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If a government ruler needs a bodyguard, he is probably a tyrant and certainly doesn't deserve a bodyguard to protect him from the people he is abusing.

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Decades after Council Wars, Burke's bodyguards questioned

By Hal Dardick, Tribune reporter

7:07 p.m. CDT, June 28, 2011

When Ald. Edward Burke arrives at City Hall, it's in a city-owned car driven by nattily dressed bodyguards, complete with Secret Service-style earpieces.

It's been that way for decades, even as the racially charged Council Wars era that once made Burke such a controversial and perhaps targeted political figure has faded into history.

Now, at a time of tight budgets and a police shortage, the alderman with $8 million in his campaign fund finds himself defending the bodyguard contingent, which takes four full-time officers off the streets.

"I think it's fair to say that race relations are not what they were," said Judson Miner. He's the former city attorney who tried to cut back Burke's security detail in 1986 at the behest of then-Mayor Harold Washington.

Burke beat back that challenge, however. Today, the powerful 14th Ward alderman cites a nearly quarter-century-old order in which a judge refused to trim the security detail by half.

Pleadings by Burke's attorney in that case, which were released by court officials Tuesday, noted "a highly inflammatory, controversial political climate. … Large numbers of irrational, unbalanced persons have become excited and aroused by the controversy, have communicated threats, and present an immediate present danger of physical harm to public officials … including plaintiff Burke."

At the time, Council Wars raged. Burke and then-Ald. Edward Vrdolyak, 10th, led a majority of 29 aldermen intent on thwarting the will of Washington, the city's first black mayor, who was elected in 1983.

By the time Burke sued in late 1986, the number of threats against him had dropped significantly. But Burke argued that the upcoming mayoral election would make the "atmosphere … highly charged."

Twenty-five years later, the issue resurfaced in a new context: Rahm Emanuel's campaign for mayor. During a debate, Emanuel said that "shared sacrifice" in tough economic times could lead to a cut in Burke's security detail.

Emanuel is now mayor, and police Superintendent Garry McCarthy is reviewing all city security details, the mayor's aides said.

In addition to Burke, Emanuel, former Mayor Richard Daley and city Treasurer Stephanie Neely have bodyguards provided by the Chicago Police Department at taxpayer expense. Former Chicago Housing Authority CEO Lewis Jordan also had them, until Emanuel pulled that security detail amid questions about Jordan's credit card spending.

Neely has two bodyguards assigned to make sure she has full coverage during working hours, but not when she's off the clock, said Lilia Chacon, her spokeswoman. The guards were in place when Neely took office.

"It is part of what makes her as efficient as she is in fulfilling the obligations of the office," Chacon said. "She understands there is going to be a debate."

Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, is ready to engage that debate. "There's absolutely no reason the city treasurer needs a bodyguard," he said.

In the case of Burke, the bodyguards have been around more or less since 1983, when he first became City Council Finance Committee chairman. The practice dates back to the 1940s, said former police Superintendent Jody Weis.

Despite the charged atmosphere and historical precedent, Washington took aim at the practice of doling out bodyguards to city politicians and luminaries in September 1983. His police superintendent reassigned to regular patrol dozens of bodyguards protecting the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Ruth Love, Treasurer Cecil Partee and others.

Police also tried to reassign Burke's bodyguards, but the alderman complained to the city's Law Department, and police restored them. Vrdolyak also kept his, and Love got hers back.

Three years later, Burke went to court to challenge another Washington attempt at reducing his detail. Then-Circuit Court Judge Joseph Wosik determined Burke was a high-profile public official subject to periodic threats, as Burke's attorney contended. The attorney also said reducing the number of bodyguards could have "a chilling effect" on Burke's opposition to Washington.

"It's a tricky and difficult thing," said Richard Means, then a city attorney who represented the Washington administration. "At that time, it was Council Wars, and the feelings ran very high. There were a number of credible threats. It's possible there still are credible threats."

Less than two weeks after Emanuel questioned Burke's need for bodyguards, a man was arrested for allegedly leaving a message on Burke's ward office telephone that amounted to a veiled death threat. His case is still pending.

But Means said the civil ruling Burke cites in keeping in his security detail could be returned to court if the Emanuel administration determines that bodyguards were not needed or less were sufficient. "No one is entitled to a personal servant, but all public officials are entitled to the protection they need," Means said.

Weis said the issue of Burke's bodyguard detail "came up every year" when he ran the police department. But Weis questioned the costs and effort of taking the case back to court. A better solution, Weis said, would be to evaluate the need for the detail and work out an agreement with Burke if necessary.

Miner, Mayor Washington's attorney, said that Burke is no longer "a critic of any administration."

"Is there any justification for spending all that money on one guy in 2011?" Miner asked.

Tribune reporters Kristen Mack and Jason Meisner contributed. hdardick@tribune.com