Special elections, not mayoral appointments, will put an end to dynastic corruption
Political dynasties, of which Chicago has had many, are conduits of corruption.
Capping a couple of weeks of speculation, initiated by himself in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman, Walter Burnett Jr., the 27th Ward alderman and the dean of Chicago's City Council, announced he is resigning his seat.
Why?
For health reasons? Perhaps its job burnout? Nope. Burnett told Spielman that he has maxed out his City Council pension benefits and that he wants his son, Walter Redmond Burnett, known as “Red,” to succeed him. The senior Burnett now has set his hopes on Mayor Brandon Johnson appointing him to head the Chicago Housing Authority. As with the resignation of Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa (35th) earlier this year, there will not be a special election to choose a replacement. Mayor Johnson will appoint Burnett’s successor, and the smart money is on Johnson fulfilling Walter’s request to bequeath Red “his” seat.
The alderman has resigned, long live the alderman.
The City Council, however, ratifies such appointments. Just last month, Chicago was one of the many cities that saw a “No Kings” protest, but those rallies were about Donald Trump. No other major city gives its mayor the power to choose City Council members in this manner. Chicago desperately needs a city charter. It obviously needs less corruption, which is another reason why political dynasties need to be discouraged. Politics in Chicago are notoriously corrupt, which even someone who follows the local news casually already knows. Nonetheless, Chicago’s political dynasties are even more crooked.
Why is that?
It's fair to say that these imperious dynastic pols believe that because of their semi-royal status, they feel they are above the law. Or maybe crooks believe that it is best that a family member keep a close eye on their graft once they move on to something else.
Not all Chicago political dynasties, which are almost exclusively a Democratic thing, lead to proven corruption. I've discovered some that haven’t, including the Carter Harrisons, the Dan Ryans, the Sawyers, Eugene and Roderick, the Lipinskis, Bill and Dan, the Pucinskis, Roman and Aurelia, and the Silversteins, a husband-and-wife dynasty.
Debra Silverstein is the current 50th Ward alderman; her husband Ira is a former state senator.
Let’s look at the other dynasties, past, present, and future. You’ll learn that these “family businesses” intermingle.
Burnett
As for the elder Burnett, he is unique among Chicago City Council members, because he did his time in prison before his election. Seriously, he did. In 1981, when Burnett was 17 years old, he drove the getaway car involved in a Kankakee savings and loan heist, For his role in that crime, Burnett was convicted of armed robbery. Despite a state law banning felons from elected office, he won his aldermanic race in 1995. When an eligibility challenge to his reelection seemed likely, Governor Jim Edgar, a Republican, pardoned Burnett.
Walter is married to Darlena Williams-Burnett. She served briefly as a Cook County commissioner after her appointment to fill a vacancy.
Cullerton
The first Cullerton to serve as a Chicago alderman, and the namesake of Cullerton Street, Edward, was elected to what is now known as the Chicago City Council in the auspicious year of 1871. He was known as “Foxy Ed,” but not for his looks. Three Cullertons later served as 38th Ward alderman, most recently, Timothy, who was appointed to that office in 2011. When Timothy retired four years later, it ended a 144-year period when a member of the Cullerton family, including an in-law, served on the City Council.
P.J. Cullerton was a close ally of Mayor Richard J. Daley and a longtime Cook County assessor.
With many members of the Cullerton dynasty, a thick cloud of smoke — but no fire — surrounded them. However, that multi-generational string of luck ended in 2022, when Tom Cullerton, a state senator from DuPage County, pleaded guilty to a federal embezzlement charge.
Daley
Richard J. Daley, the Boss of Bosses, was elected to the Illinois House in 1936. In 1947 he was elected 11th Ward Democratic committeeman, and in 1955, mayor of Chicago. He died in office in 1976.
Richard M. Daley, his eldest son, was elected mayor in 1989. He retired in 2011. John P. Daley is a Cook County Commissioner and the 11th Ward Democratic committeeman.
But it was Patrick Daley Thompson, who was elected the 11th Ward’s alderman in 2015, who found himself on the wrong side of the law. The nephew of Richard M. and John, Thompson was convicted in 2022 of lying to federal authorities and tax fraud. He maintains his innocence and in March, the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out two of his convictions in a unanimous decision.
Keane
When Alderman Thomas P. Keane of the 31st Ward died in 1945, his son, Thomas E., was appointed to succeed him. The younger Keane was the council floor leader for Richard J. Daley and a longtime chairman of the powerful City Council Finance Committee. He was convicted of mail fraud in 1974. Daley appointed Keane’s wife, Adeline, as his successor. She distinguished herself, among steep competition, as possibly the dumbest person to serve on the Chicago City Council.
How dumb?
The 31st Ward at the time was becoming heavily Latino and bilingual education was a hot issue in her ward. She favored it, remarking that Latin was rarely taught in CPS schools, as it was during her youth.
