Cook County District Attorney Alvarez. On 15 January 2014 a Cook County district court judge ruled that the Regional Inspector General had the authority to investigate the assessor and all selected Regional offices separately. On August 21, 2014, the judge decided the assessor should comply with the Inspector General's subpoena. On December 1, 2016, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Inspector General of Cook Region had the power to investigate the Cook District Appraiser, affirming two lower court decisions.
Business interests and personal life
Berrios is a partner with Sam Panayotovich at, and secretary, a lobbying company, B-P Consulting, Inc. with offices in Springfield and downtown Chicago. Lobbying clients include the Illinois Beverage Association licensed and the Illinois Coin Machinery Association, a manufacturer and distributor of video poker machines. Berrios is President of an insurance agent, J B Insurance - Consulting Inc. with offices in downtown Chicago.
Berrios lives in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood of Chicago's Northwest Side. She is the father of three children, including former Illinois State Representative Maria Antonia "Toni" Berrios.
References
External links
- Elect Joe Berrios, Friends of Joe Berrios website for Assessor, Illinois political action committee
- About Joseph Berrios, the official biography on the Cook County Assessor website
- the Joseph Berrios archive at Chicago Tribune
- Joe Berrios filed at Chicago Reader
- the Joseph Berrios archive at Chicago Reader
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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