Scott Fawell 
Nowhere did that message come across more strongly than when Collins questioned Fawell about his statement to defense attorneys that he injected himself into the process of vetting Ryan’s campaign finance forms so Fawell could be sure the forms were “accurate.” 
 
That was correct, reiterated Fawell. And he also did it to “label things the way I wanted,” he said. “They’re not necessarily two different items.” 
 
Collins then asked him if it was accurate to label money paid to Michael Fairman — George Ryan’s son-in-law — as campaign consultant work, when Fawell had testified Fairman did no consulting work. 
 
“It’s a two-part question,” hemmed Fawell when pressed for a yes or no answer. 
 
“Was it labeled incorrectly? Yes. Was it labeled the way I wanted? Was it accurate? Yes,” continued Fawell. 
 
“Accurate, for your mindset, was (defined as) how you wanted it done?” asked Collins. 
 
“Correct,” replied Fawell. 
 
That parsing apparently didn’t sit well with the Rev. Duane “Scott” Willis, whose six children were killed in a 1994 crash involving a truck driver who bought his license from Ryan’s office with a bribe. 
 
“It was hard to listen to,” said Willis, before declining to comment further on Fawell’s testimony. 
 
He did say he agreed with prosecutors that the Ryan case is about tangible consequences of corruption. 
 
“We’re a case in point on that,” he said. 
 
Despite the loss of his children, Willis said he doesn’t relish the prospect of Ryan going to prison. 
 
“Mr. Ryan is a husband, he’s a father, he’s a grandfather. No, it doesn’t make me feel good,” he said. But some accounting of what took place must occur, and justice should be done, he said. 
 
Willis said he tried to talk to Ryan years ago at a prayer breakfast, shortly after Willis had filed suit and a day after news reports linked Ryan fundraising with bribes for licenses. 
 
Willis said he approached Ryan to tell him he was praying for him, but that he thought the truth needed to come out. 
 
“I think what I wanted to say was this was not a personal vendetta,” Willis said. 
 
The response? Ryan began criticizing Willis’ attorney, Joe Power, and his tactics. 
 
“I was astounded by the reaction,” Willis recalled. 
 
Ryan had no comment Monday, consistent with his policy of not speaking until the trial is concluded. 
 
Monday also saw yet another side of Fawell, who has twice cried on the stand, when he came to near-shouts with Marvin Bloom, an attorney for Ryan’s co-defendant, Larry Warner. 
 
Bloom implied Fawell would say anything for the government because he had learned, through his own trial, that witnesses who testified for the government got deals. 
 
Fawell hotly insisted that before he agreed to a deal to keep his fiancee, Andrea Coutretsis, out of prison on separate charges, he made sure the government understood he’d tell the truth but only the truth and no more. 
 
“I’m not in the tank with anybody,” he said. “Some of it (my testimony) helps you, some of it hurts you. That’s the reality. … Because the truth sometimes does land in the middle.” 
 
Also on Tuesday, Fawell identified Susan Twiss as the “associate” to whom he once gave a no-work job at McPier, the regulatory agency for Navy Pier and McCormick Place. Fawell had admitted the conduct before in a plea agreement, but the agreement had not named the associate. Twiss could not be reached for comment. 
 
Ryan is accused of taking cash and gifts from co-defendant Larry Warner in exchange for awarding state contracts to Warner’s clients. The trial continues today, and is expected to be the last day on the stand for Fawell.