From the Chicago Sun-Times:
Fawell found guilty of
corruption
March 19, 2003
BY MIKE ROBINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
A top aide to former Gov. George Ryan was found guilty on all counts by a federal court jury Wednesday of corruption charges stemming from the eight years Ryan was Illinois secretary of state.
Scott Fawell, who the jury found guilty, was chief of staff to Ryan in the secretary of state's office and his 1998 campaign manager and has been at the center of the controversy.
Fawell, 45, is the top official charged thus far in the five-year federal investigation of events that took place while Ryan was secretary of state before his election as governor in 1998.
Fawell is the son of a judge and state senator and the nephew of a congressman.
The jury also found Ryan's campaign committee guilty on all counts.
The jury deliberated for six days and part of a seventh before reaching its verdicts.
The eight-week trial threw into sharp focus the underside of Illinois politics, creating a fresh chapter in the state's long history of patronage, payoffs and corruption in government.
Fawell and the Citizens for Ryan campaign committee were charged in a nine-count indictment with a racketeering conspiracy that included using state employees working on state time to run Ryan campaigns for almost a decade.
In addition to racketeering, Fawell was charged with mail fraud, stealing state property, conspiracy to obstruct justice and perjury before a grand jury investigating the Ryan scandal.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press.