From the Associated Press

Witness links Ryan directly to lease decision

November 2, 2005

BY MIKE ROBINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS

A state official testified at George Ryan's racketeering and fraud trial Wednesday that Ryan personally ordered him to explore the possibility of leasing a truck drivers licensing center from a businessman who was the former governor's host on Caribbean vacations.

The testimony from Robert Michael Chamness was the first to link the former governor directly to the decision to lease a licensing center from currency exchange owner Harry Klein, who hosted Ryan and his entourage on annual holidays at his estate outside Montego Bay, Jamaica.

The lease on Klein's property in suburban South Holland was approved in 1997 when Ryan was secretary of state, a year before the Republican from Kankakee was elected governor. It boosted the price tag on the state's truck drivers licensing program by $173,000.

Chamness, then an official in the secretary of state's office, said he received a phone call from Ryan, who said that "he had a very good friend with a property in South Holland that would make a good drivers facility" and "asked me to contact Mr. Klein."

"He wanted to be the one to inform Mr. Klein when there was a deal," said Chamness, a onetime newspaper sports editor who now is chairman of the state's terrorism task force.

Ryan, 71, and his longtime lobbyist friend Larry Warner, 67, are charged in a 22-count indictment with racketeering and mail fraud. Prosecutors say Ryan doled out leases and contracts to an elite group of lobbyists and friends while getting vacations and gifts from them.

Both have pleaded not guilty and deny wrongdoing.

On cross examination, Chamness made it plain later that what Ryan ordered him to do in the phone call was to determine whether Klein's property was suitable for use as a licensing center. He said that if the property had been found unsuitable he would have told Ryan so.

Testifying under immunity from prosecution, Chamness said the call from Ryan was the first time he had heard of Klein or his property in South Holland.

Chamness, director of drivers services in the Ryan administration, said that for budget reasons he decided to close a licensing center in Chicago's Lake Calumet area, where officials have testified previously that there were no problems, and move the operation to South Holland.

He said he called Klein and agreed on a price-- and immediately landed in trouble with Ryan. He said Klein had thanked Ryan for the deal while the two were at a Chicago Bulls game.

Chamness quoted Ryan as telling him afterward: "I thought I told you that I wanted to be the one to tell Mr. Klein when there was a deal."

"He said he was disappointed in me and if I couldn't follow instructions he would find someone who could," Chamness testified.

"Would you say that Mr. Ryan had never been as angry as he was in that phone call?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel R. Levin asked Chamness.

"I would say that's fair," Chamness said.

"Is it fair to say you were stunned?" Levin asked.

"Yes," Chamness said. He said he immediately called Ryan's chief of staff, Scott Fawell, who told him about the conversation between Ryan and Klein at the Bulls game.

"He said the secretary had chewed him out, too," Chamness testified.

Chamness said he had a later conversation with Ryan in which he discussed details of the deal. Among other things, he explained to Ryan that there had been no decision yet concerning a possible termination clause-- which would let the state out of the five-year contract early if officials felt that South Holland was not working out.

He said Klein wanted the termination clause taken out of the lease.

"He said OK," Chamness testified. He said he also told Ryan that remodeling money to make the property ready for use could be funneled to Klein in installments or a lump sum.

"What is it that Harry wants?" Chamness quoted Ryan as saying.

"I'm sure he wants it as a lump sum up front," he recalled telling his boss.

"OK," he quoted Ryan as saying.