Former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge (Credit: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
CHICAGO (CBS) – Rev. Jesse Jackson said Saturday that he plans to file a lawsuit seeking to strip former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge of his pension.
The Chicago Police pension board split 4-4 on whether to allow Burge, who was convicted for lying about police torture under his watch, to continue receiving the payouts. Five votes were required to strip him of his pension.
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Jackson said Saturday that he will file a lawsuit over that vote because Illinois state law states pension benefits shall not be paid to public officials “convicted of any felony relating to or arising out of or in connection with service as a firefighter.”
The board members who voted in Burge’s favor decided that his conviction was not directly related to his work as a police officer.
The four board members who voted in Burge’s favor are current or former cops elected by Chicago police officers: Kenneth Hauser, Michael Lazzaro, James Maloney, and Michael Shields. The four who voted against Burge were appointed by Mayor Richard Daley: Michael Conway, Steven Lux, Stephanie Neely and Gene Saffold.
Jackson and activist Mark Clements, an alleged torture victim who served 28 years in prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit, blasted the board’s decision on Saturday.
Clements said that he is going to consult with lawyers because he was told by the head of the police board that he and others who claim they were tortured would be able to testify at the hearing. Instead, he was not told when the hearing was going to take place.
Burge was convicted of lying about the torture and has since been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.
Since he was fired from the Chicago Police Department in 1993, Burge’s name has become synonymous with police brutality in Chicago.
Dozens of suspects have accused Burge and the detectives under his command of shocking them with a homemade electrical device, suffocating them with typewriter bags, putting guns to their head and playing Russian roulette — all to force them to confess to murders they didn’t commit.
54 Comments
This is one time I actually agree with Jessie!
January 29, 2011 at 2:52 pm
Me too.
Never thought I would see the day.. but Jesse is right!!!
Bet Jesse never thought he would ever agree with Jody Weis either!
January 29, 2011 at 11:21 pm
4 cops protecting Burge & 4 Daley apointees protecting the citizens. Soimething wrong with this scenario, if I was a Chicago cop I would be outraged and embarrassed that Burge is given a pension. Respect for the law is based on example and these 4 board members who allowed Burge to receive his pension are just as guilty as he. SHAME ON THEM. As a critic of Jackson I support his position on this lawsuit. May he pursue this with the backing of many !!!!!!!!!!
January 29, 2011 at 2:55 pm
If Burge paid even one cent towards his pension then he is entitled to his pension. No one can keep your pension if you paid any part of it. He still did his ob in other areas of it as well.
January 29, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Do you have any idea exactly Jon Burge has cost the City of Chicago — the City of Chicago TAXPAYERS specifically for his actions.
If the Pension is kept in place, then Burge shoudl reimburse the City of Chicago for all its expenses — they should be squard up in about the Year 3095!
January 29, 2011 at 11:25 pm
He should only get what HE paid in not what was matched.
January 30, 2011 at 6:32 am
The City of Chicago has paid over $40 million dollars to defend Jon Burge over the years. Did you know that? Now tax payers are expected to continue to pay this vicous torturer, $36 grand a year? I am a 30 year union man, but I don’t deserve to collect my pension if, while on my job, I brutally torture hundreds of men that live in the communities that being paid to serve, then lie about it under oath!
January 30, 2011 at 6:42 am
If Mr. Burge broke the law while he was working for the Chicago Police department at anytime, then he should not be get any pension. Here is a man who has lied under oath and got caught lying, torching men, continuing to break the law. He should not be allowed to get no pension. If he foolish enough to allow satin to use him, then he has to pay for it.
Here is an another example of unjust laws and unjust rulings. Satin seems to be running rampant this babylonian society.
January 29, 2011 at 3:15 pm
so when daley violated the law and tore up meigs field in the middle of the night, he broke the law and he shouldn’t get a pension either. i like that. also, didn’t the city have to come up with the million dollar penalty or did it come from his campaign fund? just axing!!!
January 29, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Daley didn’t break the law. Meig’s field property was owned by the city and the lease was up. The federal law for most airports is- 60 days notice of closing and have hearings. The loop hole was- the city owned the property not the feds so the law couldn’t stick!
