Nearly five years after he was first charged, ex-Chicago Ald. Edward Burke is set to go on trial Monday in a high-stakes corruption case that will lay bare the inner workings of one of the city’s last Democratic machine politicians.
Burke’s historic trial is the latest in a series of public corruption cases built by prosecutors that have fundamentally altered the Illinois political landscape. The son of a Democratic ward boss and alderman, Burke, 79, served more than five decades on the City Council and allegedly ran the Finance Committee like his own personal fiefdom before his office was dramatically raided by the FBI in November 2018.
A pool of 50 prospective jurors is expected to begin live questioning in the 25th floor courtroom of U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall, a former federal prosecutor who inherited the case after the previous judge took a job with the U.S. Supreme Court.
The jury pool, which was prescreened for the ability to sit for the potentially six-week trial, filled out lengthy questionnaires at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Friday, answering questions about their knowledge of the case, their feelings about politicians, and other potential biases.
Live questioning of prospective jurors will likely take at least two days, with Kendall asking initial questions and each side getting the chance to follow up with specific issues. Opening statements in the case could come as soon as Wednesday.
Monday’s proceedings will mark the first time Burke has stepped foot in the federal courthouse since his arraignment on the indictment on June 4, 2019, shortly after Burke had been sworn in for a record 13th full term as alderman.
On that day, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot reiterated calls for Burke to resign, but he refused, hanging on to his longtime seat in the City Council until finally stepping down in May after deciding not to run for reelection.
Burke is charged with 14 counts including racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity.
Burke’s longtime ward aide, Peter Andrews Jr., 73, is charged with one count of attempted extortion, one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, two counts of using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity, and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.
A third defendant, real estate developer Charles Cui, 52, of Lake Forest, is charged with one count of federal program bribery, three counts of using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity, and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.
All three have pleaded not guilty.
At the heart of the indictment are more than a hundred secretly recorded meetings and phone calls allegedly showing Burke using his elected office to win benefits for himself, mostly through business for his private law firm. The four main schemes contained in the indictment allege:
— Burke threatened to use his official office to corruptly induce the developer of the Old Post Office to hire his law firm, Klafter & Burke, for property tax appeals.
— Burke and Andrews attempted to shake down two Texas-based business owners for law firm work after they came to Burke for help with a Burger King restaurant they were renovating in the 14th Ward.
— Burke attempted to intercede at City Hall on a sign permit issue important to Cui’s development in Portage Park after Cui agreed to hire Klafter & Burke.
— Burke threatened officials at the Field Museum to hold up their request for a fee increase at City Hall because he was angry they had ignored an application for an unpaid internship submitted by the daughter of Burke’s longtime friend, former alderman Terry Gabinski.
Burke’s high-powered defense team, meanwhile, will try to show that Burke’s maneuvering was nothing more than politics as usual. In fact, Burke is not charged with performing a single official act as alderman in exchange for anything of value, and some of the projects he allegedly put his thumb on the scale for weren’t even in his ward, his attorneys have argued.
The crux of Burke’s defense will likely be to knock down former alderman Daniel Solis, who was caught in his own corruption scheme before agreeing in 2016 to become an FBI mole and secretly record Burke and others over a period of nearly two years.
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Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
