From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Fawell jury nixed politics-as-usual defense

March 21, 2003

BY STEVE WARMBIR AND DAN ROZEK STAFF REPORTERS

The forewoman on the Scott Fawell corruption trial jury said Thursday that Fawell seemed so focused on getting George Ryan elected that he didn't care if he broke the law to do it.

"I think he had one focus in his life," said Lynda Filipello, 64, from Lisle, about Ryan's right-hand man. "I think his focus was: 'I got to get my guy to win.' "

"I was sad to find that," she added. "It's a sad time when people do things that shouldn't be done."

The jury of seven men and five women, deliberating since Tuesday of last week, found Fawell guilty Wednesday on all counts of the indictment, including racketeering.

Ryan's campaign fund was also convicted of racketeering, a first in the nation.

Prosecutors said Fawell oversaw a vast political apparatus that used state resources and employees illegally to help Ryan and other political candidates. And to avoid getting caught, Fawell lied to a grand jury and had documents destroyed that could have helped federal investigators in their case.

Deliberations were at times intense but never angry, jurors said.

The panel was hung up the most on allegations that Fawell was responsible for shredding parties of political documents at secretary of state offices across Illinois, several jurors said. Some jurors said they had problems directly linking Fawell to the destruction of the documents, before jury discussions on the last day of deliberations swung jurors around to a unanimous vote to convict on the issue.

During the trial, defense attorneys argued that Fawell and the campaign fund shouldn't be convicted for what passes as politics as usual in Illinois.

But jurors didn't buy that argument.

"That wasn't a consideration," said one juror, who asked not to be named.

"Just the fact that it's been done for years and years doesn't make it right," said juror John Pender, 67, from Chicago.

"Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should," Filipello said.

Most of the jurors filled several notebooks with notes from the eight-week trial, and they pored through piles of evidence as they meticulously went through the charges step by step, linking their memory of court testimony to documents in the case.

Some jurors said they hope the trial's outcome will help clean up politics in Illinois.

"I think because of this trial and some others, politics is going to change," Pender said.