During a City Council Finance Committee meeting, Adeline remarked to another member about a black alderman, “I’ve been here for more than three years, and I still can’t tell them all apart.”
Rostenkowski
Joe “Rusty” Rostenkowski was alderman of the 32nd Ward from 1933 until 1955. He was also the Democratic ward committeeman for that ward. Allegations of ghost payrolling surrounded him until his death. Rusty’s son, Dan, was elected to Congress in 1959 — he eventually became chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. For much of his congressional career, Dan, whose nickname was “Rosty,” served as the Democratic committeeman of “Daddy’s Ward.” His hubris stood out even in Washington, D.C.
Rosty was busted for his role in the Congressional Post Office Scandal; he pleaded guilty to two mail fraud charges. Before his guilty plea, Rostenkowski was defeated for reelection in 1994 by a Republican, Michael Flanagan, who survived only one term, losing his reelection bid to his Democratic challenger, Rod Blagojevich.
Rostenkowski was pardoned by Bill Clinton in 2000.
Burke
Joseph P. Burke served as alderman of the 14th Ward from 1953 until his death in 1968. His son, Edward, quickly replaced him as Democratic ward committeeman — and what is this? — was chosen to succeed his father in a special election a year later. Fifty years later, as the stench of a federal investigation hovered around him, Chicago’s longest-serving alderman chose not to run for reelection. As with the second Thomas Keane, Ed Burke’s source of clout for much of his career was his chairmanship the City Council Finance Committee.
Burke’s wife, Anne, eventually became chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court — but her judicial career began after an appointment by a Republican governor, Jim Thompson.
Anne is usually portrayed by her supporters as an innocent bystander clad in white judicial robes. However, last month, Injustice Watch reported that former lobbyist and City Club president, Jay Doherty, assisted in raising money and organizing Anne’s state Supreme Court installation ceremony.
Doherty will be sentenced for his role in the ComEd Four scandal next month, which also ensnared another dynastic Democrat, Michael Madigan. Ed’s brother, Daniel, was a member of the Illinois House from 1991 until 2018. Ed Burke was convicted last year in federal court on a slew of racketeering charges. Earlier this month, Burke was released from prison, serving just nine months of his two-year sentence.
As with Rosty, Burke was wrapped in hubris.
Laurino
The self-described “alley alderman,” Anthony C. Laurino, was elected alderman of the 39th Ward in 1965. He began politicking decades earlier the in the corrupt 1st Ward Democratic organization of “Bathhouse John” Coughlin and Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna, which had ties to Al Capone.
Coughlin's “bathhouses” were not spas.
But in truth, Laurino was a back-alley alderman.
He resigned as alderman in 1994. Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed his daughter, Margaret, to succeed him. Like Burke and Burnett, Laurino was the dean of the City Council when he retired.
Hello? Term limits anyone?
A year after his resignation, Laurino was indicted for his role in a massive ghost-payrolling scheme involving 35 people, including his wife, a daughter, a stepdaughter, and a son-in law. Each of these family members pleaded guilty.
But Laurino died before his corruption trial.
Margaret Laurino was not implicated in the scandal. She chose not to run for reelection in 2019.
Anthony’s brother, William, was a member of the Illinois House from 1971 until 1997.
Vrdolyak
Edward “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak, elected as 10th Ward alderman in 1971, is best known as the leader — with Ed Burke at his side — of the mainly white ethnic City Council opposition to Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington. He was also chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party in the 1980s.
Vrdolyak unsuccessfully ran for mayor against Washington in 1987 as the Illinois Solidarity Party candidate. His brother, Victor, won the election to succeed him as alderman. Eddie switched to the Republican Party a year later and he ran for mayor again in 1989 and was crushed by Richard M. Daley.
Alas, Fast Eddie was not speedy enough to outrun federal prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to fraud charges in 2008 and to tax evasion in 2019.
Madigan
Initially elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1971, except for two years in the 1990s, Michael J. Madigan was speaker of the state House from 1983 until 2021. In 1997, he was elected chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party. Madigan was committeeman of the 13th Ward Democratic Party for decades.
His daughter, Lisa, was elected — with a lot of help from her father — state senator in a North Side Chicago district in 1998. Four years later, she won the first of her four elections as Illinois attorney general.
While Lisa wasn’t investigating her father, federal prosecutors were. Boss Madigan was convicted in February of wire fraud, conspiracy, and bribery charges. Boss Madigan will report to prison in October. His sentence is seven and a half years.
Jones
After over three the decades as a master of pork barrel politics while representing the South Side of Chicago in the state General Assembly, culminating in his six-year run as president of the state Senate, Emil Jones Jr. announced in the summer of 2008 that he would retire the following year. But Jones had already won that year’s Democratic primary for his Senate seat. He withdrew his name from the general election ballot, and Jones used his pull to have his son, Emil Jones III, without garnering a single vote, to replace him on the general election ballot.
