From the State Journal-Register:

Travel records sought
Agency subpoenaed for information on governor

By BERNARD SCHOENBURG
POLITICAL WRITER

A Springfield travel agency was subpoenaed this week to provide information to a federal grand jury about travel by Gov. George Ryan, first lady Lura Lynn Ryan and the Citizens for Ryan campaign committee, the agency's owner said Wednesday.

The grand jury is apparently part of the Operation Safe Road investigation that has delved into corruption during Gov. Ryan's days as secretary of state.

But Kevin Davlin, owner of World Travel Associates, said his business did not have the kind of information sought, and he has been told he will not have to testify before the grand jury, which will meet on Wednesday in Chicago.

“They requested all account and travel materials and information, including but not limited to records and electronic data regarding travel plans, invoices, expenses and records of payment, related in any way to George H. Ryan Sr., Lura Lynn Ryan and/or Citizens for Ryan, for the period 1991 through the present,” Davlin said by telephone, quoting from the document while traveling in the Caribbean. He also said a notation on the subpoena stated that “possible dates of service” would be in March 1998.

A check with four other Springfield travel agencies showed that none of them had received similar subpoenas.

After being contacted by a reporter, Davlin said he could confirm receiving the subpoena and speaking to an Internal Revenue Service official who was listed on the document.

“And I can confirm (that) I have no clue in the world as to why the federal grand jury would be sending that to me,” Davlin said, adding that his agency did a search, and “we cannot find any information they are requesting.”

He did not know the scope of the investigation.

“I think George Ryan’s a great governor,” Davlin said. “I am a die-hard Democrat, but I think George Ryan is a true gentleman.”

“We don’t know anything about the subpoena,” said Dennis Culloton, spokesman for the governor. “We’re certainly not going to discuss it, and we’re not going to waste much time worrying about it.”

Neither Gov. Ryan nor his wife has been accused of any wrongdoing. Citizens for Ryan was indicted in April, when a grand jury alleged it had acted as a criminal enterprise, in part using state resources for campaign purposes. Several former Ryan aides and associates have also been indicted in what began as the bribes-for-licenses scandal.

Davlin said the subpoena was faxed to his agency by Shari Schindler, a CPA with the IRS who is listed, he said, as part of a “special enforcement program/grand jury.” Davlin said Schindler told him that because the travel agency has none of the information sought, he can be excused from appearing next week.

Schindler would not comment on the case when contacted at her Chicago office.

“We’ve been told not to talk,” she said.

Randall Samborn, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago, also declined to comment, other than to confirm that Zachary Fardon, who Davlin said is also listed on the subpoena, is an assistant U.S. attorney in the office.

A grand jury investigation number listed on the subpoena received by Davlin, 98 GJ 596, is the same number mentioned in the text of a recent indictment handed down as part of the Operation Safe Road probe into wrongdoing in the secretary of state’s office under Ryan.

Bernard Schoenburg can be reached at 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.