In Ald. Ed Burke’s ward, conviction greeted with shrugs and cheers

Michele Ryba credits former Ald. Edward Burke with the fact she feels safe walking to the CTA Orange Line at dawn.

For her, the quality of life in the Southwest Side’s 14th Ward is more important than the corruption case federal prosecutors brought against the ward’s former longtime alderman that resulted in Burke’s conviction Thursday on all but one of the 14 counts that he used his public position to extort businesses.

On a recent night, Ryba, 61, considered whether a guilty verdict would make her think differently about Burke’s legacy. She took several moments, then shook her head.

“I can’t say it wouldn’t matter if he committed a crime, but he was a good alderman and he got things done for the ward,” she said.

And therein lies the pro and the con that makes Burke’s case intensely local yet also ubiquitous across Chicago as alderman across the city for generations have been pinched by the feds.

[ Ex-Ald. Ed Burke convicted on 13 of 14 counts at landmark federal corruption trial ]

An alderman is the most intimate political position in most Chicagoans’ lives, where successes and failures are measured often by basic quality-of-life issues within the ward: Plow and pave the streets and work on public safety — just like Burke did for decades — and many won’t hold a criminal conspiracy conviction against you.

Ryba grew up on the 4900 block of South Karlov Avenue in the Archer Heights neighborhood where, she said, she and her neighbors were election judges. When it snowed, city snowplows rumbled down the streets of her neighborhood clearing the way for residents to get to work or run errands. When roads cracked or other pieces of public infrastructure crumbled, they were quickly fixed.

Ryba said those services have stayed efficient and reliable throughout her adulthood, with Burke, who first took office as alderman in 1969, as her alderman for nearly her entire life.

“I think his legacy is a ward that has thrived under any sort of mayoral leadership,” she said.

Ryba’s support underscores Burke’s complex legacy as a City Council member for more than half a century, spanning nine mayors and hundreds of council colleagues.

A polarizing figure for decades, Burke never faced a particularly tough race for reelection and handily beat back a challenger supported by U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia in 2019, at a time when he was facing corruption charges.

His staying power can be attributed in part to the once-a-decade redistricting process whereby city officials redraw ward maps, which often gave him more older white voters who have historically been his political base. Initially, Burke represented Back of the Yards but the 14th Ward boundaries continued to shift as the Southwest Side became more Latino.

Acknowledging the ward remap process in the face of demographic change in 2010, Burke quoted New York editor Horace Greeley’s advice: “‘Go west, young man.’”

[ From Chicago machine maestro to indicted alderman, Ed Burke’s corruption trial follows half-century of clout ]

Burke’s popularity in the ward also stemmed from his decades supporting development, fighting to build schools and being pro-police. He helped bring the Mansueto High School to the area despite opposition from anti-charter advocates and he helped fund countless developments with city dollars. He also represented many of those same businesses on their property tax deals, a practice good government critics called unethical and potentially corrupt and was precisely what he was convicted of.

At the same time, Burke faced criticism he utilized his political power to exclude those who don’t support his politics.

Ryba heard that criticism from others who said she and her neighbors got the city services they needed because they volunteered with elections.

“Someone would say, ‘Well, your block was on his list,’ because we were election judges, but I don’t know if that was true or not,” she said. “As far as I was concerned, all of the blocks in this area got the snowplow, but I’ve heard people say things like that.”

If Burke did have a list, Carol Zwiazek was not on it. Or she was on the wrong list.

Zwiazek grew up near West 45th Street and South Harding Avenue, where her father, a city employee, impressed on her that “Ed Burke was not my friend.”

“I remember my dad coming home from his job at the Park District at 10 p.m. with an ax and chopping down this huge sign for some political person,” she said. The sign wasn’t for Burke himself, she said, but for a candidate Burke supported.

Zwiazek described her understanding of the 14th Ward under Burke as “a political machine that if you played the game the way they needed you to, you got what you needed.”

