From the SJ-R:

Ryan's pal tracked plates, former bodyguard testifies
Trooper also saw politician's cash expenditures

By MIKE RAMSEY
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

Published Thursday, November 10, 2005

CHICAGO - Chicago lobbyist Larry Warner told George Ryan that low-digit license plates were "plums to be used," as the politician prepared to be sworn in as secretary of state, a former Ryan bodyguard testified Wednesday.

Todd Borisy, who was a member of Ryan's security detail, said Warner advised Ryan about the desirability of the plates as the two friends rode together in a van in late 1990 or early 1991. Borisy said Ryan, then lieutenant governor, recently had been elected to his first term as secretary of state.

Warner said low-digit plates that Ryan's new office would distribute "were plums to be used, and that somebody should be keeping track of them," Borisy told jurors in Ryan and Warner's federal racketeering trial.

"And what did Ryan say?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Laurie Barsella asked.

"That he had somebody on it," Borisy said.

Warner would ask about certain plates as they became available and said he knew people who wanted them, the former bodyguard testified. Ryan later expressed irritation to his chief of staff, Scott Fawell, that "Mr. Warner knew what plates were becoming available before he did," Borisy said.

Federal prosecutors say Warner funneled the special plates, which generally were not available to the public, to business associates, clients and employees, with Ryan's approval. Also, Warner allegedly shook down secretary of state vendors by using his close ties to Ryan and rewarded the office-holder with gifts and other compensation.

Borisy testified that Ryan showed him an elaborate videocassette recorder and said, "Look at the new toy Larry got me." On another occasion, Borisy said, Ryan asked him to drive to Warner's Chicago office, where Warner gave the security detail a "full Vegas-style slot machine."

"We put it in the van and drove it down to Kankakee and put it in Mr. Ryan's basement," he said.Borisy, a longtime member of the Illinois State Police, said he was assigned to protect Ryan in the late 1980s and stayed with him through the Republican's two terms as secretary of state. He was re-assigned as an administrator in 1999 when Ryan became governor, Borisy said.

The former bodyguard said the secretary of state tended to pay for lunches, gifts and other expenses from a nearly inch-thick wad of cash Ryan carried in his front pocket. Borisy said Ryan would call his secretary in Springfield when he needed money, and that he once saw Ryan retrieve a cash-filled envelope from his office.

When Ryan was lieutenant governor, he seemed to have less cash and tried to borrow money once from his bodyguards so that he could make a "friendly wager" on a golf game, Borisy said.

Ed Genson, Warner's defense attorney, noted Borisy did not initially tell FBI agents about Warner's purported conversation with Ryan about low-digit license plates. Borisy stood by his recollection, but under a blistering cross-examination conceded he wasn't sure Warner called the plates "plums."

Earlier Wednesday, Ryan defense lawyer Dan Webb was allowed to make a fleeting reference to the former governor's handling of the death penalty in Illinois. Ryan in 2000 halted executions after 13 condemned inmates were exonerated and, in 2003, commuted remaining death sentences to life in prison as he left office.

Prosecutors have argued Ryan's capital-punishment decisions are unrelated to the fraud charges against him. After Webb emerged from a sidebar session with U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer, he asked former Ryan aide Richard Juliano if the elected official made a policy decision about "the fair administration of the death penalty."

"I was aware of that," Juliano answered.

Webb has tried to convey the impression that Ryan spent much of his time in office working on big-picture issues, including the death penalty, and had little time to conduct corrupt activities. Ryan's stance on capital punishment may be seen in favorable terms by some jurors.

Borisy continues testifying today.