January 30, 2011 at 6:40 am
The city owned it but you still need to give 30 days notice of closure for a charted instrument approach airport, which it was. They were fined a only $1300.00 dollars a day which came out to $33,000! They also paid back 1 million dollars of misappropriated funds from the feds they used to destroy it.
January 30, 2011 at 6:52 am
Seems like the only thing wrong with the city is the education you received Ricky. Learn how to spell before you become an online critic. If you ever lose your job I’m sure you’ll want to take that pension that you are vested in with you because you put your own money into that pension. If you break a rule or the law at your job should they be allowed to take away your pension? That is of course if you have a job and are smart enough to contribute to your pension plan.
January 29, 2011 at 4:50 pm
reportitrite
If Burge paid even one cent towards his pension then he is entitled to his pension. No one can keep your pension if you paid any part of it. He still did his ob in other areas of it as well.
If you want to go that route then I say he should get just what he put in but nothing more.
January 29, 2011 at 3:22 pm
He was convicted of the exact crime as Bill Clinton… lying under oath. Burge was not a police officer when he lied under oath in front of a grand jury. This offense took place many years after he left the Department . Clinton was impeached and Burge lost his job; thats equal. Burge is about to start a 4 1/2 year prson sentence which Clinton never did. In the Burge case justice was served… not so in the Clinton perjery case.
January 29, 2011 at 3:41 pm
JOHN — The differences are many.
The problem with the Pension Review ruling is that they claim that it was not connected to his time with the CPD, BUT even in his attorneys pleadings to get the City of Chicago to pay his legal fees they claimed that the City should pay because it was PART of hsi time while serving with the CPD. He did not lie with regard to a recent DUI, a recent harrassment case, etc. his perjury was with regard to his time at the CPD – he can not have it both ways, if you claim it had EVERYtthing to do with his time at the CPD inorder to get the City to pay your legal bills, then you CAN NOT flip and claim the opposite when it applies to the revocation of your pension
January 29, 2011 at 11:35 pm
THANK YOU VERY MUCH, KE!
January 30, 2011 at 12:48 am
Sue Jesse Jacfkson for being a pos to his wife and having a kid out of wedlock a true pos if I ever seen one
January 29, 2011 at 3:42 pm
That was JR not SR. Obviously you dont know what you are talking about
January 29, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Steve, what motivates you to dwell on personal attacks, while we are talking about paying our tax money to a man that TORTURED our citizens? Let me see, could you happen to be motivated by racism?
January 30, 2011 at 6:56 am
this is an awful shame that this demonic looking man didn’t get the max that he deserved, he should’ve been prosecuted for torture. now these creeps vote to give him more of the taxpayers money. even though he was convicted of a felony? yea we see how this system is rigged.
January 29, 2011 at 3:43 pm
I have 3 extra electric cords in my basement which can be used to teach the New Electric Slide Dance.
It will show you how to do the Push Burge Electric Slide on State Street for the treat in the street – We even have music for the spark Jerk twist
January 29, 2011 at 3:48 pm
There is NO JUSTICE in the Pension Board’s decision to continue Jon Burge’s pension. And…why wasn’t the pension board’s meeting an open meeting so citizens who believe in justice could attend and have a say. You go Jesse! It’s time to step up to the plate with some meaningful action.
January 29, 2011 at 3:53 pm
I feel that is is a very encouraging to know that Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition will be filing a Law suite against former Commander Jon Burge to block his pension. If your son, brother or husband was beat and tortured and locked up for decades of years behind prison walls, what would you do? Each Burge victim has suffered and it is beyond time that Burge is held accountable for his behavior. GO HEAD JESSE!!!!!
January 29, 2011 at 4:04 pm
the reality is that while the AMERICAN justice system can be unfair and wrong, that man who is getting off light will still answer to his creator who he can not manipulate. Heaven and Hell are real.
January 29, 2011 at 4:07 pm
There might be more truth to that than people know — I believe that Burge has cancer so he may have painful and interest life ahead of him, if not a very short one.
January 29, 2011 at 11:40 pm
Everyone says that he’s a felon and doesn’t deserve a penny of the money that he spent his life working for. What about the countless felons who get welfare checks every month? Can we have a lawsuit to stop those checks from going out every month? Wait that wouldn’t be right because they worked so hard to earn that welfare check! Personally I”m tired of my taxes going up to support the lazy criminal who is just going to end up back in prison where guess what people?! Your tax dollars go to feeding and clothing them again. But I can see where one police officer deserves all this attention!
