From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Feds looking at Ryan's choice for state prison site

June 18, 2003

BY MIKE ROBINSON

Federal prosecutors are investigating Gov. George Ryan's choice of the southern Illinois community of Grayville as a prison site, a project pushed by one of his longtime lobbyist friends.

The inquiry into Ryan's April 2001 decision to place the state's new maximum security prison in the economically hard-pressed community is part of the government's five-year investigation of corruption in the Ryan era.

Prosecutors are asking about the lobbying that preceded the decision to award the prison to the White County community, according to Grayville Mayor Joe Bisch and former state Rep. Roscoe Cunningham (R-Lawrenceville).

Both said they were subpoenaed by federal prosecutors and asked about any relations with former state Sen. Arthur R. Swanson, a lobbyist and Ryan friend.

''I told him I knew absolutely nothing,'' Cunningham said Tuesday by telephone. ''I am as pure as the driven slush,'' he added, sarcastically.

He said his interview took place June 9.

State lobbying records show Swanson was retained by the late Dr. Clyde W. Wilson, a southern Illinois landowner who wanted the prison in Grayville.

A source close to the investigation said Swanson told a federal grand jury, when questioned about Grayville and a number of other matters, that he had been hired by Wilson to do a normal lobbying job on behalf of Grayville receiving the prison.

The source said prosecutors were dissatisfied with answers Swanson provided and have made him the target of a federal perjury investigation.

Swanson, reached by telephone, declined to comment and referred all questions to his lawyer, James R. Streicker.

Both Streicker and Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, also declined to comment.

Ryan and Swanson have known each other for years. Swanson's son worked in the secretary of state's office under Ryan.

Ryan also proposed in 2002 to spend $20.9 million to buy the Lincoln Tower office complex in Springfield in a deal that could have paid Swanson up to $1.7 million as its broker. The plan fizzled when it was reported that records of the Lincoln Tower plan had been subpoenaed by the grand jury.

Cunningham said he wrote to Ryan on Dec. 20, 2000, outlining the case for placing the prison in Grayville.

Cunningham said he was asked in his interview with a prosecutor about his contacts with Swanson. He said he had not seen Swanson in many years.

Bisch said he was also asked about Swanson.

''He asked if I knew of him and I said I'd heard his name,'' Bisch said. He said he didn't contribute any money to hire a lobbyist, ''and frankly I don't think much of cities hiring lobbyists--I think it's foolish.''

Ryan's announcement before hundreds of cheering Grayville residents in the high school gymnasium capped a furious competition for the prison between communities eager for the jobs and contracts that come with it. AP