From The Southern Illinoisan:

RYAN'S TOP LAWYER ON THE HOT SEAT

[Sun Apr 14 2002]

CHICAGO (AP) -- A former state police commander claims Gov. George Ryan's chief legal counsel tried to pressure him into dropping an investigation of alleged corruption in the secretary of state's office.

Earl Hernandez, former state police deputy commander, said Diane Ford approached him in the summer of 1998 while she was chief counsel in secretary of state's office when Ryan headed the agency. He said Ford tried to intimidate him by reminding him that Ryan was about to be elected governor and would be his boss, the Chicago Tribune reported in its Sunday editions.

"Her exact words were, 'The secretary isn't very happy about the way you're pursuing this,' " Hernandez said. "She clearly was invoking the man's name in an effort to get me to change my mind."

Hernandez was investigating whether staffers in the secretary of state's office were doing political campaign work while on duty. Last month Ryan's campaign committee and two former aides were indicted for allegedly using state employees and equipment in his campaign and for depositing bribes for commercial drivers licenses into the campaign fund.

Ford declined to comment to the newspaper about Hernandez' allegation. Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton issued a written statement backing Ford but saying the indictments keep him from saying more.

"Diane Ford is a highly regarded attorney who well represents her clients and respects the rule of law," he said. "She has had a long career in public service and it is unfortunate that because of the pending criminal case, we are not able to respond in detail to these wild and inaccurate claims."

Hernandez said the intimidation never succeeded in ending the investigation, but it did cause him to retire in Dec. 1998, just before Ryan became governor. He is now police chief in Platteville, Wis.

"Every indication at that time was that Ryan would win and I knew I would never survive," he said. "It's the first time I've ever had an investigation where somebody came in and tried to talk me out of it."

Allan Lolie, a special prosecutor in the case, said Ford obstructed his investigation by blocking access to computers in the secretary of state's office.

"My attitude was these were taxpayer-paid computers," he said. "If they had nothing to hide, what's the problem?"

Lolie is now a Democratic state's attorney in Shelby County.

Federal prosecutors have indicted Ryan's former campaign manager, Scott Fawell, campaign aide Richard Juliano and the Citizens for Ryan Campaign.

Fawell and the campaign fund have pleaded not guilty. Juliano is cooperating with authorities.

Others have been prosecuted in what eventually became known as Operation Safe Road, a federal investigation into the illegal sale of trucking licenses and the use of part of the money for campaign contributions.

Culloton said Ryan and his office always have cooperated with investigators and will continue to do so.