January 29, 2011 at 4:10 pm
BC The issue at hand is Bruge. Welfare is a separate issue & needs to be dealt with somewhere else. One wrong does not make another one right
January 29, 2011 at 4:13 pm
In a never ending pursuit of race baiting endeavors, the clown that is neither a man of God, nor a man of peace seeks to continue his reverse racism fueled lawsuits and shakedowns.
Neither the lousy Rev nor the alleged victim have any standing to challenge the administrative ruling of the Pension Board. This suit will go nowhere but it grabs headlines.
When anybody not of color acts and carries themselves the way the up -to-no-good Rev. Jackson does, it is rightly called racist. I invoke Dr. King and judge a man on the content of his character and not the color of his skin. By that standard, Jessie Jackson is a at best a snake oil salesman and at worst a corrupt shylock shaking down others for money. In any analysis, Jackson is a racist thug.
January 29, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Congressman, how would you have described Jon Burge?
January 30, 2011 at 7:39 pm
IS THIS AMERICA OR WHAT??????? WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH?????? I WROTE A REPLY TO reportitrite @ 5-Minutes after he wrote his statement. ARE WE NOW LIVING IN A DAY AND AGE WHERE OUR WORDS ARE CONTROLLED AND OUR REPLIES ARE EDITED???? WHO GAVE THIS SITE THE RIGHT?? YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY AUTHORITY TO CHANGE WORDS , SHUT THIS SITE DOWN, NOTHING IS WORTH SAYING, IF YOU CANNOT SAY WHAT YOU FEEL IN AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 29, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Maybe you did it wrong. All my replies goes through.
January 30, 2011 at 7:00 am
well let’s see, was it torture to get the truth from alying maggot felon, o rwas it for lying that he did not do it? tell me MARK CLEMENTS was an altar boy with a perfect record! besides isn’t Burge’s wife very sick and needs John home? JESSE JACKSON IS THE PERFECT GUY TO FILE THIS LAWSUIT, JJ IS THE ULTIMATE LYING POS
January 29, 2011 at 4:22 pm
I have issues with someone who’s going to sue to block someone’s (or anyone for that matter) pension. He comes out in support for the release of a convicted politician who’s greed cost the lives of several children in a Wisconsin car accident.
Or someone who admitted spitting into the food of white people while working in a restaurant as a cook, or the same person who boycotted a beer maker and then backed off after one of his children wound up with a distributorship from that same company. Don’t misunderstand, I do not condone a person who allegedly broke the law to make himself look good by “cracking” criminal cases and then lied to the court to escape his conviction, but for Mr. Jackson to take the lead in this suit is a farce.
January 29, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Let’s admit the truth. I am a white man and I don’t like black people. Why? Many reasons from years of experience watching and dealing with them. Am I wrong to dislike black people and does Jesse have the right to force me to like them? No. I have a right to my opinion and as long as I do not commit criminal acts against black people then I am OK. Jesse is a liar in that he does not like white people, but he is so involved in making his living extorting money from white people that he puts on the act that he is not a racist. John Burge did not get convicted of an act which he did while working as a policeman. He got convicted of an act which occurred after he was retired. For an idiot like Jesse, who wants black people to be hired as policemen despite their criminal convictions, to understand that fact is impossible. Why? Because Jesse sees everything through the prism of race. Truth be told, black people are much more racist than white people. How can that be? White people are usually successful and have better things to do with their lives. Black people are usually failures at life and spend their time trying to game the system to live for free at someone else’s expense. I don’t mind being a racist and blacks should not mind being racists. Liking another race does not make you successful. Hard work, education, respect for the rule of law and respect for one another and other people’s property makes you successful. Blacks fail in all categories.
January 29, 2011 at 7:42 pm
I’m voting for you for Mayor>
January 29, 2011 at 9:49 pm
Wow Fed up, you have some very deep pychological scars my man! Did your parents surround your household with the same hate for people of color that most racists grow up with? Have you also taught your kids to hate other people because they don’t look like you? What about Latinos, Asians and Native Americans, are they also not equal to you as a human being? Damn, your life must be miserable, you have get up each morning and go around hating people, 24 hours a day. Get help man, the vast majority of people in the world have color in their skin. Look around, you are surrounded…
January 30, 2011 at 7:22 am
I saw Fed up’s angry post yesterday. I didn’t respond because I feel this person has a very severe problem. I felt that no one could get him to understand that Burge committed a crime by lying about committing a crime. Because Fed up feels that doing anything to an African-American shouldn’t be considered as a crime. Sorry to say but, he is just a sick puppy how needs to be put down.
