Someone ran a Valentine for Berrios as a tongue-in-cheek classified ad in the Sun-Times ...and Joe's heart grew three times that day. more ›

Newspaper editorial boards rarely touch on private spats or take a swing at individuals. But this is Chicago and the Sun-Times was writing about the controversial County Assessor, so all bets were off this week. more ›

The Sun-Times reports today on an appellate court judge who claims Berrios is making it hard for him to be re-elected. more ›

County Assessor Joe Berrios is at it again, this time giving his daughter a $10,000 a year pay raise as other employees are required to take 10 unpaid furlough days. more ›

County Assessor Joe Berrios is facing more criticism, but not over nepotism this time. El Jefe del Partido Demócrata del Condado de Cook refuses to return thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from tax attorneys, citing that state law trumps a county rule that limits campaign contributions. more ›

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has made clear that the county government needs to make tough cuts to balance a $470 million budget deficit. County Assessor Joe Berrios has complied by laying off 53 workers from his department. But readers familiar with Berrios' records should not be surprised that his sister, son and daughter were not among those laid off. And Berrios found room in his department budget to hire a woman who's long been rumored to have more than a professional relationship with him, as well as her son. more ›

Gene Schulter's decision not to run for re-election makes the number of aldermen leaving City Council to 11. more ›

By now we know that Joe Berrios has something resembling an enemies list. But what about those who he makes enemies of? Berrios's firings of former Assessor Jim Houlihan's staff and the hirings of others, including his son and sister, may be in violation of the Shakman Decrees. more ›

As the residency challenges to Rahm Emanuel's candidacy continue, Carol Marin's most recent Sun-Times op-ed raises some interesting questions regarding who might have sicced election law attorney Burt Odelson on Emanuel. Read on and you'll see that, as Studs Terkel once told Art Shay, it's all connected, isn't it? more ›

Now that Joe Berrios (and his immediate family) are ensconced in the County Assessor's office, Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Tim Evans has to nominate a successor to fill Berrios's former seat at the County Board of Review. Michael Sneed reported that 47th Ward Alderman Eugene Schulter has his eye on filling the vacancy, even though he filed to run for reelection with the Board of Elections. There's one roadblock in place if Schulter wants to abandon the City Council ship. Schulter backed Forrest Claypool in his failed campaign for Assessor. Joe Berrios is chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party and recently discussed with Evans what he felt were the necessary requirements for the job. See where this is going? more ›

Just a few weeks after the news that Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios hired his son and sister, county Inspector General Patrick Blanchard and ethics board chief MaryNic Foster have issued a two-page "advisory" cautioning against hiring family members. While the report was not aimed directly at Berrios, the timing of the advisory, along with the fact that Berrios was among the recipients of the memo has forced Berrios's office to defend the hiring. more ›

Remember in the weeks leading up to last month's election and many thought Forrest Claypool had Joe Berrios on the ropes in the race for County Assessor? How Berrios responded with campaign ads telling voters to "support the Democrat" and painting Claypool as a bogeyman? more ›

Forrest Claypool, who launched an independent bid against Democrat Joe Berrios for Cook County Tax Assessor, lost last night. Claypool told WBEZ that he was counting on the suburban "protest" vote to put him over the top. Unfortunately for Claypool, that vote never materialized, putting Berrios firmly in the assessor's seat. more ›

In a press conference held just in time to be upstaged by Tom Dart's announcement that he's not running for mayor, Forrest Claypool, who is running against Joe Berrios for county tax assessor, released a review of where taxes breaks have been granted in the county. more ›

Cook County Democratic Party Chairman and County Assessor candidate Joe Berrios launched an attack ad against challenger Forrest Claypool that essentially has nothing to do with the race itself and everything to do with scaring voters to "support the Democrat." more ›

Joe Berrios, who is running for Cook County Assessor, announced in a press release that he received the "Nod From Latino Elected Officials," yesterday. "Joe Berrios has spent his career in public service working to level the playing field for the minority communities," said 4th District Congressman Luis Gutierrez. "He will continue that work when he becomes Cook County's next assessor, making sure that everyone is treated equally, no matter their color or income level." more ›

Democratic Cook County Assessor candidate Joe Berrios is really getting worked up over the challenge he's received from independent candidate Forrest Claypool. Maybe it stems from that Chicago magazine piece or Berrios' complaint with the IRS against the Better Government Association in connection with the piece. Whatever the case, Berrios has brought the sass in his latest press release addressing Claypool and his rich donors, name-checking some that were found on that Forbes list we posted on yesterday. In the statement, Berrios goes after Claypool for having a bunch of Richie Rich donors, dripping with so much sarcasm that we imagine he was doing the two-finger air quotes gesture while dictating the statement to his campaign's press liaison. more ›

