Long-time Chicago Alderman Ed Burke and Charles Cui were found guilty on all counts (except for conspiracy) in his federal trial. At ABC 7 Chicago Sarah Schulte, Craig Wall, and Chuck Goudie report:
CHICAGO (WLS) — Former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke was found guilty of all counts except for one in his federal corruption case Thursday.
The former Chicago alderman faced 14 counts, including racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion.
The case against the once-most powerful member of the Chicago City Council centered around him using his public position for private gain.
“Burke has his hand out for money. He tied the giving of official action by him to the giving of money in 3 different corrupt episodes,” said US Attorney Morris Pasqual.
Burke was chairman of the powerful Finance Committee. The context of this case is that he was fingered by an FBI informant. The Speaker of the Illinois House and chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, Mike Madigan, is also facing trial on charges of corruption. The “Chicago 4”, those accused of bribing Mr. Madigan, have already been convicted.
I have several points to make. First, it is impossibly naive to believe that the charges on which Mssrs. Burke and Madigan were arrested are their only corrupt acts. Second, it is simply not credible that such corruption could have persisted without the knowledge not just of their colleagues but of a compliant media. You will not hear it from the Chicago media but they knew. They had to know.
In Mr. Madigan’s instance it strains credulity to believe that he might have been chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party for 40 years without high-ranking national Democrats and the media being aware of the corruption and looking the other way as long as he delivered.
So, what’s next? I expect a number of appeals in the case to the 7th Circuit. I don’t expect them to succeed. Then it will begin to get interesting. How long will Mr. Burke, knowing what he knows, survive in federal jail? That gives him two unpalatable alternatives: the prospect of meeting with an unfortunate accident in jail or rolling on, essentially, the entire Democratic Party apparatus. Burke is 79. Any sentence is likely to be a life sentence. Maybe he’ll die before he goes to prison.
