Ed Burke’s lawyers swamp judge with glowing letters of support ahead of sentencing: ‘I know who Ed really is'

As sentencing nears for Chicago’s 80-year-old, longest-serving City Council member, lawyers for ex-Ald. Edward M. Burke braced a judge this week “for a biblical flood of stories and letters from people of all walks of life who have been touched by his kindness and generosity.”

And then they delivered, offering 200 letters — totaling almost 350 pages — from faith leaders, current and former government officials, members of the legal and law enforcement communities, and members of Burke’s own family hoping for mercy.

“I am unable to grasp the thought of us not being together when God calls us home,” wrote Burke’s wife, retired Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Anne Burke.

“As retirees, we get through these days by helping each other with all those daily tasks that are challenging at 80 years old. I am devastated by the prospect that I will not be with Ed at the end of our lives,” she wrote. “Please find compassion through the Holy Spirit in your decision.”

It amounts to Burke’s last, best hope ahead of sentencing June 24 for his racketeering conviction in December. It’s also a traditional tactic among convicted public officials facing sentencing in Chicago, including a key Burke ally, that has seen mixed results over the years.

A federal jury found Burke guilty of 13 counts that also included bribery and attempted extortion. The case against him involved schemes revolving around the Field Museum, the Old Post Office straddling the Eisenhower Expressway, a Burger King in Burke’s 14th Ward, and a Binny’s Beverage Depot on the Northwest Side.

Prosecutors want U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall to give Burke 10 years in prison. Burke’s lawyers asked Kendall to spare him any time in prison, pitching alternatives such as home confinement instead.

Though they addressed Burke’s crimes in a 51-page memo to Kendall filed late Monday, his defense attorneys mostly leaned on letters of support that document Burke’s “private acts of financial generosity, support during medical crises and grief,” as well as other good acts.

The letters illustrate the life of a man who spent decades in power. They came from current and former police officers and captains, firefighters, former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb, a former inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service, the former president of Burke alma mater DePaul University, former Illinois first lady Jayne Carr Thompson, the prominent Rev. Michael Pfleger, current Chicago Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th) and numerous former Council members.

Former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy told Kendall that as a lifelong law enforcement officer he felt “conflicted” and that “it is hard to reconcile the Ed Burke that I know with the allegations in this case.”

“[B]ut I am sure that I know who Ed really is, beyond the public persona,” McCarthy wrote. “I cannot fathom myself writing this letter for anyone other than Ed Burke.”

Perhaps the most poignant letter came from Anne Burke, who told the judge that her husband has “been my best friend for sixty years” and shared the couple’s enchanting love story.

“As we learned about each other, we realized we were in love. I was deeply moved by how he cared for people around him…” she wrote. “My husband would never have called himself a feminist, but that's what he was. He believed in me and constantly encouraged me to believe I could become and do more.”

Not every letter written to the judge about Burke has been friendly. Former city plumber Patrick McDonough told the judge in a recent letter that he once blew the whistle on the "Hired Truck" patronage scandal at City Hall. He told Kendall that "greed characterizes Mr. Burke's mind and motivation when he was an alderman" and that his crimes "were not victimless."

It remains to be seen whether any of this moves Kendall when it comes time for her to hand down Burke’s sentence. The same tactic nearly succeeded for one of Burke’s key allies in the notorious "Council Wars" of the 1980s. A judge initially handed probation to former Ald. Edward Vrdolyak (10th) in 2009, during his first federal prosecution.

U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur cited an “extraordinary volume and character” described in letters that, based on Vrdolyak’s reputation, he “would never have dreamed existed.”

But prosecutors appealed. The sentence was tossed, and another judge gave Vrdolyak 10 months in prison in that case.

Disagreeing sharply with defense lawyers, prosecutors in Burke’s case have called on Kendall to send “a simple, undiluted, and unequivocal warning loud and clear: You will pay dearly — regardless of your age — if you choose the dark path of corruption that Burke decided to walk for many years.”