A judge on Monday sentenced former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke, arguably the most powerful member of the Chicago City Council for decades, was sentenced on corruption charges.
Burke was sentenced to two years in prison and a $2 million fine after being found guilty of illegally using his power to win private law work from developers to threaten a Chicago cultural icon for his own benefit.
Burke, 80, is among a long list of Illinois politicians, including several aldermen, who have been convicted on corruption-related charges. However, the crimes themselves varied widely, as did the punishments.
Here's how Burke's sentence compares to those issued against other elected officials:
Former rulers
Rod Blagojevich
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was removed from office in 2009 after he was accused of trying to solicit contributions and other favors in exchange for then-President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat.
He was convicted of making false statements in August 2010, and in a subsequent retrial, he was found guilty of 17 charges, including wire fraud and attempted extortion, in 2011.
With his wife and daughters standing by his side, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich spoke outside his residence on Wednesday. NBC 5's Mary Ann Ahern was there.
In December 2011, Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. He served more than half of his sentence before former President Donald Trump commuted it in February 2020.
A previous report on Blajojevich's commutation can be found in the player above.
George Ryan
George Ryan, another former governor of Illinois, served five years for corruption in a case sparked by the 1994 interstate crash that killed six children of Scott and Janet Willis. The truck driver who caused the accident had obtained a license through a bribe from an employee in Ryan's office when he was Secretary of State.
In 2014, Ryan told the Chicago Sun-Times that he prayed for Willis' children daily, but felt no responsibility for their deaths. The former governor was released from prison in July 2013.
During a 2015 talk, Ryan said serving time on corruption charges gave him a new perspective on the criminal justice system.
Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan has seen the highs and lows of his political career, and he discussed all that and more with NBC 5's Mary Ann Ahern in a one-on-one interview.
“Justice is supposed to be blind, but the reality is that most people are blind about the justice system,” Ryan said. “Those who have been there and are coming out of prison are wondering what is happening. There are people who are worried about what will happen to us, but I am not sure they care that much.”
Ryan was also ordered to pay $603,348 in restitution.
Other local council members
Ed Vrdolyak
Former Ald. Edward Vrdolyak pleaded guilty in March 2019 to a tax charge in which he allegedly obstructed an IRS investigation into payments to and from his friend and associate Daniel Suso in connection with a $9.3 billion Illinois settlement with tobacco companies in the late 1990s.
A federal judge sentenced Vrdolyak to 18 months in prison in December 2020, but he did not begin serving his sentence until November 2021 after several delays related to the pandemic.
In 2022, he is released from prison and lives in a halfway house in Chicago.
Ricardo Muñoz
Former Chicago Ald. Ricardo Munoz was sentenced to 13 months in prison for spending thousands of dollars from a political fund he headed to buy iPhones, sports tickets and clothes, among other personal items.
In 2022, U.S. Magistrate John Kniss ordered the former alderman to be released on supervised release for 18 months following his prison term.
Munoz was charged with 15 counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, and later pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $38,000 from the political fund.
Willie Cochran
Former 20th Ward Ald. Willie Cochran was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges in 2019.
Cochran pleaded guilty in March to a wire fraud charge for spending campaign funds on personal purchases, including his daughter's tuition. The admission ended the former police officer's career on City Hall.
After sentencing Cochran to prison, the judge ordered two years of supervised release.
Patrick Daly Thompson
Patrick Daley Thompson, a former alderman, received a four-month sentence in federal prison, accused of cheating on his taxes and lying to regulators in the federal criminal case that cost him his seat on the City Council.
Thompson is the grandson of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley and the nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Thompson's 2022 conviction revolves around $219,000 he received between 2011 and 2014 from the Washington Fed. The bank was closed in December 2017 amid allegations of widespread fraud, days after its boss was found dead in the million-dollar home of one of the bank's clients.
Thompson made one payment of $389.58 on the loan in February 2012, but paid no interest, according to the feds. After Washington Federal failed in 2017, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation handed Thompson's loan over to Planet Home Lending.
Thompson falsely claimed deductions for mortgage interest allegedly paid to Washington Fed on his tax returns for the years 2013 through 2017. Thompson also lied in early 2018 to a Planet Home Lending customer service representative and two FDIC contractors about the amount he borrowed.
Carrie Austin
Former Alderman Carrie Austin has faced a federal bribery indictment since July 2021, though her trial has not yet taken place. The charges allege she took home improvement items — sump pumps, a dehumidifier and kitchen cabinets — as kickbacks from a developer overseeing a $50 million development in her ward.
In November 2022, the woman's lawyers told the judge that she was “not medically fit to stand trial” and that they would seek to suspend her trial.
More recently, in February, a federal judge said he would not dismiss the indictment against Austin.
