Powerful Chicago Alderman's Son Shows the Chicago Way: Alderman Burke's Son

The New York Times reports:

The personal wealth of Mr. Burke and his wife, the State Supreme Court Justice Anne M. Burke, is not known. As he has in most years, Mr. Burke reported that in 2010 he had dozens of law clients who do business with the city. Last year, he reported that 39 clients who have city business were worth at least $5,000 in fees to him in 2010.

Mr. Burke’s personal interests and public duties frequently clash on the council floor. During the last four-year council term, of the 559 instances when aldermen refrained from voting on measures that touched on their personal interests, more than 300 of them were invoked by Mr. Burke.

City records show that one of Mr. Burke’s children, Edward M. Burke Jr., briefly worked as a City Hall lobbyist. The younger Burke reported taking on two clients with interests in city government last year, including a Naperville company that conducted a pilot program of energy-efficient street lights for the Daley administration.

The contract with PolyBrite Inc. was signed on Sept. 15 and was supposed to pay $7,500 a month to the younger Mr. Burke for one year, records show. Two days after the February city election, however, he told city officials that he no longer was lobbying at City Hall.

Imagine that.