From the Tribune: 
 
Ryan defense eyes state's IBM deal 
 
By Rudolph Bush 
Tribune staff reporter 
Published October 17, 2005 
 
 Scott Fawell testified today he never saw any evidence former Gov. George Ryan gave a $25 million contract to IBM because his close friend, Lawrence Warner, had lobbied on behalf of the blue-chip company. 
 
 Prosecutors have alleged that Warner made some $3 million off leases and contracts with the secretary of state's office under Ryan. 
 
 The testimony came as Ryan's defense attorney began to dig in to the heart of the prosecution's case against the former governor. Ryan, 71, and Lawrence Warner, 67, are charged in a 22-count indictment alleging Ryan doled out leases and contracts to favored insiders while getting free vacations and assorted gifts. 
 
 For a third day, defense counsel Dan Webb cross-examined Fawell, the government's star witness who served as chief of staff for Ryan when he was secretary of state in the 1990s. 
 
 Webb has promised to show jurors that every secretary of state contract prosecutors allege was dirty was properly vetted through standard procedures in Ryan's office and was a good deal for the state. 
 
 Fawell had insight into many of those contracts, including one of the most costly expenditures of Ryan's tenure as secretary of state, a $25 million deal with IBM to replace the office's mainframe computer. 
 
 The computer, which stores drivers license data, was needed because the old one was falling apart and its manufacturer had warned that it would no longer supply replacement parts. 
 
 Previously, under direct examination by federal prosecutors, Fawell testified that Donald Udstuen, a former vice president of the Illinois State Medical Society, told him that another IBM lobbyist, Robert Kjellander, had asked for Fawell's advice on getting business from the secretary of state's office. 
 
 Udstuen told Fawell that Kjellander said he needed the help "because George didn't like him," Fawell testified. Kjellander has not been accused of any wrongdoing. 
 
 Udstuen, long one of the state's top Republican strategists, has pleaded guilty to a tax offense in the investigation and is awaiting sentencing. He is expected to be a prosecution witness. 
 
 Warner eventually joined the IBM lobbying effort, and IBM got the contract. Now, prosecutors contend Ryan's selection of Warner's client was part of a flow of benefits between the two men that amounted to fraud. 
 
 But in questioning Fawell, Webb explored a series of documents that showed Ryan's director of information services and an outside consultant, Andersen Consulting, strongly recommended the office go with IBM over a competitor. 
 
 "Everybody always said IBM was the best," Fawell said. "I knew IBM was the leader in mainframe technology nationwide, worldwide." 
 
 Andersen agreed, and wrote Ryan a memo noting the price IBM planned to charge the state was fair, the defense showed. 
 
 Webb asked Fawell if he ever discussed the contract with Warner. Fawell said he had not. 
 
 Webb then asked Fawell if he knew of any indication Warner had improperly swayed Ryan to give IBM the contract to line his friend's pocket. Fawell answered he never saw any evidence of Warner improperly influencing the deal. 
 
 The cross-examination was continuing this afternoon in U.S. District Court, Chicago. 
 
 Fawell was convicted in March 2003 of racketeering and fraud in the secretary of state's office and is serving a 6 1/2-year sentence.