‘It felt like a shakedown’; Witness challenged by defense about meeting with Ald. Ed Burke on Burger King renovation
A former executive involved in the remodeling of a Southwest Side Burger King testified Wednesday that an early meeting about the project where then-Ald. Edward Burke demanded charitable donations and other concessions “felt like a shakedown.”
Jeff MacDonald, who was in charge in the early stages of the renovation of the restaurant in Burke’s 14th Ward, also told the jury in Burke’s corruption trial that the alderman asked him at the end of the March 2017 meeting who did the property tax work for MacDonald’s Houston-based bosses.
MacDonald testified his response to Burke was “that I didn’t know, and that it was probably done out of Houston,” adding that Burke seemed “irritated” and the whole meeting, which was also attended by Burke’s longtime ward aide Peter Andrews Jr., made him “uncomfortable.”
Lawyers for the defense seized on those comments in cross examination, however, pointing out that MacDonald had never mentioned anything about Burke’s alleged inquiry into property tax work when he was interviewed at length by the FBI in April 2019.
MacDonald, who at the time was regional director of Downers Grove-based Tri-City Foods, also had not mentioned it in any of the emails he sent to colleagues about the 2017 meeting with Burke, even though he’d listed other issues the powerful alderman had raised, such as an outdated driveway permit and trucks parking in the Burger King lot overnight.
In fact, the first time MacDonald mentioned it to anybody was just a few weeks ago when he was interviewed in preparation for his trial testimony, attorney Patrick Blegen, who represents Andrews, pointed out, showing MacDonald the interview report.
“Are you the kind of person whose memory gets better the further away you get from an event?” Blegen asked somewhat rhetorically, leading the judge to sustain an objection from prosecutors.
Blegen suggested MacDonald came up with new information after reading stories about the charges against Burke in the newspaper.
Fumbling a bit for answers, MacDonald admitted he “knew (the case) involved Burger King and the remodel,” but not specifically anything about Burke requesting tax appeal work.
Burke’s attorney, Chris Gair, also took aim at MacDonald’s claim that Burke’s request for donations to local charities such as the Greater Chicago Food Depository and the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council were somehow untoward, as well as his comment in an email that driveway permits were just “another money grab” by the city.
“You used the term ‘shakedown’ for a philanthropic request for the Chicago Food Depository. ... Did you know that they serve 77 million meals a year to hungry people in Chicago?” Gair asked.
“I didn’t know that,” MacDonald said.
The second suggestion from Burke was “to hire young people who needed work” that had been sent over by the Back of the Yards group, Gair noted.
“I recall he mentioned it as a potential philanthropic opportunity,” MacDonald said after a long pause.
“You didn’t actually feel that that was a shakedown did you sir?” Gair said.
“It felt like a shakedown,” MacDonald insisted.
Gair also asked MacDonald about a law enforcement report showing he’d recently told agents that another, unidentified alderman once hit him up to buy a table at a political fundraiser. MacDonald testified he didn’t remember saying that.
“Sir, do you have memory issues?” Gair asked.
Prosecutors objected and it was sustained.
MacDonald was among nearly a dozen witnesses called so far in the Burger King episode, one of four alleged schemes outlined in the racketeering indictment against Burke.
According to the charges, when the owners of the Burger King dragged their feet on hiring Burke’s firm to do property tax appeals, Burke allegedly enlisted the help of Andrews to shut down the renovation project over drummed-up permit issues.
Also testifying Wednesday were two witnesses from the architectural firm that worked on the renovation, as well as two underlings who dealt with the Burger King permit issue at the city’s Department of Buildings.
Late in the day, prosecutors called Judy Frydland, the former Buildings commissioner, who also factors into other episodes in the indictment involving the Old Post Office renovation and a Binny’s Beverage Depot pole sign application.
Frydland, who stepped down in 2020 after a three-decade career at City Hall, testified her dealings with Burke were limited to “hellos” in the hallways and maybe a dozen phone conversations where he wanted to talk about a Buildings Department issue in his ward.
She said aldermen often called her department with complaints or other items, but it was “neighbor disputes” — not the aldermen — that were the toughest to handle.
“They couldn’t shut down the project could they?” asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Chapman.
“No, but they did call every single day,” she said, drawing laughter in the courtroom.
In November 2017, Frydland did meet with one the Burger King owners, as well as the architect, Warren Johnson, about the project, but she said it was largely a meet-and-greet and the permitting issues they’d had were only briefly touched on.
Her testimony is expected to continue Thursday.
Burke, 79, who served 54 years as alderman before leaving the City Council in May, 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.
Andrews, 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, Lake Forest developer Charles Cui, 52, is not charged as part of the Burger King episode. He’s facing counts of federal program bribery, using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity, and making a false statement to the FBI.
The high-profile trial, which has been twice delayed by COVID-19 issues since beginning Nov. 6, is still on track to finish before the Christmas holiday. Prosecutors told U.S. District Virginia Kendall they expect to rest their case in chief by Tuesday.
Prosecutors spent much of Wednesday diving into the nitty-gritty bureaucracy involved with the permitting process at City Hall, including whether the owners who had acquired the 14th Ward Burger King had properly reapplied for a driveway permit before starting the renovation.
On Oct. 26, 2017, after Andrews ordered the Burger King construction site shut down, Johnson, the architect, frantically emailed Buildings Department employee Hal Hutchinson and others, saying he found it to be a “quite disturbing” power move by the alderman’s office.
“This does not seem right that Burke can shut this project down” since they had their permit, the email read.
Hutchinson looked into it but could not find any evidence of a stop work order issued by the Buildings Department, and told Johnson to take it up with Burke, according to his trial testimony.
On cross examination by Andrews’ attorney Todd Pugh, Hutchinson acknowledged the email from Johnson had mistakenly referenced special use permits, which have to do with the Burger King drive-thru, not the driveways.
The defense has contended that the driveway issue was of legitimate concern to the alderman’s office as it would expose the city to liability if the permit was not current.
The highlight the Burger King testimony this week came from Zohaib Dhanani, a vice president for the company founded by his father, Dhanani Group, which owned about 160 Burger Kings in the Chicago area, including the one being renovated in Burke’s ward.
Dhanani was among a series of witnesses to paint Burke as wearing two hats, both as the City Council’s most powerful and longest-serving alderman and as a private lawyer prowling for business for his firm, Klafter & Burke.
Dhanani was asked Tuesday about a phone call he had with Burke on June 27, 2017, two weeks after he and his father met with Burke at the Burger King site on South Pulaski Road, where they talked about a driveway permit as well as complaints about trucks parking overnight in the lot.
It was after that meeting that Burke took the Dhananis to lunch at the Beverly Country Club and first pitched his law firm to them, according to testimony.
In the call, Burke got down to brass tacks, saying, “We were going to talk about the real estate tax representation and you were going to have somebody get in touch with me so we can expedite your permits,” Burke said.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Burke, what was that last part?” Dhanani responded.
Dhanani told Burke he would follow up with the architect about the necessary driveway permit and “have somebody from our Houston office reach out to you regarding the property taxes” since that wasn’t something he normally handled.
“OK, good,” Burke said. “I look forward to hearing from you and thanks for being responsive.”
Though steps were taken by Dhanani group to give business to Burke, no deal was ever finalized, according to testimony.
