Chicago City Council ethics watchdogs say Ed Burke's sentence only partially deters corruption

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Is two years and $2 million fine enough, or too low for Chicago's longest-serving alderman who committed several acts of corruption?

Regardless of Ed Burke's sentence, some city council members said deterring yet another alderperson from using his public office for personal gain must come from within.

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"I think that we have a real opportunity to acknowledge that yes, there was some accountability yesterday with the sentence, but city council and the mayor have to do more," said 47th Ald. Matt Martin, who is also the chair of the Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight.

Martin said in the wake of the Burke sentence, he hopes his publicly finance election proposal gains some traction.

"It proposes to do a matching program for small contributions a nine to one match so that if you contribute $10, that can become $100. At the end of the day, we want to amplify the voices of everyday Chicagoans," he said.

Martin said his ordinance would prevent alders from relying on special interests. When Burke was charged in 2019, the city council passed reforms curtailing outside employment, so Burke could no longer do property tax appeal work. But the Better Government Association said more needs to be done to constrain aldermanic privilege and campaign contributions.

"Frankly, what we are seeing in this case, a $2 million fine which will be paid by Ed Burke's campaign committee, that too is an ethical shortcoming," said BGA President David Greising.

Greising said there are not enough rules in place to stop more corruption. Others in the city council said it's not about the rules, it's about character.

"We all know you can't engage in quid pro quo behavior, either you have ethics or you don't no matter how many rules we put in place," said 34th Ward Ald. Bill Conway.

In the meantime, Martin will continue to push his proposals. He said there's a long way to go to rebuild trust between the government and community.