FAMILY TIES:
Preckwinkle’s administration hired Burke’s son to a nearly $100,000-a-year county job.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s administration hired powerful Ald. Edward Burke’s son to a nearly $100,000-a-year county job in 2014, newly released records show.
Personnel records released by the county in response to a Tribune public records request show Preckwinkle’s administration hired Edward Burke Jr. as training and exercise manager for the county’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department.
Preckwinkle’s ties to Burke have come under scrutiny amid the powerful alderman’s federal legal troubles and her candidacy for Chicago mayor. In the weeks since the FBI raided Burke’s City Hall and ward offices, Preckwinkle has sought to distance herself from the alderman, returning thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and saying she has had “little contact and no relationship with the alderman” despite him having hosted a fundraiser for her last January at his home.
In a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday, federal authorities alleged that Burke illegally solicited a campaign donation from an executive with a fast-food restaurant company for an unnamed politician that sources revealed was Preckwinkle. Preckwinkle’s campaign said she personally didn’t know about the donation or the alleged extortion efforts. She has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Personnel records from the 1990s show Burke Jr. worked for Pete Andrews, one of Ald. Burke’s top aides, in the 14th Ward political organization. He also worked for the Cook County Forest Preserve police from 1991 to 2001, then spent the next eight years as a real estate agent in Florida, a copy of his resume shows.
Later, Burke Jr. worked for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart from 2009 until his hire with Preckwinkle’s administration, records show.
Burke Jr. did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
In a statement, Preckwinkle spokeswoman Becky Schlikerman did not directly address a question about Preckwinkle’s role in the hire but said Burke Jr. “was hired by the executive director, at the time, of the Cook County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.”
“He was hired by the Cook County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management as the training and exercise manager due to his experience in law enforcement,” Schlikerman said. “All Shakman-exempt employees have to meet the minimum qualifications and the hire has to be approved by the compliance officer and the chief of human resources.”
The Shakman decree is a decades-old court order banning political considerations in hiring and firing except for specific jobs that are ruled exempt. The county was freed from Shakman supervision last fall, after a court-appointed administrator agreed that the county is in “substantial compliance” with longstanding prohibitions against patronage.
Preckwinkle’s human resources chief offered Burke Jr. the training job with the administration on Dec. 5, 2014, records show. The Shakman compliance officer, the human resources head and then-chief of staff Kim Foxx all signed off on the hire, records show.
According to the job description, Burke Jr. was responsible for planning, developing, coordinating and evaluating the emergency response training and exercise activities for the emergency management agency. Primarily, that included “designing and implementing an integrated training and exercise program,” evaluating all exercises and real event responses, modifying and improving emergency plans, developing retraining activities and coordinating with other county departments.
The preferred qualifications indicated that the candidate should have a master’s degree in emergency management, public safety administration or training and organizational development, the posting said. Burke Jr. has a bachelor’s in criminal justice from Lewis University in Romeoville, according to records he submitted to the county.
County records also show that Burke Jr. came under scrutiny during his tenure with the homeland security department for hours he claimed to have worked. In October 2017, Burke was asked to submit “some type of work related email” as proof that he had worked on specific dates from December 2016 to April 2017, records show.
Responding via email, Burke asked, “Are the written timesheets not enough?”
“No, they need documented proof that you were working,” an executive assistant in the department replied.
Burke responded that he had sent an email saying, “I can’t help any further. I have submitted an email stating I was working on those dates and there is a documented official time sheet that also reflects it. If further proof is needed, I cannot give it. They can act accordingly and I will respond.”
On Dec. 20, 2017, a deputy director in the department wrote to human resources officials to say Burke Jr. was planning to leave his position for reasons the county redacted.
Burke Jr. formally resigned May 1, 2018, and was by then paid $110,000 a year. Records released by Cook County do not show why he left.