From the Chicago Sun-Times

RYAN SPEAKS OUT AS SCANDAL UNFOLDS
BY DAVE MCKINNEY Sun-Times Springfield Bureau
SPRINGFIELD -- From the time he was a gubernatorial candidate in 1998 until Tuesday, when he pleaded innocent to federal corruption charges, George Ryan's approach to the scandal around him has been a study in denial, anger, evasion and, finally, silence.
Ryan's tone became increasingly desperate through the years as the feds methodically built their case against the former governor.
Here, in his own words, is a look back at how Ryan fended off the questions that would eventually drive him from office.
APRIL 9, 1998:
The first allegations surface on a television news broadcast that secretary of state workers under Ryan took bribes to license truck drivers and were awarded career advances. Ryan insists the allegations were investigated by his office and found to be baseless.
"Nobody has given us anything solid," he says. SEPT. 3, 1998:
The feds arrest three employees at the McCook drivers license facility and accuse them of accepting bribes for licenses. In the heat of his campaign for governor, Ryan tries to spin the troubling development, saying he was angry with the employees and "proud of the fact that we brought it to the forefront." SEPT. 5, 1998:
Ryan responds to reports that federal investigators are trying to determine whether bribes accepted by drivers license employees were channeled into his campaign fund.
"They should have made that as a part of their charge. They didn't say that to me," Ryan says, dismissing the allegation as "speculative stuff." OCT. 4, 1998:
Ryan's Democratic rival for governor, Glenn Poshard, alleges during a campaign debate that Ryan allowed an unqualified trucker to get an Illinois license, and that the driver later touched off a 1994 crash that killed six children of Scott and Janet Willis.
"The comments Mr. Poshard has made about me being responsible for the deaths of six children is probably the depths of anything I have seen." OCT. 6, 1998:
For the first time, federal prosecutors allege in an indictment against McCook employees that bribe money went into Ryan's campaign fund.
Ryan vows cooperation and touts his truck-safety record. "I'm not going to allow a few bad employees to tear that down." JAN. 27, 2000:
Word surfaces that Ryan's longtime aide and inspector general in the secretary of state's office, Dean Bauer, is about to be indicted. Ryan reads this prepared statement to reporters in his Springfield office:
"I'm angered because this corruption case has overshadowed the good things we've done in the office. But I'm angry at myself for not recognizing the problem a lot earlier. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot I can do. As a matter of fact, there's nothing I can do to change any of that except to accept the responsibility. This has been a very difficult lesson for me, but I've learned it and I've learned it very well."
Pressed about his working relationship with Bauer, Ryan grows testy with reporters and refuses four times to answer whether Bauer reported directly to him in the secretary of state's office. "I'm not going to get into it." FEB. 1, 2000:
After Bauer is indicted, Ryan goes before the General Assembly and issues a short apology for the scandal at the beginning of his budget address. But afterward, he is again combative as reporters press the Bauer issue.
"If you want to talk about the budget, if you want to talk about state government, if you want to talk about programs that are important to the people of Illinois, I'll be glad to do that. But understand that I don't intend to answer any questions." MARCH 9, 2000:
Ryan uses some of his most forceful words yet to defend himself against increasing questions over how truckers who paid bribes for Illinois licenses were involved in crashes outside the state.
"This skulduggery that went on, and this crookedness that went on, happened on my watch. I was the secretary of the state when it happened. I have taken the hit for it pretty well. ... Was I involved in selling driver's licenses to people illegally? Hell no, I wasn't. I didn't have anything to do with it. Would I have tolerated it? Hell no, I wouldn't tolerate it. Not in a second would I have put up with that had I known that it was going on. We did do some investigations and we did catch some people. To say I was responsible personally for it--absolutely unfair." SEPT. 22, 2000:
In an outburst at the Old State Capitol, Ryan chides a Statehouse reporter about a story involving his Illinois Gaming Board appointments, then volunteers that he is not going to be indicted and that he has done nothing wrong. As if to punctuate the point, Ryan says that he is the governor. JAN. 29, 2001:
A week earlier, Scott Willis had urged Ryan to resign. But after a downtown speech, Ryan rules that out and insists he didn't kill the Willis children.
"I've got to tell you my heart is sad, but my conscience is very clear," he says. MAY 22, 2002:
Ryan responds to the indictment a day earlier of friend Lawrence Warner, who was accused by the feds of pocketing $2.8 million in kickbacks and sharing part of the take with someone identified in government filings as "Official A."
Asked if he is that person, Ryan says, "I don't know. I don't believe I am. I sure as hell don't think I am and would have no reason to think I am. But I'm not answering any of those kinds of questions."
A reporter asks Ryan if he ever accepted an illegal kickback. Ryan snaps, "No, have you?" NOV. 18, 2002:
A public unveiling of his oil portrait includes gushing tributes to the ex-governor from Senate President Emil Jones, House Speaker Michael Madigan, Secretary of State Jesse White and Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka. No mention is made of the scandal that brought him down.
Asked later whether he thought the scandal would define his legacy, Ryan refuses to answer the question and ends an impromptu news conference. Thompson says