January 30, 2011 at 8:17 am
Maybe, just maybe, the IRS should investigate Jesse to see where all his money actually comes from.
January 29, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Maybe, just maybe, you should care about the citizens of Chicago that were brutally tortured by Jon Burge. Your sense of humanity should be investigated…
January 30, 2011 at 7:27 am
fed up lets get real you’re really fed up because the black. men are dating, marrying your wives, daughters sisters etc. this is why you’re really fed up you ,are jealous of black men and you are an attenion getter and you want attention , you can’t get it from your wife, girlfriends, etc.so you use a blog to vent your anger . I have one Question for you who gives a hoot ? attention getter plain and simple.
January 29, 2011 at 10:11 pm
FINALLY..crooked C.P.D. blacks do the crime and do the time, whites do the crime and GET PAID??!!
January 29, 2011 at 10:17 pm
wow
“FED UP” I commend you on having the testicular virility to say what many people only think about saying! John Burge absolutely did torture the people who accuse him of that act. It is just something that happened at that point in time in the city of Chicago under the leadership of Mayor Daley as States attorney, and now as the current mayor.I am so glad I don’t live in the city of Chicago or cook county. The voters of cook county, black, white and brown are all chumps. You keep voting for the same bunch of thieves who steal from you and make empty promises to you so you will keep putting them in office. You deserve each other!!
If Gerry Chico becomes mayor I hope he removes the requirement that police and firefighters live in the city. Can we say DETROIT!!!!
You are all a bunch of clowns.
January 29, 2011 at 10:57 pm
Pam
You seem to have a lot of anger and rage built up inside of you. May I suggest some professional help? Who cares if black men date white women? This is 2011 not 1950. Get over it already.There are people getting killed on the south side of Chicago and people like Jesse Jackson JR & SR talk about being held down? They are held down because they are the ones holding them down. Both serve as examples of what NOT to do, point the finger at everyone else, but do as they please. Like father like son, bot have women on the die. Great examples for the black community huh?
Get over yourself woman. And get out of the Hood too. There is a beautiful world outside the south side!!!
January 30, 2011 at 8:41 am
If Jesse wins this one, I might forgive him for his Hymie Town remark and for stiffing the Holiday Inn when he stayed in Decatur, Il.
January 30, 2011 at 9:07 am
Listen up people and JesseJackson!!!! Read the Illinois Pension Code and learn something! Jon Burge was not convicted of any felony while an active member of the C.P.D. thus he can not lose his pension!!! If he was charged with a felony while on the P.D.he would have lost his pension! So this is a dead issue and he will forever receive his pension!!!
January 30, 2011 at 10:14 am
You got it wrong. He can lose his pension at any time. His pension is a full vested pension, meaning the city paid for everything he paid nothing into the pension plan. His pension should have been revoked because he committed the crime of torture. Even though, the statute of limitation for that crime had expired. He later lied about committing the crime, which is a crime. So, like the idiot he is, he shot himself in the foot. He deserves to lose his pension and live out the rest of his life in the same misery as his victims.
January 30, 2011 at 11:41 am
Average guy he can not lose his pension!!! I’ll even send you the Illinois pension code that will prove this! He is going to keep pension for life!!
January 30, 2011 at 7:59 pm
GOD BLESS JON BURGE
January 30, 2011 at 12:51 pm
You may have Big Shoulders? But, you surely have a small mind. May god bless America!
January 30, 2011 at 1:38 pm
THESE SO-CALLED AMERICANS HAD IT COMING AND THEN SOME ASK THE FAMILY OF THE TWO POLICEMAN THAT THE WILSON’S KILLED!
January 30, 2011 at 2:28 pm
@BIGSHOULDERS
That was so long ago, the families are probably died. And, the two that killed the policeman are died also.
January 30, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Jon Burge enjoy your pension!!!
January 30, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Jesse Jackson it’s none of your dam business! Worry about your mistress!!!!!!!
January 31, 2011 at 11:50 am
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