The heat broke on Monday, a beautiful, clear, low-humidity early summer day in Chicago, beginning to end. A great time to be out and about, free and easy. I rode my bike to the paint store, got on my knees in the garden.
The very last place anyone would want to be is inside a courtroom, particularly if you were the guilty party, like former City Council member Ed Burke, waiting to see how long you’d be put away. Citing his role in “this erosion ..
. this chipping away at our democracy,” , plus a $2 million fine. I wonder which hurt more — the time or the money? For a man who would endanger his reputation to grab some more money and gain a client.
Over a Burger King driveway easement. I’m always amazed at how little people wreck their lives over. For Dan Rostenkowski it was postage stamps, crystal and a couple of chairs.
George Ryan got a grand back from some vacation. Rod Blagojevich didn’t get anything, but tried to shake down a children’s hospital. Two years.
Not the 10 the prosecution sought. A light sentence, but more time in jail than anyone, never mind an 80-year-old with nine-tenths of his life behind him, wants to contemplate. Give Burke credit.
Unlike Blago, who multiplied his own prison time by being too stupid to realize he’d done anything wrong, Burke copped to his guilt. “The blame for this is mine and mine alone,” he said. That is refreshing.
We live in an age of denial, when nobody is caught so red-handed they can’t off-load responsibility .
