A defiant Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios vowed to become the most corrupt politician in Cook County history on Tuesday and called for other county officials to join with him in this effort.
In an exclusive interview with The Chicago Dope, Berrios noted that backscratching and nepotism were nothing new to him and that his campaign platform pledged more of the same kind of double-dealing that made him infamous while on the Board of Review, which handles property tax appeals.
Berrios said the questions surrounding him wouldn’t look as bad if the county’s government was as morally flexible as it used to be. He said the county’s ethics ordinance should be altered so it requires bribery, political connections and patronage.
He also promised to implement a ghost payrolling scheme and engage in influence peddling the likes of which haven’t been seen in the county for decades.
“Look, people had a choice in the last election. They could’ve gone with that do-gooder Forrest Claypool but they chose an old machine guy like me. You think it’s easy to pull the wool over the eyes of that many voters? The county machine isn’t as strong as it used to be, you know, but we need to change that.” Berrios said. “What really matters is the people have spoken and they opted for more cronyism, nepotism and questionable ethics.”
The county ethics board is investigating Berrios’ hiring practices for possible ethics violations, as county officials are barred from hiring relatives whom they would supervise. When Berrios became assessor, he fired several staffers within the assessor’s office and replaced them with cronies and six family members. Despite facing a 16 percent budget cut and laying off 53 employees this year, Berrios still gave his daughter a $10,000 raise.
“Obviously the ethics board must have confidence in me as an old-school machine politician, otherwise they wouldn’t be investigating me. I hired my kids while on the Board of Review and now I did it again. It’s important to know I can count on my staff to not blow the whistle on anything I might do as assessor,” Berrios said. “I need people who know how to keep their mouths shut or at least look the other way now and then.”
The new changes will include creating government jobs for his entire extended family and offering paybacks to large contributors to his campaign fund. A $10,000 donation, for example, would result in a $10,000 cut in a property owner’s assessment. Donations of $100,000 or more would allow the contributor to get a member of their family a job in the assessor’s office.
Berrios faced allegations of ignoring campaign contribution limits, peddling clout and engaging in pay-to-play politics while on the Board of Review. Berrios said he’s also not above using his connections with the Illinois General Assembly to benefit any business or interest group, as long as he gets a taste of the action.
While on the board, Berrios doubled as a lobbyist for the video poker industry and convinced the state legislature to legalize video poker. Berrios said this never would’ve been happened without his cozy relationship with other Democrats, such as Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton. Berrios noted the two lawmakers ran the video poker bill through the legislature with little notice and no public hearings.
“Both Madigan and Cullerton have law firms that handle tax appeal cases before the Board of Review, which I was on. Now, if they go my way on video poker does that mean I was more likely to give their clients a break on property taxes?” Berrios said with a laugh. “Maybe I should be winking right now.”
Berrios said the county’s ethics board should either be abolished or replaced with a patronage and bribery commission to act as an arbitration board, for discrepancies when someone bribing a public official believes their investment didn’t pay off. He believed this would make county officials immune from prosecution and protect them from any whistleblowers.
“If all corruption is done out in the open, then we can’t get busted because it’ll all be disclosed. The fact that voters elected me proves they wouldn’t pay attention to anything the bribery commission would reveal anyway,” Berrios said. “As someone who is already under a cloud, the only way I can become the biggest crook in county history is if everyone else is along for the ride.”
Marcus Manfred is an enigma. A simple and complex man who was raised by wolves in the lower upper part of the eastern west. He is more than you think and less than you know. He is the solution to every question you have ever asked, as long as the answer is three. 
