From the Tribune: 
 
Details help sharpen case 
 
By Matt O'Connor and Rudolph Bush 
Tribune staff reporters 
Published October 17, 2005 
 
 Scott Fawell smirked, joked and cried on the witness stand, but amid the theater, the longtime top aide to former Gov. George Ryan delivered some solid blows to his onetime mentor if not the knockout punch his star-witness status seemed to promise. 
 
 Of the dozens of witnesses set to take the stand against Ryan, Fawell was expected to do the most damage, leaving Ryan's attorney, Dan Webb, to try to unravel this week whatever harm Fawell's testimony did and exploit the areas where Fawell came up short. 
 
 Although Fawell did implicate Ryan in the awarding of a number of contracts and leases to friends, his testimony on the rewards Ryan allegedly received in return, a key element of the prosecution's case, often was less pointed. 
 
 In one memorable description, though, Fawell recounted how a friend of Ryan's who owned currency exchanges sought a fee increase and a state lease while hosting Ryan, Fawell and their wives at his seaside Jamaican villa free of charge. 
 
 Fawell, who is serving a prison sentence for a related fraud conviction, came off as a paradox of sorts, insisting he and his former boss didn't do anything criminal while describing a string of seemingly improper acts. 
 
 Prosecutors have tried to paint Ryan as living large, carrying a fat wad of cash, tipping extravagantly, jetting to playoff games with friends and gambling at riverboat casinos and Las Vegas. 
 
 Fawell tempered the portrait, however, saying that Ryan didn't appear to be a heavy bettor and that his stack of cash, folded over, measured just 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches thick. 
 
 Fawell often was unable to recall conversation specifics from years ago and at points offered scant detail about Ryan's role in some of the alleged schemes. 
 
 But such specificity and even Ryan's direct involvement in some of the schemes aren't necessary to prove his guilt, prosecutors argue. 
 
 "It's certainly the government's theory of the case, as it relates to Mr. Ryan, that Mr. Ryan condoned it, authorized it, stuck his head in the sand on it, all of the above," said Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick Collins, speaking on the corruption outside the jury's presence. 
 
 The thrust of Fawell's testimony during four days of Collins' questioning suggested that Ryan's goal was to keep his lobbyist friends, including co-defendant Lawrence Warner, happy by ensuring that they received cuts of state business. 
 
 Fawell insisted, however, that prosecutors had skewed the reality of Ryan's tenure by taking "a lot of isolated incidents" and portraying them as a deliberate conspiracy. 
 
 Nevertheless, prosecutors intend to show that the sheer volume of those incidents and the repetition of allegedly illegal acts add up to a pattern of corruption. 
 
 Although Fawell wasn't able to deliver a single, smoking-gun piece of evidence, he did testify to a long list of apparent violations. 
 
 Once, in Ryan's tenure as secretary of state, Fawell faced a quandary when one of his friends and one of Ryan's friends represented different companies competing for a single lucrative contract. Fawell said he and Ryan sought unsuccessfully for the two companies to share in the deal, so "everyone would be happy." 
 
 In 1993, Ryan became angry when subordinates changed the specifications of another contract, increasing the risk that a company represented by Warner would lose the lucrative deal, Fawell said. 
 
 After Ryan confronted employees about the change at a meeting, Fawell said, Ryan instructed him privately to "put it back the way it was." 
 
 Fawell told the jury that Warner repeatedly assured him that Warner's financial interest in two state leases was concealed, including once within earshot of Ryan. 
 
 Fawell said Ryan's friend Harry Klein twice sought business favors while Ryan and Fawell vacationed at Klein's Jamaican villa. To conceal the fact that their lodging was free, Fawell testified, he and Ryan agreed that each would give Klein a $1,000 check. Under the arrangement, Klein paid each of them back $1,000 in cash, Fawell said. But Fawell never saw Ryan hand over a check or receive cash. 
 
 While sitting at a poolside table in 1995, Klein, who owned Chicago-area currency exchanges, raised the possibility with Ryan of boosting the fees that exchanges charge for selling license stickers, Fawell said. 
  
 It was the only rate increase of any kind approved in Ryan's eight years as secretary of state, according to the testimony. 
 
 During a Jamaica trip in 1997, Klein asked Ryan to consider leasing property Klein owned in suburban South Holland, Fawell said. Ryan backed the deal, telling Fawell that "he wanted Harry to be happy," Fawell said. 
 
 Fawell also testified that Ryan shared in hidden consulting fees from the ill-fated 1996 presidential campaign of former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), passing the money on to at least one daughter even though she hadn't done any work. 
 
 In another alleged scheme, Ryan sought to help Ron Swanson, a friend and lobbyist, Fawell said. With Ryan's approval, the office's securities department moved to Lincoln Towers, a Springfield office building represented by Swanson, even though Fawell thought the asking price was too high. 
 
 With Ryan pressing him to work out a deal, Fawell artificially brought the price down by adding hallways, closets and other unusable space to the total square footage, Fawell said. 
 
 After appointing Fawell to head the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, then-Gov. Ryan leaned on him to hire Swanson as a lobbyist, Fawell said. McPier eventually footed the $5,000-per-month bill for Swanson, who didn't appear to do any work, Fawell said. 
 
 He testified that Ryan also diverted full-time secretary of state staffers to work on campaigns on state time. Among those who benefited were Ryan's then son-in-law Bruce Clark in 1992; Fawell's mother, former state Sen. Beverly Fawell (R-Glen Ellyn), in 1994; and Ryan himself during his 1994 re-election campaign for secretary of state and 1998 campaign for governor. 
 
 At times, though, Fawell would make arrangements for state employees to do campaign work on the state's dime without keeping Ryan in the loop, he said. 
 
 And at least once, Ryan made it clear how much information he wanted regarding Fawell's activities, the former right-hand man said. 
 
 In 1996, Fawell arranged for secretary of state staffers, who continued to receive state pay, to be paid by the House Republican Campaign Committee to work on contested state House races, Fawell testified. 
 
 When he tried to apprise Ryan of his work, he was cut off. 
 
 "I don't want to hear about it," Fawell recalled Ryan saying.