From the Daily Herald:

Defense witness tells of cash gifts to Ryan

Former governor accepted thousands from employees at Christmas time

By Rob Olmstead
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Friday, February 03, 2006 The George Ryan defense team finally got its turn to call witnesses Thursday, but at times the testimony seemed more like an extension of the prosecution’s case rather than rebuttal.

In fact, at one point prosecutors were so happy with one defense witness’ testimony, they actually moved to submit her documents into evidence before defense attorneys did.

The unusual maneuver came after prosecutors rested their case at 11:23 a.m. — 78 witnesses and 18 weeks after they started. Ryan’s team called Vicki Easley, Ryan’s former secretary, to the stand.

Easley, who had testified before in the trial as an unwilling prosecution witness, took the stand again to say she and another secretary, the now-deceased Lynda Long, would collect money in the office for Ryan each year for a Christmas gift.

The testimony was likely intended to refute the prosecution’s contention that Ryan had little legitimate cash flow during his time in office, but it raised the image of a boss who routinely accepted $1,500 to $4,000 every Christmas from his employees, some of them lowly janitors.

“Did he ever tell you that he didn’t want to take cash from people who were making less than him?” asked prosecutor Joel Levin on cross-examination.

“No,” replied Easley.

Levin also got Easley to admit that it was Ryan’s handwriting on one of the cards that took the total amount given and divided it by the number of givers to find an average per person.

That year, 2001, 34 people in the Chicago office of the governor gave $470 for an average of $13.82. That was in addition to $3,030 from 174 people in the Springfield office, for a higher average of $17.41 — although there was no average calculation on the Springfield amount, in Ryan’s handwriting or anyone else’s.

The testimony also could cause problems for Ryan regarding charges he made false statements to investigators, because an FBI agent who interviewed Ryan testified previously that Ryan told him he had a policy of not accepting gifts worth more than $50.

Easley said many people gave $100 each Christmas, and prosecutors even submitted into evidence an itemized list that came with the card one year, showing how much each individual employee had given.

One of the givers on the list was Ronald Gidwitz, then a member of the Illinois Board of Education and now a candidate for governor. He gave $100, the list showed.

In 1997, workers gave $1,715 and in 1995, they gave $1,640, notations on the card showed.

“For a special boss,” trumpeted one of the cards.

Easley insisted the gift was voluntary, that Ryan never asked for it, and she never solicited others.

If no one solicited the gifts, how did so many people know to donate, Levin asked.

“People just came and brought cash?” he asked, the disbelief evident in his voice.

“It was by word of mouth that we would be collecting for Mr. Ryan’s Christmas gift,” she said.

“Did Mr. Ryan ever give cash to the janitors in your office?” Levin asked sarcastically.

“Not that I know of,” answered Easley.

The Christmas cards were admitted into evidence after Ryan attorneys reviewed them with Easley but did not move to admit them. Before questioning Easley, prosecutors quickly moved to admit them.

Ryan attorney Dan Webb hastily jumped to his feet to explain that they wanted the cards admitted, too. They just hadn’t done so because they thought prosecutors would object.

In other testimony, Illinois State Medical Society CEO Alexander Lerner testified that he once suggested to Ryan that Ryan appoint codefendant Larry Warner to the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority board.

Ryan once told investigators it was former McPier board member Jim Kenny who recommended Warner, but Kenny denied that on the stand. Lerner’s testimony is expected to be used by defense attorneys to argue that Ryan simply mixed up who recommended Warner.

Also testifying Thursday was James Murphy, the inventor of the metallic sticker used on license plates. He testified that law enforcement liked that design better than other models because they could see them from a greater distance.

That testimony was given to counteract prosecutors’ contention that Ryan and the Secretary of State’s Office stuck with the metallic sticker because Warner had the sticker company, American Decal Manufacturing, as a client and wanted them retained.