Edwin Reyes was the

Cook County Commissioner The Cook County Board of Commissioners is a legislative body made up of 17 commissioners who are elected by district, and a president who is elected county-wide, all for four-year terms. Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, is the Uni ...

for the County’s

8th district 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of the ...

, in northwest

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He held the position as a Democrat from 2009–2014.

Education

Reyes attended Northern Illinois University in the early 1980s, after which he enlisted in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

from 1983-1986 on active duty and eventually earned his bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts from

Northeastern Illinois University Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois. NEIU serves approximately 9,000 students in the region and is a Hispanic-serving institution. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park wi ...

in 1996.

Political career

Reyes served as Chief of Staff for Chicago Alderman Rey Colón from 2003–2004. From 2006–2009, Reyes served as a state trooper on the security detail for governor

Rod Blagojevich Rod Blagojevich ( , born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nicknames "Blago" or "B-Rod", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when ...

County Commissioner

One of Reyes' first official votes as commissioner was to override John Stroger's veto of a sales

tax cut A tax cut represents a decrease in the amount of money taken from taxpayers to go towards government revenue. Tax cuts decrease the revenue of the government and increase the disposable income of taxpayers. Tax cuts usually refer to reductions in ...

in 2009. During the 2010 election, Reyes listed his top three priorities as healthcare access, violence prevention, and educational resources. The

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

declined to endorse him that year, reporting that "Reyes answers to the men who sent him, Democratic bosses

Dick Mell Richard F. "Dick" Mell (born May 5, 1938) is an American politician. A Democrat, he served on the Chicago City Council from 1975 to 2013. He retired in 2013 and was succeeded by Deb Mell, his daughter. Early life Mell was born and raised in Muske ...

and Joseph Berrios." In 2013, Reyes supported a $25 tax on gun sales proposed by Toni Preckwinkle.Donovan, Lisa. "Cook County’s special gun tax kicks in Monday." Chicago Sun-Times, May 2, 2013.
/ref> Reyes chaired the committees on veterans and law enforcement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyes, Edwin Puerto Rican people in Illinois politics American politicians of Puerto Rican descent Illinois Democrats Living people Members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners United States Air Force airmen Year of birth missing (living people) Northeastern Illinois University alumni