Joseph Berrios
| Joseph Berrios | |
|---|---|
| Cook County Assessor | |
|
Assumed office December 6, 2010 |
|
| Preceded by | James Houlihan |
| Commissioner, Cook County Board of Review | |
|
In office 1988–2010 |
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| State Representative, Illinois General Assembly | |
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In office 1982–1988 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | February 14, 1952 |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence |
Chicago, Illinois United States
|
Joseph "Joe" Berrios (born February 14, 1952) is a Democratic politician who is the Assessor of Cook County, Illinois, and an Illinois state government lobbyist. One of seven children of Puerto Rican native parents, and raised in the Cabrini-Green public housing project, he became 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 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 before 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. 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.
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