The younger Jones won that election and he has been a state senator since.
In 2022, Jones III was indicted for bribery charges and for lying to federal agents in a case involving a red-light camera firm. His corruption trial ended in April with a hung jury. Federal prosecutors say they will retry Jones III.
Here’s a Chicago coincidence: Jones Jr’s successor as state Senate president was John Cullerton.
Mell
Richard “Dick” Mell's career as 33rd Ward alderman started in 1975. Always gaming for higher office, Mell instead settled on retiring in 2013, with an unsurprising twist. Richard M. Daley appointed Dick's daughter, Deb, then a member of the Illinois House, as his replacement. After winning a full term two years later, she was narrowly defeated for reelection in 2019 by Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, a Democratic Socialist.
Mell’s other daughter is Patti. She is married to former Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of eighteen corruption charges in 2011.
Prior to winning his congressional seat that Rostenkowski held for many years, the Mell Machine used its clout to elect Blagojevich to the state House.
Deb Mell was one of only two state House members to vote against her brother-in-law’s impeachment.
President Donald Trump commuted Blago's 14-year prison sentence in 2020. Earlier this year, Trump issued Blagojevich a full pardon.
Beavers
After 23 years as alderman of the 7th Ward, William Beavers was elected a Cook County commissioner in 2006. Fran Spielman wrote that he was “an old-school caricature of a Chicago aldermen who loved patronage and contracts.”
In his first campaign for alderman, his slogan was “Leave it to Beavers.” When William resigned his seat in '06, he left it for his daughter, Darcel Beavers. That’s a campaign promise he kept. Officially, Daley appointed her as his successor, obviously at the urging of her father.
Willliam Beavers was found guilty by a federal jury for income tax evasion in 2013.
Jackson
Darcel Beavers’ time in office as alderman of the 7th Ward was quite brief. In 2007, the Jesse Jackson Sr. family, bitter rivals of the Beavers clan, lined up behind Sandi Jackson, wife of the then-congressman of Illinois' 2nd district, Jesse Jackson Jr.
Sandi won.
But husband and wife later pleaded guilty to federal tax crimes--Sandi was Junior’s campaign treasurer. The feds charged that the campaign purchased numerous items for personal benefit, including Michael Jackson memorabilia. Both served prison terms. The couple divorced in 2018.
Junior is plotting a political comeback to reclaim his old congressional seat. Hopefully, if he does run, voters will tell him to “Beat It.”
Next door to the 2nd district is the 1st congressional district, where Junior's brother, Jonathan, is the current congressman.
Carothers
William Carothers of the 28th Ward was convicted of extorting a contractor to remodel his ward office in 1983. In 2010, his son, Isaac “Ike” Carothers, who somehow was elected alderman of the neighboring 29th Ward, pleaded guilty to similar charges.
Austin
In 1994, near the end of his second term as alderman of the 34th Ward, Lemuel Austin died. As his father did decades earlier with the Keane vacancy, Daley appointed Austin’s widow, Carrie, to the vacant seat. Only Austin stayed around for 28 years, resigning in 2023.
In 2007, Mick Dumke, then with the Chicago Reader, reported that Darcel Beavers, who we just learned about, was employed with unspecified duties by the City Council Budget Committee, which was chaired by Austin.
In a case similar to what befell the Carothers’ devious dynastic duo, in 2021 Austin was charged by the feds for illegally accepting home improvements from a city contractor and lying to the FBI.
Earlier this month a judge ruled that Austin was medically unfit for trial.
Coleman
Saving the worst for last, while the Coleman dynasty is untouched by public corruption, it is connected to one of the most heinous crimes in Chicago history, so it can't be overlooked, even though this tragic story is an obvious outlier.
Shirley Colemen was a four-term alderman of the 16th Ward, winning her first election in 1991. Her daughter, Stephanie, who calls herself “the Daughter of Englewood,” is the current alderman of the ward, she's been in office in 2019.
Shirley Coleman's first husband was Hernando Williams — he was not the father of Stephanie. Williams kidnapped, raped, and murdered a childbirth instructor in 1978. At the time, the beast was free on bail; he was accused of kidnapping and raping another woman. In 1995, as Shirley was in the thick of her first reelection campaign, her former marriage to Williams became public.
Williams was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Penitentiary two weeks before Shirley prevailed in her reelection effort.
Corruptocracies
But back to dynasties and their strong link to public corruption.
The time has arrived to declare that Chicago’s political dynasties belong to the dinosaurs. Now that I think about it, these are not dynasties. They are corruptocracies. Brandon Johnson needs to appoint someone else besides Red Burnett to succeed his father as alderman of the 27th Ward. Challengers to Johnson in 2027 need to call for a change in municipal law. Vacant City Council seats need to be filled by special elections.
No Kings!
