A federal judge has ruled that former Ald. Edward Burke’s allegedly insensitive comments on wiretaps about Jewish lawyers can be heard by the jury at his upcoming corruption trial.
Burke’s attorneys had argued vehemently to exclude statements the powerful ex-alderman made on the recordings about the Jewish heritage of the developer of the Old Post Office, whom Burke was allegedly pushing to hire his private law firm for property tax work.
Letting the jury hear the remarks would be highly prejudicial in light of the terrorist attacks on Israel earlier this month and the ongoing situation in Gaza, the defense team told U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall.
“Given the heightened sense of alarm” after the Hamas attacks, “any member of the jury sympathetic toward what the Jewish people have endured might find Mr. Burke’s comments to be particularly distasteful” and unfairly hold it against him, argued Burke attorney Kimberly Rhum at an Oct. 16 pretrial hearing.
In her ruling posted Saturday, however, Kendall wrote that the comments were highly probative of the allegations that Burke was “leveraging official action” to muscle the developer, Harry Skydell, into hiring his firm.
The judge also said “sympathy is not universal” when it comes to Israel, noting there has been a documented rise in anti-Semitic incidents following the Hamas attack.
“Now, as ever, prejudices may cut in any direction,” Kendall wrote. “The court will instruct the jury not to make decisions based on sympathy or prejudice.”
According to prosecutors, Burke made comments to his colleague, then-Ald. Daniel Solis, about Skydell’s Jewish heritage possibly hindering their business relationship.
Referring to difficulties he was having getting the developer’s support, Burke allegedly told Solis, “Yeah, but part of it could be that, that black hat. They only want to deal with Jews,” according to court records.
“You really think so?” Solis asked.
“They’re orthodox Jews,” Burke allegedly responded.
In another conversation, Burke allegedly told Solis, “Well, you know as well as I do, Jews are Jews and they’ll deal with Jews to the exclusion of everybody else unless… unless there’s a reason for them to use a Christian,” Burke allegedly said.
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Unbeknownst to Burke, Solis was cooperating with investigators and secretly recorded the conversations.
Burke, 79, was originally charged in a criminal complaint in January 2019, weeks after the FBI raided his City Hall office suite. He was indicted four months later on 14 counts including racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity.
The 59-page indictment outlined a series of schemes in which Burke allegedly tried to muscle developers into hiring his law firm, Klafter & Burke, to appeal their property taxes. Among the projects Burke tried to capitalize on was the massive $800 million renovation of the Old Post Office in the West Loop, according to the charges.
Also charged was Burke’s longtime aide, Peter Andrews, who was accused of assisting the alderman in attempting to shake down two business owners seeking to renovate a Burger King restaurant in the 14th Ward.
The indictment also accused developer Charles Cui of hiring Burke’s law firm in exchange for the alderman’s help with a sign permit and financing deal for a project in the Portage Park neighborhood.
All three have pleaded not guilty. The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.
