The Man Rahm Emanuel Takes Orders From: Ald. Edward Burke’s tax wins cost City Hall more than $3.6 million since 2003

The Chicago Sun-Times reports on the man running Chicago:

As an attorney in private practice, Ald. Edward M. Burke has cost Chicago taxpayers millions of dollars.

Since 2003, Burke and his small Loop law firm, Klafter & Burke, have won more than $18.1 million in property-tax refunds for Chicago property owners, records reviewed by the Chicago Sun-Times show.

Burke’s victories have cost City Hall more than $3.6 million in lost revenue.

City Hall gets about 20 cents of every property-tax dollar paid in Chicago. So the city has to pay back 20 cents of every dollar that’s refunded.

Burke, long the most powerful alderman in Chicago, has won those refunds by filing appeals with the Cook County assessor, the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board and the Cook County courts.

The 14th Ward alderman and chairman of the City Council Finance Committee has found his greatest success in the courts, where he’s won $10.6 million since 2003 in refunds on 378 parcels within the city limits. That’s the same court system where, for years, Burke has used his political muscle to exert authority over who’s chosen to serve in the judiciary.

For more on the man Rahm Emanuel takes orders from click on this. For a look at how Alderman Burke became an associate of organized crime click on this.