From the Tribune:

GEORGE RYAN ON TRIAL

A Christmas card defense
Defense case opens with details of gifts from governor's staff

By Matt O'Connor and Rudolph Bush
Tribune staff reporters
Published February 3, 2006

After 17 weeks of fighting back in a case that painted former Gov. George Ryan as a corrupt politician who schemed with friends and family to enrich themselves, Ryan's attorneys Thursday finally began to present their side of the story on their terms.

But their efforts ran into a bit of trouble almost as soon as the defense started.

Shortly after prosecutors rested their case, Ryan's defense offered testimony from a longtime secretary who swore that each Christmas Ryan legally accepted thousands of dollars in cash gifts from his staff.

The testimony was intended to answer a prosecution charge that Ryan mysteriously carried around wads of cash but rarely made bank withdrawals.

But on cross-examination, the prosecution quickly raised questions about whether Ryan had solicited contributions from employees and why Ryan would accept cash from janitors and other low-level staffers.

"So he was willing to take cash from anyone in the office who was willing to give it to him, is that right?" Assistant U.S. Atty. Joel Levin asked Vicki Easley, Ryan's former secretary.

Ryan had told federal authorities in interviews in 2000 that he had a personal policy of refusing gifts of more than $50, but Easley said Ryan never made an issue of the cash gifts from employees.

Ryan's use of cash has been a key point of dispute in the trial. Bank records show he withdrew only $6,700 cash in nearly a decade--circumstantial evidence, prosecutors argue, that his heavy cash spending came from kickbacks from co-defendant Lawrence Warner and other friends to whom he steered state business.

Prosecutors presented evidence Thursday that from 1992 to 2002 Ryan's friend, lobbyist Arthur "Ron" Swanson, regularly withdrew thousands of dollars in cash just days before he had scheduled meetings with Ryan.

On the first day of its case, the defense called Easley to show that during Ryan's four years as governor and eight years as secretary of state, he received an estimated $1,500 to $4,000 in cash each year in a Christmas gift card from staffers.

Several cards were admitted into evidence, including one that announced on the cover: "You work hard all year long at being a TERRIFIC BOSS and what does it get you?"

Under questioning by Timothy McCaffrey, a Ryan lawyer, Easley said that employees knew of the annual collection by word of mouth and that the contributions were voluntary.

The Christmas card included a list of all the employees from state offices in Springfield and Chicago who had donated money, she said.

On cross-examination, Easley acknowledged she didn't know if other employees had solicited contributions from staffers.

The gifts came from department heads to janitors, students and receptionists, she said.

The list of contributors allowed Ryan to know who hadn't given money as well, she conceded.

"Do you know if he used that factor ... in decisions that he was making?" Levin asked.

"No, I do not believe he did that, no," Easley said.

Levin pointed out that on a scrap of paper found with one of the Christmas cards, Ryan had calculated how much each of 34 staffers had given to him on average in 2001.

Easley, who identified the handwriting as Ryan's, said she didn't know why Ryan would want to know that.

Prosecutors admitted into evidence the Christmas card from 2002, Ryan's final year as governor, which not only listed each contributor but also the amount of their donations.

It showed that several lobbyists who were Ryan friends as well as at least one business executive, Ronald Gidwitz, had contributed money in addition to staffers. Many of the contributions were for $100 each.

"Was that just a coincidence?" Levin asked. "Was someone telling people that $100 was the suggested amount?"

"Not to my knowledge," Easley said.

Gidwitz, now a Republican candidate for governor, has no recollection of giving Ryan any cash, said campaign spokeswoman Terri Hickey.

Ryan's lead lawyer, Dan Webb, has said he expects to call a significant number of witnesses, though many would be attempts to refute narrow points raised in the government case.

Alexander Lerner, the defense's first witness, provided an example of just that. Lerner's testimony was intended to show that Ryan was simply mistaken and hadn't lied to federal authorities when he said a construction executive recommended he appoint Warner to the board governing McCormick Place.

Called in the prosecution case, the executive, James Kenny, denied making the recommendation.

Lerner, chief executive officer of the Illinois State Medical Society and a longtime political supporter of Ryan, testified Thursday it was he who told Ryan that he should appoint a trusted friend to the board and suggested "someone like Mr. Warner."

Donald Udstuen, formerly a close Ryan political adviser and the medical society's chief lobbyist, testified for the government that Warner shared kickbacks from a secretary of state contract with him and said he would "take care of George."

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76

Number of prosecution witnesses. The first, Scott Fawell, took the stand Sept. 29.

10

Number of days Fawell, former chief of staff for Ryan, was on the stand.

$6,700

Amount of cash Ryan withdrew from his bank account in 91/ years in public office

$10 million

Amount Ryan's pro bono defense cost Winston & Strawn law firm through mid-November