Before he called a meeting of the City Council’s special events committee to order on December 6, Walter Burnett Jr., the chairman, imparted a piece of political insight to his embattled colleague Nicholas Sposato.
Burnett is easy to underestimate. Apart from the figure he cuts—he’s a compact 5-6, wears brainy wire-rimmed glasses, and, when he can ditch the suit, favors the leather-jacket-and-turtleneck ensemble of an early 70s Donny Hathaway—Burnett often seems part of the indistinguishable mass of Chicago aldermen who go along with whatever the mayor wants, whichever mayor is in office. His voting record is full of “aye” votes, including on such pivotal matters as the widely loathed parking meter deal, tax increment financing handouts to Fortune 500 companies, and city budgets that have drained reserves, raised taxes, and cut services. Not only does he refrain from criticizing the mayor, he often joins his council colleagues in extended public ass kissings, while insisting that he spars with the administration behind closed doors.
Our first stop was on Division just east of Halsted, next to an empty lot that was once the site of a Cabrini-Green high-rise. “I lived over there as a kid,” he said.
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Walter Sr. was lucky enough to be introduced to Dunne after being laid off when Burnett was a small boy. “Mr. Dunne helped him get a job as a truck driver for the city,” Burnett says. “I grew up under George Dunne. And my dad loved George Dunne. He was crazy about him.”
Burnett says his father was one of the few African-Americans working for the city. “My dad’s very light complected and had hazel eyes. He thought he was Italian because he had some white blood in his family. He used to hang out with all the Italian guys. Later on him and my mom separated. He was a ladies’ man. He moved up to the Gold Coast, a place on LaSalle Street. He exposed me to all different cultures, different nationalities.”
One Friday, a payday, he got drunk with one of his coworkers. “It was an older guy who’d been in trouble before,” Burnett says. “He got me mixed up in one of his dreams.”
Burnett was simply looking for a way to restart his life. Politics wasn’t even on the radar.
