Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Chicago alderman charged in scheme
CHICAGO — A longtime member of Chicago’s City Council was accused Thursday in federal court of trying to shake down a fast-food restaurant seeking city remodeling permits. Alderman Ed Burke, 75, is charged with one count of attempted extortion for conveying to company executives in 2017 that they’d get the permits if they signed on as clients at Burke’s private property-tax law firm in Chicago, the 37-page complaint says. A conviction carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. Burke, a Democrat, is one of the last of the old Chicago machine politicians. He’s been on the council for 50 years and has been chairman of its finance committee for the past three decades. A message seeking comment left at Burke’s law office was not returned. Burke said after FBI raids on his offices at City Hall and in his southwest side ward in November that he was sure agents wouldn’t find anything “amiss.” The complaint, which does not identify the fast-food company or the executives allegedly squeezed, includes excerpts from wiretaps of Burke’s phone and emails seized in the raids. When the executives didn’t give Burke’s law firm the business he wanted, Burke spoke with one of his ward employees about how they would “play hard” ball with the company, the complaint says. Burke joins a long list of Chicago lawmakers charged criminally, including former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is serving a 14-year prison term on multiple federal corruption convictions.