From the Associated Press

Ryan's pal: Businessman or political fixer?

October 15, 2005
BY MIKE ROBINSON ASSOCIATED PRESSLarry Warner once gave George Ryan a humidor to keep his cigars from
drying out. Warner also picked up the tab for the band at Ryan's
daughter's wedding.
But the 67-year-old businessman, lobbyist and Ryan best friend firmly
insists that he has never given the former governor any kind of payoff
in exchange for state leases and contracts.
The $2.8 million that prosecutors say Warner got through state
contracts, leases and fees when Ryan was secretary of state came as a
result of normal, legal lobbying, his attorneys say.
"Maybe some of us don't like it, but it's not illegal," defense
attorney Terry Gillespie told jurors as the state's biggest political
corruption trial in decades got under way last month. "Larry Warner
had every right to lobby, even though he's a lifelong friend of George
Ryan."
The 22-count federal indictment accuses Ryan of doling out big-money
state leases and contracts to Warner and other insiders while
receiving free vacations and gifts in return.
Prosecutors say Warner was part of an elite group of Ryan insiders who
swapped gifts for sweet deals. Defense attorneys say the two were
friends but never went over the legal limits.
"Larry Warner is a real live human being and not some comic book
character called The Fixer," Gillespie said. But federal prosecutors
say the fix was in and Warner was part of it.
At the trial, now heading into its fourth week, the spotlight has been
mainly on Ryan, the focal point of the federal government's seven-year
Operation Safe Road corruption investigation.
Warner, a neat, quiet, publicity-shy businessman, has plainly been
happy to let Ryan soak up the lion's share of the attention. But
Warner is not an afterthought in the government's mind.
He's accused of hiding his ownership of buildings in Joliet and
Bellwood that were leased to Ryan's office. Former Ryan chief of staff
Scott Fawell says that Warner assured him there would be no publicity
black eye because Warner's ownership would be buried under mounds of
paperwork.
The indictment also accuses Warner of shaking down IBM and two other
companies for payoffs in exchange for contracts with the secretary of
state's office.
It says he split the money with longtime State Medical Society
lobbyist Donald Udstuen-- a government witness who is expected to
testify that Warner told him he would "take care of" Ryan.
Warner's attorneys say the money he got represented normal lobbying
fees-- not payoffs. And Ryan says there's no evidence that he ever
took "a corrupt dollar" from Warner or anyone else.
Warner attorneys paint their client as a busy, energetic, almost
obsessive businessman with a sensitive nose for sniffing out ways to
make money and an enormous zeal for making it.
He's best known as the head of a fire insurance adjustment agency,
Lash Warner & Associates. He was a director of a Chicago bank where
Ryan kept campaign funds. And he headed two Chicago-based firms,
National Consulting Co. and Omega Consulting Co.
On top of that, another Warner defense attorney, Edward M. Genson,
told U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer last week that his
client also owns a one-fifty-third stake in Tavern on Rush-- an oasis
in the Near North Side's Rush Street playground for high rollers and
high-roller wannabes.
It was at Tavern on Rush that Ryan held a going-away party for Scott
Fawell before his former chief of staff went off to prison to start
his own 6 1/2-year racketeering sentence.
Warner was among the guests.
Warner and his wife were also present on one of Ryan's visits to
currency exchange mogul Harry Klein's beachfront estate in Jamaica. As
secretary of state, Ryan leased a building from Klein and increased
the ceiling on fees that currency exchanges charge customers.
When auto insurance tycoon Richard Parrillo took Ryan to Florida
aboard his corporate plane, Warner went along. Prosecutors have
released a photo showing the group visiting Disneyworld.
Warner's friendship-- and campaign contributions he gave Ryan over the
years-- were rewarded when his old friend named him to the board of
Chicago's Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which oversees
Navy Pier and the giant McCormick Place convention hall.
Despite the scandals and the pressure of the trial, the ties between
Ryan and Warner remain unbroken. These days, they can sometimes be
seen, sitting together at a table at Manny's Coffee Shop, southwest of
Chicago's downtown district, two old friends enjoying a quiet lunch.Who is the other defendant?WHO'S ON TRIAL: Larry Warner is a 67-year-old businessman and lobbyist
who according to attorneys for both men has been George Ryan's best
friend for decades. He's charged along with Ryan with racketeering
conspiracy, mail fraud and other offenses.
WHAT'S HIS BACKGROUND: He heads a fire insurance adjustment firm and
has operated two consulting companies and served as the director of a
bank on Chicago's North Side. He has been a member of the board of
Chicago's Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and, according to
one of his attorneys, owns a share in Tavern on Rush, a restaurant and
bar Ryan and friends frequent.
WHAT ARE THE ALLEGATIONS: Prosecutors say he leased two buildings to
George Ryan's secretary of state's office and concealed his ownership
interest. They say he shook down IBM and two other companies for
payoffs in exchange for contracts in Ryan's office. Warner's attorneys
say that all he did was engage in normal, perfectly legal lobbying
activities and shouldn't be blamed for that.
AP