City fights subpoenas

Burnett among 10 alderman called to testify in corruption trial

02/03/2010 10:00 PM

By MICAH MAIDENBERG
Editor

5 Comments - Add Your Comment


Ald. Walter Burnett (27th)
File 2008

Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), whose ward includes parts of the West Loop and Near West Side, has been subpoenaed to testify in the upcoming trial of developer Calvin Boender, who allegedly bribed Isaac Carothers, the former alderman of the 29th Ward in Austin.

Carothers pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to accepting some $40,000 in home improvements in exchange for his support of a zoning change for Boender’s Galewood Yards project.

Boender has pleaded not guilty.

His attorneys subpoenaed Burnett, according to a document City of Chicago lawyers filed last week in federal court, to compel him and nine other alderman — former Ald. William Banks as well as Alds. Ed Burke, Emma Mitts, Ricardo Munoz, Patrick O’Connor, Helen Shiller, Eugene Schulter, Ed Smith and Bernard Stone — to testify.

Five of those aldermen — Banks, Burke, Schulter, Smith and Stone — were members of the city council’s Committee on Zoning when Boender was seeking his zoning change.

City lawyers are fighting the motion.

“It is well-established that legislators have absolute immunity regarding their legislative activities and that this privilege extends to immunity from being compelled to testify concerning those matters,” the city’s filing says.

Burnett is only mentioned once in the city’s argument.

He said Boender’s attorneys are looking for character witnesses.

“The developer is just trying to get people to say that he’s a good guy, and really nobody wants to be involved in that,” Burnett said. “I have no idea. I haven’t really looked at it. The lawyers have looked at it. From the gist of what they say ... it’s he’s a good guy and he doesn’t anything wrong, compared to Ike Carothers. No alderman wants to be involved in that. It’s unfounded.”

Burnett said Boender owns property in the area he represents but said the developer has never built a project in the 27th ward.

Burnett noted that Boender sought zoning change for a project near Fulton and Morgan, but community members objected.

“He wanted me to re-zone that years ago,” Burnett recalled. “The Randolph-Fulton Market Association said no, and that was my stance.”

Contact: mmaidenberg@chicagojournal.com


5 Comments - Add Your Comment



By FGFM from Uptown
Posted: 02/16/2010 1:04 PM

"If there's no guilt, I'm unclear why an alderman would be fighting this." Do you enjoy being dragged into court? I certainly don't.


By Mary Joe from Uptown
Posted: 02/13/2010 10:13 PM

If there's no guilt, I'm unclear why an alderman would be fighting this. I'm betting we haven't heard the last of this and if I were Helen Shiller, I'd be on my best behavior.


By FGFM from Uptown
Posted: 02/13/2010 12:29 PM

This isn't a court of law, guv. My statement speaks for itself.


By Uptowner from Uptown
Posted: 02/12/2010 0:27 AM

FGFM what are you complaining about? Given that the defendant entered a guilty plea there would be no witness testimony for any blogger or journalist to research. Or do you suppose that citizens and journalists can just march into the prosecutor's office and demand to know why particular witnesses were put on the witness list and FOIA the trial strategy too? And, don't most Defendants who cop a plea before the trial do so for in exchange for sentence deal with the govt to flip on cohorts?


By FGFM from Uptown
Posted: 02/05/2010 8:41 PM

I appreciate your paper going into more detail about this case. Over at Uptown Update, they got very excited since Helen Shiller was subpoenaed without taking the time to find out that it's probably not that big of a deal. And of course, Lake Effect News is too busy passing along press releases from favored candidates to do any real research.