Jury selection begins in ex-Chicago Alderman Edward Burke’s high-stakes federal corruption trial

CHICAGO — Nearly five years after he was first charged, ex-Chicago Ald. Edward Burke went 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.

Burke arrived at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse at about 8:40 a.m. dressed in a dark suit and tan coat, without wearing his trademark fedora. He took his seat in U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall’s 25th Floor courtroom surrounded by his high-powered legal team. His wife, former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, was sitting behind him in the front row of the gallery.

Before the first panel of jurors was brought in, Burke’s lawyer, Chris Gair, asked about the large wall display on the 25th floor featuring famous public corruption cases at the courthouse through the years, including former Govs. Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan. Could it be take down or covered up so jurors don’t see it?

Kendall said she’d look into it.

Shortly after 9 a.m., a pool of 53 prospective jurors began live questioning. After another Burke attorney, Joseph Duffy introduced Burke to the jury pool, the former alderman stood and nodded and said, “Good morning.”

When the judge asked the potential jurors if anyone knew Burke, a woman raised her hand and said she knows him from “the country club,” presumably meaning the Beverly Country Club, which was staked out by the FBI as part of the investigation. Kendall said they would ask about it more specifically when it’s the woman’s turn to be interviewed.

The process has so far gone slowly, with only three jurors being questioned in the first hour. The judge has said they need to get about 44 jurors who make it through “for cause” strikes before proceeding to the next phase.

The first potential juror, a man from Uptown, said he was a bar and restaurant auditor originally from Wisconsin. The judge asked him whether he knew who his alderman was? “Not off the top of my head,” he said.

Juror No. 2 was a 7th grade teacher from the Northwest Side who is originally from Pittsburgh. She said she watches the news and knew about Burke going on trial, but has not formed any opinions. Also, she had a poodle named Cosmos.

Juror No. 3, an Army veteran and retired Metra train conductor from Harvey who doubles as a professional dee jay, had the courtroom laughing, saying he’s “one of the best” with a microphone before giving a little of his shtick: “Turn the lights down low and hey baby, here we go!”

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.

Prospective jurors who live in Chicago were asked if they knew who their alderman was; generally, they answered that they did not. A few said they had heard of Burke, but didn’t know details about his case.

Two prospective jurors with connections to the alcohol industry were questioned about possible connections to Binny’s Beverage Depot, a chain of liquor stores that plays a role in the charges against Cui. Binny’s had allegedly drastically cut its lease with one of Cui’s developments on the Northwest Side because the city had denied use of a stand-alone pole sign previously used by a bank at the location.

Cui is accused of hiring Burke’s law firm in exchange for Burke’s help behind the scenes at City Hall. While the sign permit failed despite Burke’s alleged efforts, the alderman ended up voting in favor of several other measures involving Cui’s property in the weeks that followed.

Burke sat quietly at the defense table, occasionally fidgeting or rifling through paperwork but, for the most part, sitting still and looking straight ahead.

Kendall broke for lunch at 12:30 p.m., after three hours of questioning.

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 Ald. 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 Ald. 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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