Toni Preckwinkle's administration hired Ald. Edward Burke's son to nearly $100K-a-year county job

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s administration hired powerful Ald. Edward Burke’s son to a nearly $100,000-a-year county job in 2014, newly released records show.

Personnel records released by the county in response to a Tribune public records request show Preckwinkle’s administration hired Edward Burke Jr. as training and exercise manager for the county’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department.

Preckwinkle’s ties to Burke have come under scrutiny amid the powerful alderman’s federal legal troubles and her candidacy for Chicago mayor. In the weeks since the FBI raided Burke’s City Hall and ward offices, Preckwinkle has sought to distance herself from the alderman, returning thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and saying she has had “little contact and no relationship with the alderman” despite him having hosted a fundraiser for her last January at his home.

In a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday, federal authorities alleged that Burke illegally solicited a campaign donation from an executive with a fast-food restaurant company for an unnamed politician that sources revealed was Preckwinkle. Preckwinkle’s campaign said she personally didn’t know about the donation or the alleged extortion efforts. She has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-preckwinkle-administration-hired-ed-burke-son-20190104-story.html