Cloutless in the jury room, will ex-Ald. Ed Burke get a Christmas wish or a lump of coal?

CHICAGO — As the ultimate City Hall insider for decades, Ed Burke became a master of behind-the-scenes maneuvers that shaped Chicago and his own political fortunes.

But now his legacy will be decided behind closed doors, inside a backroom he cannot enter, and where he cannot wield his legendary clout.

In that room, nine women and three men will decide whether Burke will go down in history as one of the most powerful Chicago aldermen ever convicted of corruption or if he will join the thin ranks of Illinois politicians who beat a federal rap.

The verdict, which could come just before Christmas and days away from Burke’s 80th birthday, will reverberate throughout Chicago political circles no matter the outcome, and will surely be used by some at City Hall as a road map for how much wheeling and dealing they can legally do.

For Burke, it’s all on the line. He survived his anti-administration battles with Mayor Harold Washington, the city’s first Black mayor, during the 1980s “Council Wars” and rode numerous political ups and downs with mayors from Richard