From the Sun-Times:

Why witness gave: Ryan 'was so good to me'

November 4, 2005

BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter

At age 91, Drury Lane Theatre icon Anthony De Santis couldn't quite hear one of the first questions posed to him at George Ryan's public corruption trial Thursday.

"Do you recall making political contributions to George Ryan?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Laurie Barsella asked.

"To who?" De Santis said, leaning into the microphone.

"To George Ryan," Barsella annunciated.

"Correct," De Santis said firmly.

De Santis, at times hard of hearing and giving his age as both 91 and later as 92, still testified for several hours Thursday about making political contributions to Ryan and sending him checks for Christmas as a "thank you" for getting him low-digit license plates while Ryan served as Illinois' secretary of state.

Looking out from behind tinted glasses and at times resting his face on both of his hands, De Santis said he never thought he was bribing Ryan and that Ryan never asked for money in exchange for license plates.

"If he was selling license plates, he certainly wouldn't be doing it with me because all I ever gave him was a $2,000 contribution," De Santis said.

'He wasn't a personal friend'

After days of combing through charts, contracts and leases with other witnesses in Ryan's trial, De Santis' frank and sometimes comical answers even got some of the jurors laughing.

Defense attorney Bradley Lerman asked if it was true that for decades, De Santis ordered "dozens" of specialized license plates from various administrations.

"Hundreds," De Santis said, smiling and nodding.

He said he gave out the coveted low-digit license plates to employees and to family because "something that looked important" would keep his loved ones from getting robbed or assaulted.

De Santis said that while attending a Ryan fund-raiser in 1997, he offered to make a $2,000 campaign donation. De Santis didn't want his name tied to the donation, so he said Ryan told him to break it down into four $500 checks -- below the public reporting threshold. He said Ryan told him to write the checks to Ryan, Ryan's wife, Ryan's son and his daughter-in-law.

"He wasn't a personal friend, but he was so good to me," De Santis said of Ryan. "He was good to me because he had sent me license plates."

De Santis said he also sent Ryan checks to his home as a Christmas gift.

"The reason I sent those checks was because he was so good to me by giving me license plates, and it was Christmas time, and I thought the least I could do is thank him in a small way by sending he and his wife a check," De Santis said.

Ethics forms amended

Ryan is accused of not disclosing the money as a gift in state-mandated ethics forms or in campaign disclosure forms. In 2001, while under investigation, Ryan aides amended his annual ethics forms from 1997 and 1998 to include gifts from De Santis.

Also Thursday, Richard Juliano, onetime campaign manager for Ryan who served under Ryan's chief of staff Scott Fawell, testified that state employees worked on Ryan's campaign on state time. He said that at one point, Fawell told him to cut campaign expenses by using supplies and time from the state office.

With the trial ending its sixth week, Ryan left for the weekend Thursday saying: "I feel fine" about the trial so far. "I feel fine but fat. But I'm working on that."

RYAN TRIAL HIGHLIGHTS

On Monday: Juror excused because of employment issues, bringing the panel to 12 and six alternates.
Defense: Unsuccessful at blocking photo and testimony of Ryan and friends on a Florida trip. Still awaiting judge's ruling on whether evidence of other Ryan trips in office will be blocked.
Prosecution: Staves off repeated objections and gets in critical testimony through lead witness Scott Fawell. Covers extensive ground from state contracts, to use of state workers on political campaigns, to gambling.
Up Next: Fawell's testimony picks up Thursday where he left off with allegations of state employees working on campaigns.