Edward Michael Burke (born December 29, 1943) is an American politician and convicted felon who served as the alderman of Chicago's 14th ward from 1969 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the Chicago City Council in 1969, and represented part of the city's Southwest Side. While the chair of the Council's Committee on Finance, Burke had been called Chicago's "most powerful alderman" by the Chicago Sun-Times. Burke was named one of the "100 Most Powerful Chicagoans" by Chicago Magazine, describing him as "[o]ne of the last of the old-school Chicago Machine pols."
Burke is the longest-serving alderman in Chicago history. Despite gaining prominence in Chicago politics, Burke was known to clash with the "old guard" of Mayor Richard J. Daley and often aligned with fellow Councilman Ed Vrdolyak. Along with Vrdolyak, he was a leader of the "Vrdolyak 29" during the first term of Mayor Harold Washington, the "Council Wars" era. Burke and his staff were the subjects of federal and local investigations, and members of his staff were the targets of indictments and convictions involving payroll and contracting irregularities. Burke opted not to run in the 2023 election, ending a record 14-term tenure on the City Council.
Burke was the lead partner with Klafter & Burke, a law firm specializing in property tax appeals; it has served clients who do business with the city and also provided services to U.S. president Donald Trump. As of August 2019, Burke is no longer a partner with the law firm.
On November 29, 2018, Burke's office at Chicago City Hall and his aldermanic ward office were seized by federal agents, who ejected staff and papered over the doors and windows. On January 3, 2019, Burke was charged with attempted extortion for allegedly using his political office to drive business for his law firm. On December 21, 2023, Burke was found guilty by a federal jury on 13 of 14 counts of racketeering, bribery, and extortion. On June 24, 2024, Burke was sentenced to two years in prison and a $2 million fine. On June 8, 2025, Burke was transferred from prison to community confinement, where he served the remainder of his sentence at a halfway house. His time under supervised release would end on February 20, 2026.
Burke's wife is former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne M. Burke. He and his wife were foster parents and were party to a protracted, highly publicized, racially charged child custody dispute.
Early life Burke is a lifelong resident of Chicago. His father, Joseph P. Burke, was a Cook County Sheriff's policeman who worked as a court bailiff. Joseph Burke served as committeeman from the 14th Ward (a local Democratic Party post), and was elected alderman from the 14th Ward in November 1953.
Ed Burke attended Visitation Grammar School in Visitation Parish on Chicago's South Side and is a 1961 graduate of Quigley Preparatory Seminary. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from DePaul University in 1965, then worked for three years as a Chicago police officer, assigned to the state's attorney's office. Meanwhile, he studied law at DePaul University College of Law. In 1968, Burke received a Juris Doctor degree, was admitted to the Illinois Bar, and married his wife, Anne Marie.
While in law school in the late 1960s, an era of escalation in the Vietnam War, Burke received a draft deferment as a full-time student. After his marriage and the death of his father, he applied for and was granted a hardship deferment (3-A), as the sole support of his wife, mother, and two younger brothers. In June 1969, the Illinois Selective Service board of appeals reclassified him 1-A ("available for unrestricted military service"). At the same time, he was accepted into a Chicago-based United States Army Reserve unit, the 363rd civil affairs group, as a private. Political rivals expressed concern that special consideration allowed Burke to join the Reserve unit ahead of others, but an Army investigation found no evidence of manipulation in his favor.
Democratic committeeman
Burke succeeded his father in local politics, first as Democratic Committeeman and then as alderman from the 14th Ward. After the elder Burke died in office of cancer on May 11, 1968, Edward Burke took leave from his job as a policeman to replace his father as Democratic committeeman for the 14th Ward. Though not a precinct captain, Burke won election to his father's committeeman seat in a secret vote of 65 precinct captains, defeating a veteran precinct captain by just 3½ votes. At 24, Burke was the youngest person in Chicago's history to become a ward committeeman, a position he held until he was defeated by State Representative Aaron Ortiz on March 17, 2020.
Chicago aldermanship The 14th Ward Democrats slated the young Burke as the Democratic candidate in a special election called for on March 11, 1969, to fill vacancies in city council, including the 14th Ward. Burke faced six opponents, but won with a majority of 11,204 votes; the first runner-up received 1460 votes. He was sworn in by Mayor Richard J. Daley on March 14. Following the 1971 aldermanic elections, the Council approved the appointment of Burke, who was at the time a police sergeant on leave, as chairman of the Police and Fire Committee. In 1972 and 1973, Burke joined Alderman Edward Vrdolyak in a dissident caucus of aldermen demanding a greater voice in city affairs from Daley and finance committee chairman Thomas Keane. The dissident aldermen were labelled the "Young Turks", and their caucus was called the "coffee rebellion" after the beverage served at their morning meetings. In the backroom of the city council chamber, Burke once threatened to punch Alderman Leon Despres in the nose if Despres had not been as old as he was.
