From the Sun-Times:

The George Ryan Trial

Aide: Ryan cash from reimbursements

January 13, 2006

BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter

Former Gov. George Ryan's defense team for the first time Thursday sought to lay out a paper trail explaining how he rarely made bank withdrawals, yet carried pocketfuls of cash.

His former executive assistant, Vicki Easley, testified that Ryan received thousands of dollars in cash reimbursements from his campaign fund -- sometimes several times a year -- for money spent on travel and other expenses.

That offers a possible legitimate cash source for Ryan -- rebutting a prosecution theory that Ryan's buddies secretly handed him cash in exchange for winning big-money state contracts during Ryan's reign as secretary of state and governor.

Prosecutors could still challenge where Ryan got the money in the first place to pay those costs.

Ryan's cash sources came under question after prosecutors said his bank records reflected just $6,700 in withdrawals from 1993 to 2002 and no ATM usage. But several witnesses attested to Ryan frequently having cash to gamble, tip generously and pay other expenses.

Frequency disputed

In those same years, Ryan's lobbyist friends withdrew tens of thousands of dollars from their accounts, prosecutors say.

Ryan lawyer Timothy McCaffrey showed check after check signed by Easley and another assistant, Lynda Long, reimbursing Ryan for about $1,500 to $3,000 at a time. Easley told McCaffrey that Ryan was reimbursed with such checks about four times a year.

But prosecutors put up records disputing the frequency, noting that the reimbursement checks often lagged sometimes months after he submitted the requests.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Levin also showed four instances when Ryan was reimbursed for hundreds of dollars in meals he had already paid for on his campaign credit card. But Easley attributed that to her own error in reviewing receipts.

Easley, who worked with Ryan for 28 years, said Ryan carried his cash in a money clip but told McCaffrey it was by no means a large wad of cash. She said she never saw Ryan take cash from co-defendant Lawrence Warner or from lobbyist friend Arthur "Ron" Swanson.

But prosecutors worked to show that Ryan used his Citizens for Ryan campaign fund as his personal piggy bank. Levin noted that Ryan was reimbursed for items like cigars, dry cleaning and meals.

He also showed that in 1998, Ryan wrote $1,000 checks from his campaign fund to each of his five daughters five days before Christmas. Ryan wrote "campaign work" on the checks.

More evidence of Bauer's role

Levin noted that Ryan's son, the only child with the same last name, did not get a check. Prosecutors contend Ryan should have paid taxes on those amounts. Easley told McCaffrey that she saw two of Ryan's daughters at campaign functions and considered that work. But Levin said the checks were for nothing more than "showing up at events."

Easley was visibly distraught over testifying against her old boss. Afterward, she and Ryan's wife, Lura Lynn, embraced, and the two wiped away tears.

Also Thursday, prosecutors entered into evidence a memo offering further proof that Ryan's handpicked inspector general, Dean Bauer, quashed an investigation into a Wisconsin crash that killed six children. The memo was written in November 1994, days after the crash, and indicates the secretary of state's office suspected the truck driver who caused the crash, Ricardo Guzman, had gotten his license fraudulently.

Bauer asks that all evidence in the case be given to him. Don Strom, who succeeded Bauer as inspector general, said he found no open files indicating that Bauer was investigating the crash.


HIGHLIGHTS

DEFENSE: George Ryan had a legitimate source of cash -- thousands of dollars in frequent cash reimbursements from his campaign fund.

PROSECUTION: The reimbursements really weren't that frequent, and Ryan still has to explain how he paid for the expenses in the first place.

UP NEXT: Prosecutors may seek to show jurors video statements Ryan made to the press.