From the Chicago Tribune

Ryan's lobbyist pal pleads not guilty
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Associated Press
December 19, 2003
A lobbyist and longtime political insider facing federal racketeering charges along with former Gov. George Ryan pleaded innocent today and demanded trial in about two months, but Ryan's attorney said there was no way his client could be ready that quickly.
"The one thing I know for certain is that it's impossible for George Ryan to go to trial on Feb. 23," Ryan attorney Dan K. Webb told U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer.
Ryan, 69, is charged with racketeering, mail fraud, lying on tax returns and making false statements to agents investigating corruption when he was secretary of state and later governor.
The 22-count indictment says Ryan steered contracts to clients of lobbyist Larry Warner, who collected more than $3.1 million in payoffs from the contractors.
The indictment is the latest in the government's 51/2-year Operation Safe Road investigation of corruption in the Ryan era. Sixty-six former state employees and others have been charged.
Ryan is set to answer the charges at his arraignment scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Warner, 65, had already been indicted on charges he conspired with a person prosecutors described only as Public Official A to fix state contracts and leases.
The fresh indictment Wednesday added Ryan's name and made it plain he was Public Official A, an issue that had been the focus of speculation in Illinois for months.
Warner appeared before Pallmeyer on Friday and pleaded innocent to the new indictment.
His chief defense counsel, Edward M. Genson, immediately told Pallmeyer that he wanted to stick to the Feb. 23 date that already had been set for Warner's trial.
"I have been sitting in my house, eating Vicodin and waiting for that trial date," said Genson, who recently underwent back surgery and has been taking the pain killer.
He said Warner is entitled to the date under federal law guaranteeing speedy trials.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick M. Collins, the lead Operation Safe Road prosecutors, expressed doubts about the date. He said the government is ready to go to trial now but there was a good chance it would not oppose a delay to give Webb time to prepare.
Collins also said one of Pallmeyer's rulings on a pretrial motion may be headed for the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and that issue should be settled before the trial gets under way.
The government contends Warner, a longtime Ryan luncheon and dinner companion, had free reign to decide issues involving contracts in the secretary of state's office.
Therefore, prosecutors claim, he owed the taxpayers the same "honest services" that public officials owe, even though he held no office.
Pallmeyer has ruled that prosecutors can't tell the jury that.
Genson was asked later by a reporter if it would be fair to Ryan to force him to go to trial slightly more than two months after he was indicted.
"I don't represent George Ryan," Genson said, starting down the corridor in his motorized cart. "I represent -- what's your name?" he chortled, looking over his shoulder at Warner.
Genson, one of Chicago's best-known defense attorneys, has already represented three other key figures in the investigation: Mary Ann Mastrodomenico, former head of the Melrose Park drivers license station; Dean Bauer, inspector general in the secretary of state's office under Ryan, and Scott Fawell, the former governor's campaign manager.
Pallmeyer presided over Fawell's racketeering trial. He is currently serving a 6-1/2-year sentence in federal prison.
Copyright (c) 2003, Chicago Tribune