CHICAGO (CN) — U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall sentenced ex-Chicago alderman Ed Burke to two years behind bars on Monday, along with imposing a $2 million fine and a year of supervised release, after a 5 1/2-hour-long hearing in Chicago's Everett M. Dirksen U.S. Courthouse brought Burke's 5-year legal saga to a close.
Kendall concluded that Burke's age, long public service career and acts of charity weighed in his favor against the 13 bribery, racketeering and extortion counts on which jurors convicted him last December. He was acquitted on only one charge federal prosecutors laid out in his 2019 indictment.
"I don't think there's a need for specific deterrence here ... he's no longer in office, he's no longer practicing law," Kendall said when delivering the sentence.
The charges against Burke stemmed from four episodes between 2016 and 2018 when prosecutors say he abused his considerable power in City Hall. Three of the incidents involved Burke trying to strongarm or bribe property and business owners into hiring his law firm Klafter & Burke, now rebranded as KBC Law Group. The fourth was when prosecutors say he threatened the management of Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History to get his goddaughter a job.
Attorneys debated how much money was implicated by Burke's bribery and extortion efforts; Kendall ultimately settled on a figure of $215,877.07 on Monday afternoon.
Burke accrued the political influence he needed to carry out his crimes over the course of decades, being the longest-serving city councilor in Chicago history. He occupied his south side aldermanic office from 1969 until 2023 after choosing not to run for reelection in 2022.
For some 30 years, he similarly led Chicago's committee on finance, which had great sway over what issues were brought before the City Council as a whole. Burke was also part of a larger white Democratic political machine — a complicated patronage network that was a dominant force in Chicago and Springfield for much of the 20th century.
His corruption charges echo the 23 bribery and racketeering counts currently faced by another former machine fixture, former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan. Burke worked closely with former Chicago city councilor and zoning committee chair Danny Solis, who became an FBI informant when the government investigated Burke and Madigan.
Solis secretly recorded conversations with Burke and Madigan in exchange for a sweetheart deferred prosecution deal with the feds on his own corruption allegations.
Burke had hoped to delay sentencing — or even get a new trial — pending a U.S. Supreme Court decision in Snyder v. USA, which deals with a bribery law relevant to his case.
Madigan won a six-month reprieve on his own trial as the high court justices mulled the issue. But when they delivered no Snyder decision by Friday, Kendall ruled that Burke's sentencing hearing would proceed as planned. The judge also tossed Burke's prior motion for acquittal or new trial on Friday evening.
Kendall nevertheless sided more closely with Burke's defense team in handing down the sentence. Prosecutors sought up to 10 years behind bars for the ex-alderman in their sentencing memorandum earlier this month; Burke and his defense team, quoting Shakespeare in his own sentencing memo, asked Kendall to impose no prison time at all.
"Shakespeare wrote that mercy blesses its giver and its recipient, and that mercy is 'enthroned in the hearts of kings,' and 'is an attribute to God himself,' such that 'earthly power doth then show likest God’s when mercy seasons justice,'" Burke wrote. "The court possess considerable earthly power and discretion to impose a just and merciful sentence."
As part of his argument, Burke provided the court with dozens of letters from allies and supporters attesting to his character and dedication to Chicago. The letter authors included faith leaders, Burke's constituents, law enforcement and prominent voices in Chicago politics. Never in her career, Judge Kendall said, had she seen the outpouring of support for a defendant that she saw in Burke's letters.
Prosecutors, however, took a cynical view on many of Burke's support letters: proof positive that Burke still had political power outside the courtroom.
"Burke no longer holds public office. But it is apparent from the character letters received so far and the reaction to Burke’s prosecution that there are those who lurk in the bowels of city government and walk in its corridors of power who are still strong allies of Burke — despite his 13 counts of conviction," prosecutors wrote in their memorandum.
U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker further argued Monday that Burke was an "opportunist" who should be held accountable for abusing the public's trust.
"He was the face of city government. He was in the position to set an example for good government," Streicker said.
"Thus in the government's view, Mr. Burke's career is not a mitigating factor," she added, but an aggravating one.
Echoing Streicker's point, not all the letters urged Kendall to show Burke mercy. One letter the court received on Friday, written by a "fed up Chicago taxpayer," asked Kendall to issue an even harsher sentence than that recommended by prosecutors.
"If you want to erode the public's confidence in the courts, then go light ... If you want to bolster the public's confidence in the courts, then dig deep and... give him the minimum 10 years that this thieving parasite has earned," the author wrote.
The positive letters seemed to have the greater effect on Kendall, who expressed feeling conflicted in deciding Burke's sentence. She said she had to weigh the seriousness of Burke's crimes against his long public service history and his record of good deeds in his community.
"I have the very difficult challenge of figuring out, who is this person," Kendall said.
"I have two years, four instances [of crimes] and 50 years of all this," she added, referring to the mass of letters.
Burke's wife Anne Burke, a former Illinois Supreme Court justice, made an appeal to Kendall's professed Catholic faith in her own letter to the court. The former justice said she sought compassion for the sake of her family.
"I pray that you call upon the Holy Spirit to give you compassion when deciding our future. Your compassion will also be needed in considering the lives of our children, their spouses, and our grandchildren," the former Illinois Supreme Court justice wrote.
Burke's defense attorney Charles Sklarsky repeated the appeal to faith on Monday, saying he deserved the court's compassion. "[Burke] spends his time doing the good deeds the theology says will get you into heaven," Sklarsky said.
Kendall decided that a heavy fine would be better redress for an 80-year-old ex-public official than the lengthy prison term prosecutors advocated. She noted Burke's fine would go into the crime victims fund, possibly benefit others who deserve restitution for the injustices they've suffered.
Burke himself came short of admitting fault when he spoke on his own behalf Monday, but he accepted blame for the situation. He told Kendall he hoped to spend whatever time he had left with his wife and family.
"The blame for this is mine and mine alone," Burke said. "I regret the pain and the sorrow that I have caused my family and my dear friends."
Following the hearing, he left the courthouse without addressing the press.
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