Zwiazek frequently found herself at odds with Burke through her activism with the Chicago Teachers Union. She thinks her access to city services, such as tree trimming, suffered because of her efforts to sway him politically.

“I think the 14th Ward suffered greatly because of his lack of leadership,” Zwiazek said, adding after the jury returned its guilty verdicts that it “makes me feel like justice was served.”

She said she wished her dad was alive to see it.

“When my dad said (Burke) wasn’t a good man 50 years ago, he was onto something and I wish he were alive today to tell me why he said that,” she said.

[ Former Ald. Ed Burke: Cloutless in the jury room ]

Archer Heights Civic Association President Thomas Baliga called Thursday’s ruling “a heart-rending end to what otherwise was an exceptional political career.”

The association worked closely with Burke on a number of projects, though Baliga said they clashed with him on others.

“He was a good guy to work with in terms of getting street paving and lights fixed and trash picked up, but when it came to some of the bigger projects in the community, I was upset that he didn’t get more hands-on involved and work with the people as opposed to working against us,” he said.

Recent Archer Heights transplant Irma Landeros said she hadn’t interfaced with the 14th Ward office after she called for installing handicap parking signs outside her home. But she has followed the basic developments of Burke’s indictment and trial through her neighborhood Facebook group.

On Wednesday, before the federal jury returned its verdicts, Landeros, 46, was dressed for work in magenta scrubs and about to bring her daughter a bag of chicharrones before she left for her shift. Landeros “is happy that (Burke is) out.”

“Everything that happened in this area, it was just benefiting him and his family and his pocket,” she said. “So I’m just really happy that everything [came] to light.”

Seth Hammond, 40, said he enjoyed not thinking about his former alderman since he left office earlier this year.

He remembered Burke as “a guy that couldn’t get knocked out of office no matter how skeezy he was.”

Hammond said the legal proceedings that have hung over Burke for almost five years captured many of his frustrations about Chicago politics.

[ Chicago aldermen convicted of corruption — and others facing charges ]

“People were like, ‘That’s just how things work,’” he said. “As long as you keep enough of your constituents happy, it seems like (you) can just keep getting elected over and over and over again.”

Having Burke as an alderman did make for interesting conversational fodder, Hammond said.

“It was a constant badge of honor to say, ‘Yeah, I’m in Burke’s ward,’” he said. “He was like the one alderman that everybody knew outside of Chicago.”

Sharon Botte-Maslona also had her mind made up about Burke’s legacy in the 14th Ward before Thursday’s verdict.

“He gets things done,” she said.

Botte-Maslona, 62, said she wasn’t concerned whether Burke shook down a Burger King restaurant owner or was guilty of the other crimes he was charged with.

“I just really don’t care,” she said. “I think all politicians have it in them to be kind of shady. (The Burger King) has absolutely nothing to do with me. He did his job as an alderman.”

[ Timeline: Edward Burke, once Chicago’s longest-serving alderman ]

Indeed, Botte-Maslona is such a Burke supporter that even though she moved out of the 14th Ward years ago, she kept calling Burke for assistance. And he came through, she said, noting Burke helped her condo association get sidewalks replaced in front of their building.

She also said she looked forward to birthday and Christmas cards he’d send, and was reassured to see him at church.

“He took care of people and that is going to be his legacy as an alderman,” she said. “I’m thankful for everything he’s done for me. … I’m hoping when I go to Mass Christmas Eve that I’ll see him.”

Deacon Larry Chyba of St. Bruno Catholic Church, which Burke has attended, said he was still thinking about the guilty verdicts shortly after jurors handed them down.

“I don’t like seeing anybody get convicted of anything,” he said.

For Chyba, Burke was “a guy who really did a lot for the community” and “always tried to help everybody out.”

He added that Burke could appeal the ruling. But for now, “it is what it is,” Chyba said. “Let’s see what happens.”

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