Feds say Fawell had 'Screw you' attitude

March 12, 2003

BY STEVE WARMBIR FEDERAL COURTS REPORTER

Scott Fawell, a former top aide to George Ryan, had a basic philosophy toward the citizens of Illinois: "Screw you, taxpayers," a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.

Lead prosecutor Patrick Collins wrapped up the government's corruption case against Fawell on Tuesday.

Collins cast Fawell as the arrogant architect of the George Ryan political machine who got rid of anyone who opposed his using state resources and workers for political purposes.

Fawell's attorney, Edward Genson, had previously portrayed Fawell as a man too busy to keep track of what every state employee was doing, and a man betrayed by government witnesses willing to lie to avoid prison.

Also on Tuesday, Thomas Breen, the attorney for Ryan's political campaign fund--also charged in the case--hammered home to the jury that nobody was truly harmed by what happened, and all was done in good faith.

"Why now are we sitting in judgment of the older generation for the way they conducted governmental and political business?" Breen asked.

"I know this: The office was never harmed, and the people it served were never harmed," Breen said.

Collins, though, argued there was plenty of harm, from the low-level secretary of state employees forced to do political work to the destruction of the inspector general's office in the secretary of state agency to thwart investigations.

The prosecution was criticized for not calling some people as witnesses and giving immunity to others.

But Collins noted they had called a host of witnesses to the stand who had direct contact with Fawell.

And prosecutors, in some cases, had to deal with Fawell's crooked friends to find out what was going on in the office, Collins suggested.

"Ladies and gentlemen, a play cast in hell does not have angels for its actors," Collins said.

One key government witness, Fawell's former best friend, Larry Hall, was a crook, Collins acknowledged. But Hall, a former secretary of state employee, would have been nothing without Fawell, Collins said. Hall "was a nobody and a nothing at that office without Scott Fawell," Collins said.

Collins said prosecutors weren't stopping the investigation at Fawell.

"We will continue to take this investigation to its logical end," Collins said, without elaborating.

While Ryan has been accused of wrongdoing during the eight-week trial, he has not been charged with any crimes. The jury of seven men and five women received the case Tuesday afternoon.