From the Chicago Tribune

Former governor took 5th, U.S. says
Ryan lawyers reveal move in filings
By Matt O'Connor
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 24, 2004
Indicted former Gov. George Ryan refused to testify before a federal grand
jury investigating him and invoked his 5th Amendment protection against
self-incrimination, according to a government letter made public late
Monday.
The disclosure came from Ryan's lawyers as they filed numerous pretrial
motions in federal court, including several that attached the same
government letter as a supporting document.
Among the motions was one seeking to have the racketeering charge dismissed
against Ryan, who is charged with taking cash, gifts and vacations for
himself and relatives in return for steering state contracts and leases to
friends.
The government letter was sent to Ryan's legal team last month when
prosecutors made their initial disclosure of evidence and records compiled
during the Operation Safe Road investigation of Ryan and co-defendant
Lawrence Warner, a Ryan confidant. Both have pleaded not guilty to all
charges; the trial is scheduled for March 2005.
"Your client did not testify before the grand jury," the letter declared.
"Rather, he asserted his 5th Amendment privilege when he was subpoenaed.
"Should you desire a copy of the letter in which he asserted the privilege,"
the government letter stated, "please contact us, as no copies have been
made and the document has been maintained in a secure vault."
The letter also noted that Ryan had been interviewed by federal law
enforcement officials on five occasions, four of them while he was governor
in 2000 and 2001.
Among the evidence turned over to Ryan's lawyer, according to the letter,
was a copy of a tape-recorded conversation of Ryan that was made on April
30, 2002, and a draft transcript of the conversation. The Tribune reported
last year that Donald Udstuen, once part of Ryan's "kitchen cabinet" of
prominent advisers, secretly tape-recorded Ryan on April 30, 2002, the day
Udstuen began to cooperate with federal authorities.
Udstuen has pleaded guilty to conspiring to cheat on his income tax returns
and is likely to testify against Ryan.
In seeking to dismiss the racketeering charge, Ryan's lawyers attacked the
indictment for alleging the State of Illinois constituted a RICO enterprise,
calling that "a legal fiction."
"No reported case in the history of American jurisprudence that we could
find has ever permitted a sovereign State of the Union to be characterized
as a [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations] `enterprise'--and with
good reason," the motion said.
The defense said the racketeering count consists of "nothing more than a
hodgepodge of disparate allegations."
Meanwhile, in a related Operation Safe Road case, court records show a
fourth defendant is expected to plead guilty in connection with the rigging
of bids at the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, known as McPier.
Julie Starsiak, a former officer of the powerhouse lobbying firm Ronan Potts
LLC, is scheduled to plead guilty on Thursday to one count of making false
statements to investigators, her lawyer, Chris Gair, confirmed. Starsiak had
been given immunity from prosecution as long as she didn't lie to
authorities.
Two former employees of Jacobs Facilities Inc., a consulting firm that won a
rigged contract to oversee a huge expansion at McCormick Place, as well as
Alexandra "Andrea" Coutretsis, a top aide to former McPier CEO Scott Fawell,
are all scheduled to plead guilty next week, according to court records.
Ronan Potts pleaded not guilty during its arraignment Monday. Fawell,
already in prison for corruption during Ryan's tenure as secretary of state,
is also expected to fight charges of wrongdoing at McPier.
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune