From the Tribune:

Fawell alleges ghost payrolling
Ex-aide says people worked for Ryan campaign on state time
By Rudolph Bush
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 6, 2005, 4:35 PM CDT
The one-time top aide to George Ryan testified today at the former
governor's racketeering trial that he tried using his political
influence to "wrap up" an investigation into the diversion of state
resources for campaign purposes.
Scott Fawell took the stand in U.S. District Court, Chicago, for his
third day of testimony in the ongoing trial of Ryan and businessman
Lawrence Warner.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick Collins, chief prosecutor at the trial,
questioned Fawell at length about the use of state resources for
campaigns when Ryan was secretary of state from 1991 to 1999.
Fawell said that when Ryan was running for governor in 1998, he was
aware of complaints from at least one high-ranking state employee
about ghost payrolling.
That employee, Assistant Secretary of State Glen Bower, complained to
Ryan about employees working on the Ryan campaign on state time,
Fawell said.
Ryan relayed the complaint to Fawell.
"I think George was getting ready to leave and he said, `Bower's
complaining about something about the girls across the street,'" and
that Fawell should "take care of it," the former aide testified.
Collins asked what Ryan meant by "the girls across the street."
Fawell explained it referred to female secretary of state employees
who were spending part of their workdays at Ryan's campaign
headquarters across the street from his office in the Thompson Center
in downtown Chicago.
Instead of addressing the alleged ghost-payrolling, Fawell and Bower
got into a heated argument over the issue during a February 1998 staff
meeting, Fawell testified.
After the meeting, "everybody left, and they kept doing what I wanted
done," Fawell said. The ghost payrolling, he said, "never stopped."
Ryan, 71, also is accused of steering state leases and contracts to
his longtime lobbyist friend Warner, 67, and a handful of other
associates. The two men have denied any wrongdoing.
As testimony resumed after jurors returned from a lunch break, Fawell
discussed a series of payments from Ryan's campaign fund to Ryan's
daughters and son-in-law.
Campaign disclosure documents showed that in 1996 and 1997, Citizens
for Ryan paid Ryan's son-in-law Michael Fairman, $55,000 for
"consulting" and "campaign work."
"Are you aware of one dollar of service Mr. Fairman provided for
Citizens for Ryan," Collins asked. "I am not," Fawell answered.
Fawell said only he and Ryan could have authorized such a large
expenditure, and he never authorized it.
The fund also provided sporadic payments, usually of $1,000, to three
of Ryan's daughters. Campaign documents also listed a gift of $6,000
to a woman who provided home care for Ryan's mother-in-law.
"Did she have anything to do with the campaign?" Collins asked.
"Not at this time," Fawell said.
Earlier today, before the jury was brought into court to hear another
day of Fawell testimony, Ryan's defense attorney clashed with federal
prosecutors over whether jurors should hear about nine trips the
former governor took to National Basketball Association games and
other sporting events around the country.
"They're trying to dirty up George Ryan by portraying him as a fellow
who (runs) off to an NCAA playoff in Indianapolis or a Bulls game in
New York,'' defense attorney Dan K. Webb said. He said the picture of
Ryan using corporate jets and campaign funds for pleasure trips was
very damaging.
Webb also said he stayed up until 2 a.m. looking for documentary
evidence that Ryan ever charged items on the trips to his campaign
fund but was unable to discover any such papers.
Collins said Ryan's and Warner's trips to out-of-town sporting events
showed how close they were. He denied the government merely wanted to
portray Ryan as a politician who lived a luxurious lifestyle and did
what he wanted when he wanted -- sometimes at corporate expense.
"We're not gilding the lily,'' Collins told U.S. District Judge
Rebecca R. Pallmeyer.
After hearing from the attorneys for an hour, Pallmeyer expressed
concern that the jury's time was being wasted while lawyers squabbled
over the issue and added that it could be thrashed out later.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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