Perez was recognized in 2001 for his willingness to challenge the entrenched Hartford political machine and form a multi-party coalition focused on reforming the city government.

In 1969 the Pérez family moved with Eddie and his eight siblings to Hartford, Connecticut, which at the time had a growing Puerto Rican community.

[citation needed] The family moved 14 times between the Clay Arsenal and Frog Hollow neighborhoods while Perez was growing up.

[6] In 1999, Perez became the president of the Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance, an organization sponsored by Trinity College and Hartford Hospital.

[7][5] In his first run for political office in 2001, Eddie Pérez made history as the first Hispanic American to become mayor of a New England capital.

A native of Puerto Rico, Pérez also broke new political ground by forging a bipartisan coalition of community activists and corporate leaders that contributed to his landslide victory.

"There was no sense of building social, economic, and cultural capital as Americans, "he told the New York Times shortly after his election, "We have to begin to rebuild that foundation.

The second case involved attempted larceny by extortion; it was alleged that Perez tried to coerce a Hartford businessman into paying a bribe to a friendly politician.

[17] On July 14, 2016, the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld the December 2013 decision of the Connecticut Appellate Court overturning Pérez's conviction on charges of bribery, fabricating evidence, and conspiracy to fabricate evidence in connection with the failed development of a vacant site, and improvements to his home by a city contractor,[18] and vacated his sentence.

In 2017 Perez pleaded guilty to avoid facing two lengthy and expensive trials with little chance of success (his previous conviction only being thrown out on a technicality).