Former city commissioner of consumer affairs Jane Byrne announced her challenge to Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic on April 24, 1978, describing herself as an alternative to a "cabal of evil men [that] [had] fastened onto the government of the City of Chicago", and, when pressed to name them, singled out Burke and Vrdolyak. However, during her mayoralty, Byrne would ultimately work together with Burke and Vrdolyak.
Having been first elected in a 1969 special election, Burke was since reelected thirteen times, in 1971, 1975, 1979, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019; he was unopposed in most of his re-election campaigns. In 2007, Burke faced his first opponent since 1971, a school teacher who had never run for office. A Burke supporter unsuccessfully challenged the validity of the opponent's ballot application, but the case was tied up in court for most of the campaign, and Burke won nearly 90% of the vote.
Burke did not seek reelection in 2023 and retired after completing his thirteenth full term.
Leader of opposition to Mayor Washington
Burke was, along with Alderman Edward Vrdolyak, a leader of the "Vrdolyak 29", a city council majority voting block, which included 28 white and one Puerto Rican aldermen, who opposed the agenda of the newly elected Mayor Harold Washington, Chicago's first black mayor, during Washington's first three years as mayor, 1983–1986, a period referred to as the Council Wars. Vrdolyak, a Burke mentor, was chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party. Vrdolyak forged the alliance by expanding the number of city council committees to 29 and negotiating 29 committee chairmanship assignments. On May 2, 1983, during the first city council meeting of the Washington administration, the mayor and some aldermen left the meeting, Vrdolyak was President pro tempore of the city council (chair of city council meetings when the mayor is not present) so he continued the meeting. Burke was chosen to chair the powerful Finance Committee.
Burke assumed a vocal role in anti-Washington attacks and was considered second to Vrdolyak in the anti-Washington caucus. Burke sued in Cook County Circuit Court to remove Washington from office, contending that Washington forfeited his office by being three weeks late in filing a routine financial disclosure by the deadline set by state law. The suit was dismissed. Burke asked Illinois Attorney General Neil Hartigan to seek the ouster of Washington. The request was denied. Richard M. Daley, Cook County States Attorney at the time, pleaded for unity, saying, "This personal hatred has gone too far."
In the spring of 1987, in Chicago's municipal elections, Vrdolyak, rather than seeking re-election as alderman, was the Solidarity Party's candidate challenging Washington for mayor. Washington won re-election, and Washington allies won twenty-five city council seats. Burke led opposition in the city council, but Washington supporter Alderman Timothy C. Evans replaced Burke as Chairman of the Committee on Finance. Ousted from the spacious Finance Committee staff offices, Burke never used the relatively modest office allocated to him in City Hall and instead worked out of his private law office two blocks away. In the days following the death of Mayor Washington in office, Burke supported the Council's selection of Alderman Eugene Sawyer over Evans to serve as mayor. Sawyer prevailed, but Burke was the alderman who least often voted in support of the legislative agenda of Sawyer, Chicago's second black mayor. After Richard M. Daley was elected mayor in the spring of 1989, Daley nominated Burke as Finance chairman, a position he had held until January 4, 2019, a day after he was charged with attempted exortion of a Burger King operator to gain more property tax appeal business for his private law firm, Klafter & Burke.
The chairmanship of the city council's Committee on Finance has been described as "the No. 2 spot in city government". Almost all expenditures, tax matters, and many city contracts must be recommended by the Finance Committee before they can be considered by the full Council. As Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Burke controlled a 63-member staff and $2.2-million annual budget, dwarfing the resources of other council committees. In the city's self-managed workers' compensation program, the Finance Committee determines and approves payment amounts in disability claims. As Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Burke controls a $1.3M per year taxpayer-funded payroll account available to aldermen with no scrutiny. In 2008, Burke spent the largest portion of the account, $70,164, more than any other alderman by more than $26,000. Burke is also a member of the city council's committees on Aviation; Budget and Government Operation; Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities; and Zoning. Additionally, Burke is a member of the Chicago Planning Commission and Economic Development Commission. He controls three well-funded political action committees, the "Friends of Edward M Burke", the "14th Ward Regular Democratic Organization", and "The Burnham Committee". In July 2009, Burke's campaign funds totaled $3.7 million, higher than any other alderman and one of the largest in Illinois. Illinois judges are elected in partisan elections, and a significant aspect of Burke's influence derives from his role as the longtime chairman of the judicial slating subcommittee of the Cook County Democratic Party.