You know it's going to be a crazy, wide-open race for mayor when someone makes news for saying he's not running for the office. Forrest Claypool, already ensconced in a battle for Cook County Assessor, said he thought about it but ultimately decided against running for mayor. "I took 24 hours to think about it. But I've decided the race I'm in is too important to leave. It's an opportunity for voters to take a stand against the insider culture that's bankrupted our state and polluted our politics." Claypool, an outgoing Cook County Commissioner and an independent on the ballot, is locked in a heated battle with incumbent Joe Berrios. Berrios spokesman Manuel Galvan took a shot at Claypool, saying, "Obviously, Forrest is already focusing on the mayor's race. We have the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez and will be rolling out periodic endorsements on our schedule, not Claypool's timetable." more ›

Chicago Magazine and the Better Government Association have teamed up on a thorough investigation into the political career and conflicts of interest of Democratic Cook County Assessor's Office nominee/Cook County Democratic Party chairman Joseph Berrios. Berrios has long been the subject of conflicts of interest: in his 22 years sitting on the Cook County Board of Review, Berrios has long received campaign contributions from tax attorneys who later present property tax appeals before him for review. Berrios's second job is as a property tax lobbyist in Springfield, which is another potential (outright?) conflict of interest. more ›

Forrest Claypool, who's running as an independent for Cook County Assessor, launched www.joeberrios.com on Monday, to "highlight the abysmal record of Cook County’s most notorious insider politician." In a statement to the press, Claypool campaign manager Tom Bowen said "voters can see the complete record of Joe Berrios in all its infamy. Whether it’s tax breaks for politically-connected insiders, investigations for corruption, massive tax increases, or lobbying for the liquor and gaming industry, Joe has done it all while we pay the price.” Bowen notes that "over the course of more than 20 years of public office, Berrios has endured countless investigations for corruption, ghost payrolling, improper hiring, and sweetheart contracts," while giving property tax breaks to campaign donors and backing Todd Stroger's tax hikes in Cook County. more ›

In an email to supporters yesterday evening, Cook County Commissioner and independent candidate for county assessor Forrest Claypool announced he will be on the ballot this fall, after Board of Review Commissioner Joseph Berrios decided not to challenge the 90,000 signatures Claypool filed to get on the ballot. "It would be irresponsible to subject either the public authorities or our opponent to the cost, time and effort of litigation, perhaps all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court," Berrios spokesman Manuel Galvan told Chicago Current. "The notion that a review by the Berrios campaign is a definitive assessment of the quality of our campaign’s work is laughable," said Claypool's campaign manager Tom Bowen. more ›

Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool made official his intention to run as an independent candidate for county assessor yesterday, bringing the obscure and byzantine world of property taxes front and center this election season. "Those of us who've been fighting for years to change Cook County government are not willing to stand by and concede this office to Joe Berrios and the insider politics he represents," said Claypool at the Hotel Allegro where he made his announcement. "If elected the independent assessor of Cook County, I'll continue to stand up for taxpayers - not big businesses or their clout-heavy law firms. I'll start by declaring my independence from the tax appeal lawyers who fund Joe Berrios. ... I pledge to you today: I will not take their money," he said. more ›

Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool will announce his bid as an independent candidate for Cook County Assessor this morning. “I didn’t expect to be a candidate,” Claypool told Carol Marin last week. “But I was angered and surprised someone like Joe Berrios with record low turnout could slip in with 39 percent of the vote . . . carried over the finish line by ward bosses.” Claypool announced in January that he was leaving county government last year, opting instead to head to the private sector to work on his new health care venture. Since then Toni Preckwinkle won the Democratic nomination for Cook County Board President, a seat Claypool once hoped for, and Berrios won the nomination for county assessor as Jim Houlihan leaves office. Houlihan, who's clashed with both Berrios and State Dem chairman Michael Madigan to ensure that tax assessments in Cook County are fair, has warned that Berrios and his pals are trying to manipulate the vote by delaying this year's tax bills, which are expected to be significantly higher. more ›

One of the more contentious races in Tuesday's election is at the Cook County Board of Review, where incumbent Joe Berrios is facing a stiff challenge in trial lawyer Jay Paul Deratany. For many homeowners throughout Cook County, the Board of Review is their best chance at finding relief from both the monster property tax increases proposed by Mayor Daley and the County Board and the skyrocketing assessments of County Assessor Jim Houlihan. more ›