Ex-aide opposed pals' access
Fawell's deputy says lobbyists at meetings
By Matt O'Connor and Rudolph Bush
Tribune staff reporters
Published December 20, 2005, 10:22 PM CST

A former top aide to George Ryan testified Tuesday that he complained about the regular access that two lobbyists, both close friends of Ryan's, enjoyed at high-level staff meetings in the secretary of state's and governor's offices.

Kevin Wright, deputy chief of staff to Ryan in both offices, said lobbyists Lawrence Warner and Arthur "Ron" Swanson had "walking-around rights" that allowed them access to Ryan's inner office without appointments.

Testifying at Ryan's corruption trial, Wright said he expressed concern to superiors on separate occasions years apart that the presence of Ryan's friends disrupted work.

Prosecutors charge that Warner, Ryan's co-defendant, and Swanson, who pleaded guilty to lying to a grand jury, had access to inside information about state government that they parlayed into lucrative lobbying deals.

Wright, now a member of the Illinois Commerce Commission, testified he never passed what he considered proprietary information to Warner. But he acknowledged that he didn't know Warner had financial interests in contracts or leases he asked about. At the time, Wright said, he believed Warner's interest was as a member of Ryan's "kitchen cabinet" of advisers.

In Ryan's first months as secretary of state in 1991, Wright said, he asked Scott Fawell, Ryan's chief of staff, about how to handle frequent calls from Warner about office issues and legislative concerns.

According to Wright, Fawell told him that Warner was a close friend of Ryan's, to "be courteous, answer his questions and do whatever you can to help him out."

Outside the presence of the jury, Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick Collins argued that Fawell's response set the tone for the access that Warner and Swanson had into the office's inner workings.

"Giving information to Mr. Warner is the lifeblood of this conspiracy," Collins told U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in arguing for allowing Wright to testify on the matter. "Mr. Warner, Mr. Swanson, had inside information at every turn of this conspiracy."

Ryan and Warner are on trial on charges that the former governor took cash, gifts and vacations for himself and relatives in return for steering contracts and leases to Warner, Swanson and other friends.

By mid-1992 access to high-level staff meetings by an inner circle of Ryan's friends and lobbyists was disruptive enough, Wright said, that he raised the issue with Fawell.

For a time after the conversation, Ryan appeared less distracted and the office seemed better coordinated, Wright said, but the access issues didn't cease.

In late 1999 or early 2000, when Ryan was governor, Wright said, he raised similar concerns with Ryan's chief of staff, Robert Newtson. During high-level staff meetings, Swanson might be sitting on a couch, in an anteroom or walking by, he said.

Newtson agreed the frequency and length of visits by Ryan's friends were a problem and planned to clear it up, Wright said.

A short time later, Wright said, he noticed that Swanson wasn't around as much. But despite the general improvement in limiting access, there were still days when Swanson and other members of Ryan's inner circle roamed the office freely, he said.

On cross-examination by Bradley Lerman, a Ryan lawyer, Wright agreed that Ryan didn't have sufficient discipline to keep friends out of his office when work needed to be done or decisions made.

Despite working closely with Ryan for more than a decade, Wright admitted he never discussed the issue with him.

On other issues, Wright said Fawell told him he planned a marriage between two rival bidders on a contract to convert driver's licenses to digital technology so that friends of his and Ryan's--rival bidders--would both profit from the deal.

"Fawell said he wanted to make everybody happy," Wright said.

Al Ronan, a close friend of Fawell's, was a lobbyist for Unisys, while Warner held a hidden financial interest in Viisage Technology, according to prosecutors. Viisage alone was ultimately awarded the contract.

Wright also testified the secretary of state's internal investigative unit was hit with a disproportionate share of layoffs in mid-1995, just months after Fawell raised concerns about tactics of its agents.

Wright said seven employees in the approximately 20-member inspector general's office were laid off during the state budgetary crisis.

Wright said he told Fawell that he believed the office was shouldering an unfair burden in the cutbacks, but Fawell said the unit needed to share in the "pain and suffering."

Months earlier, Fawell sharply criticized the inspector general and his investigators, calling them untrustworthy "cowboys."

At the time, Fawell had written a memo to Ryan calling for the office's reorganization, urging that investigators be brought in who "won't screw our friends" by looking into the sale of political fundraising tickets.

Prosecutors charge Ryan oversaw the gutting of the investigative unit as it began to uncover evidence of illegal political activity in the office.