From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Former Ryan aide gets 6-1/2 years
July 1, 2003

BY STEVE WARMBIR AND TIM NOVAK Staff Reporters

A former top aide to George Ryan vowed Monday not to squeal on his political patron to prosecutors--even after a federal judge sentenced him to 6-1/2 years for political corruption.

"I'm not going to go in there and make up stories about [Ryan] just to save myself," Scott Fawell said as he walked out of the U.S. Courthouse. "Unfortunately, that's the game [prosecutors] like you to play."

"Is there any doubt in anybody's mind if I would have sat there and said 'I'm going in and tell stories about George Ryan,' would I have gone through this?" Fawell said, referring to his trial and conviction in March. "No, there's absolutely no doubt.

"I'm not going to sell myself out just to save myself," he said.

Fawell added he talked to Ryan "a couple of weeks ago. He called to see how I was doing."

A former top aide to Ryan when Ryan was secretary of state, Fawell, 46, was convicted of using state employees to work on political campaigns, at public expense, and he led a culture of coverup at the secretary of state's office.

"The government submits, based on the accumulated evidence, that there has never been another public corruption case in Illinois in which the evidence has proven such a corrupt underbelly of an important state office with such real-life, tangible consequences," federal prosecutor Patrick Collins said at Fawell's sentencing.

"If there's a message to send, it's this: Government corruption is not cost-free. Government corruption has victims," Collins said.

The feds said Fawell's corruption created a culture that put dangerous drivers on the road, some causing fatal accidents. Secretary of state workers were under so much pressure to raise campaign money for Ryan that they sold drivers' licenses for bribes.

Prosecutors argue Fawell gutted the agency that investigated wrongdoing in the secretary of state's office.

While U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer found merit in the prosecutors' arguments, she didn't find a close enough link from Fawell to the disruption in the office to boost his prison time to what prosecutors wanted: up to 11 years.

Fawell's defense asked for less than five years behind bars for Fawell and argued he didn't realize some of his deeds were wrong, since they were done so long by many other politicians.

"There may be a culture of corruption in Illinois; this may be business as usual," the judge said. "Call me naive, but this was news to me. . . . I cannot accept the notion that Mr. Fawell didn't know what he was doing was wrong."

Ryan's political campaign fund also was convicted at trial and had to forfeit $750,000.

Fawell said Monday he has "no bomb" to drop on Ryan.

When asked if Ryan had done anything wrong, Fawell said: "No, absolutely not."

Federal prosecutors know Fawell has no interest in talking to them and strongly shot down any suggestion they had muscled witnesses to lie or wanted to flip him.

"We unequivocally reject that Mr. Fawell or that any of his representatives have been asked to provide anything but the truth," Collins said.

To encourage Fawell to talk, prosecutors could grant Fawell immunity for any other alleged crimes he hasn't been charged with yet, put him before a grand jury and force him to testify.

If Fawell refused, he would possibly face more prison time. Prosecutors declined to say whether they would follow this route.

Federal prosecutors also once again declined to say whether they were targeting Ryan.

In court papers, they have accused the former governor, either by name or as "Official A," of sharing in bribe money or taking free lodging in Jamaica from a friend who got state contracts.

George Ryan has not been charged with any crimes and could not be reached for comment Monday.

If Fawell changed his mind and did cooperate with investigators, he could reduce his prison time. He asked to serve his time at a federal prison camp in Yankton, S.D., a former college campus, a request that must be approved by the Federal Bureau of Prisons

"I look at it as my military service," Fawell told his mother, brother and other family members just after his sentencing.

On Monday afternoon, Fawell, usually wearing a bad-boy grin at trial, showed some rare sadness.

His eyes showed the hint of tears when his attorney, Edward Genson, spoke of Fawell's devotion to a sick cousin and a seriously injured friend. Genson noted that a long prison sentence would mean Fawell might not see his father, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, again.

And then Fawell broke down as he talked of the shame he brought upon his family and blamed his wrongdoing on a single-minded focus to succeed in politics.

Fawell was born in a politically prominent family. His father is a former DuPage County judge, his mother an ex-state senator, his uncle a former congressman.

After Fawell choked up, Genson finished reading Fawell's statement.

"Clearly, I committed acts that were wrong. Believe me, your honor, my acts were the results of blindness and thoughtlessness," Genson said, reading Fawell's statement. "I never meant it as acts of malice."

Fawell, though, took a less contrite tone later in an impromptu news conference with reporters.

"Do I consider myself a criminal? Absolutely not. I made some bad decisions. And I have to live with those consequences now. But I think the prosecution--I just think those guys are, you know, went way overboard."