Campaign money tied to Ald. Edward Burke’s alleged extortion scheme was intended for County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, sources say.
What did Preckwinkle know? Why did she divest herself of the Burke donations after the Feds raided Burke?
The campaign contribution that federal prosecutors allege powerful Ald. Edward Burke requested as part of an extortion scheme was intended for Cook County Board President and Chicago mayoral candidate Toni
Preckwinkle, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.
In a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday, federal authorities alleged that Burkeillegally solicited a campaign donation from an executive with a restaurant company for an unnamed politician. Burke made the request around December 2017, at the same time authorities alleged he tried to extort executives with a company that owns fast food restaurants in the Chicago region and was seeking approval of permits for remodeling work at a location in Burke’s ward.
Sources said it was a Burger King located at 4060 S. Pulaski Road — the same restaurant that Laquan McDonald passed by moments before he was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer in October 2014.
The Chicago Tribune previously has reported that Burke held a Jan. 19, 2018, fundraiser for Preckwinkle at his Gage Park home, and the sources confirmed that the campaign contribution the 14th ward alderman allegedly solicited illegally was for the Cook County Board president. According to the Burke criminal complaint, however, the politician since identified as Preckwinkle did not report the contribution to state election officials. State law requires all political contributions to be reported by candidates.
Preckwinkle’s campaign on Thursday acknowledged it received the $10,000 contribution in question, but said it was returned to the donor in a matter of days.
John Hennelly, Preckwinkle’s senior campaign adviser, said the donation was made electronically through Preckwinkle’s campaign website while she was running for county board president. The money automatically was deposited into Preckwinkle’s campaign fund, Hennelly said.
Within “several days” a campaign staff worker noticed the contribution had been made and was over the $5,600 state limit for a contribution by an individual, Hennelly said. As a result, Hennelly said, the entire $10,000 amount was refunded to the restaurant donor.
“The second we noticed they were outside the state limits, we investigated and we rejected the donation,” Hennelly said in an interview.
The criminal complaint against Burke, however, said the politician since identified as Preckwinkle kept $5,600 of the donation. Hennelly said he “could not speak to that,” and said the campaign’s bank account and two internal databases show the entire $10,000 was returned.
Hennelly said Preckwinkle never was aware of the contribution.
“Toni does not review electronic deposits that come in online. That’s not who she is,” Hennelly said. “The staff person who did it, reviewed it, saw it was out of bounds, took a day to investigate it. Once it didn’t shake out, he rejected it. There was no reason to engage Toni.”
The revelation that Preckwinkle, who also is the chairwoman of the Cook County Democratic Party, was the intended recipient of the campaign contribution as part of Burke’s attempted extortion could prove deeply damaging to her mayoral aspirations. She is considered a front runner in a field of 15 candidates running in the Feb. 26 race to replace outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
In addition to the campaign contribution to the unnamed candidate, Burke also allegedly sought to gain tax business at his law firm Klaftner & Burke in exchange for the City Hall approvals the company needed for its restaurant project, according to the complaint.
Burke sought the political contribution during a meeting with the restaurant executives in December 2017. Burke hosted a fundraiser for Preckwinkle weeks later.
At the time, Preckwinkle faced a primary challenge against former Ald. Bob Fioretti, in her bid for a third term as the county’s chief executive. Preckwinkle would go on to defeat Fioretti in the March primary and win re-election unopposed in November.
At the December meeting, Burke asked the two restaurant executives to “attend a political fundraiser for another politician,” according to the criminal complaint. One of the executives “felt it necessary to attend, or at least give a donation, otherwise, Burke would not support (their) efforts to do business in Chicago, including at the restaurant,” the complaint reads. The restaurant executive told Burke they “were not able to attend the event due to bad weather.”
The solicitation, though, resulted in a $10,000 contribution from the executive with the restaurant company which “subsequently was reduced to within the campaign contribution limit of $5,600,” according to the complaint.
The criminal complaint went on to state that public records maintained by the Illinois State Board of Elections did not show the unknown politician having reported the $5,600 contribution. State election law requires candidates to report all political contributions.
Under state law, when a contribution is deposited in a campaign’s bank account it is required to be reported on a campaign finance report. If the amount is above $1,000, it is required to be reported within five days — or within 48 hours if it’s close to an election. If a campaign returns a deposited contribution, it is required to report the refund as an expenditure in campaign records.
Preckwinkle’s campaign did neither in connection with the donation from the restaurant executive, Hennelly confirmed. Asked why the refund was not reported, Hennelly said, “The staff person who handled that just deleted the transaction, because it was deposited automatically. We rejected it, and it was credited back to his account. So, that’s the way that was handled.”
Hennelly said Preckwinkle’s campaign staff never reached out to the donor about the refund or to request a smaller $5,600 contribution.
Hennelly said the fundraiser at the Burke home was thrown for Preckwinkle because of her close ties to Burke’s wife, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke. The invite, however, indicated otherwise.
“Chairman Edward M. Burke would like to invite you to a fundraiser in support of Hon. Toni Preckwinkle,” reads the invitation to the Jan. 19 fundraiser, which offered the status of chair for $10,000, co-chair for $5,000 and sponsor for $2,500. In the weeks that followed, Preckwinkle’s campaign reported tens of thousands of dollars in contributions, and in recent years Burke has contributed nearly $13,000 to her campaign fund, the Tribune previously reported.
After Burke’s City Hall and ward offices were raided by the FBI last month, Preckwinkle donated the $13,000 to charity. Hennelly said Preckwinkle has no idea why Burke may have been trying to leverage contributions to her campaign fund.
“Toni knows nothing about Ald. Ed Burke’s activities, the way he raised that money. She knows now, and she’s appalled,” Hennelly said. “If she had known at the time, we would have completely disassociated herself with it.”
Preckwinkle’s ties to the controversy are likely to rock the mayoral race. Former federal prosecutor and mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot wasted no time demanding answers from Preckwinkle.
“If it is her, I think she’s got to answer to the voters what exactly is the relationship between her and Ed Burke. Ed Burke never does anything without expecting a quid pro quo. He’s a cunning and strategic person,” Lightfoot said in an interview. “The fact he decided it was going to, as alleged in the complaint, strong arm and extort a contribution for her said there’s some kind of relationship and he wanted to get something out of it. She’s got to explain what is the quid pro quo.”
The Chicago Tribune’s Todd Lighty and Gregory Pratt contributed.
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Preckwinkle will pull a Daley about these campaign monies to try and disassociate herself from Burke. Thing is the fundraiser he held for her in his home had tickets priced at $10k, $5k and $2500 so that part of it won't wash. And then of course comes Mendoza, who was married in Burke's home. She jumped off the Burke bus and is calling for his ouster from the Finance committee. If the feds had Burke's phone tapped for a year and a half, who knows what else they have in store. Burke can try and dance around this one, but unless they get the hard copies of the emails and the recorded phone conversations tossed, he's screwed. Its hard to imagine Burke seeing a couple dozen alderman go to prison over his 50 years in city council could be so petty as to part of a shake down to get law business. He's 75 years old for Christ sakes, how much friggin money does he need? That godfather bullshit works in the movies, not so much in real life anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhat charity was the $13,000 donated to? The Preckwinkle Foundation I'll bet.
ReplyDeleteSome black charity
DeleteNext to be charged by Feds.
ReplyDelete