6 1/2 years for Fawell
Ex-Ryan aide sentenced for racketeering

By MIKE RAMSEY
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

CHICAGO - Scott Fawell was tearful and apologetic Monday as a federal judge sentenced him to 6 1/2 years in prison for corruption-related schemes he engineered as the top aide to former Gov. George Ryan.

The 46-year-old son of a onetime state senator and a DuPage County judge told U.S. Northern District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer that he regretted putting a "black mark on my family name."

"I would like to say I'm sorry for the pain this process has caused my family and thank them for all their love and support," Fawell said before breaking down.

Fawell's attorney, Ed Genson, finished reading his client's written statement that he is a "very competitive person with a single-minded focus for my goals" who "committed acts that were wrong."

Fawell later told reporters he doesn't consider himself a criminal and criticized prosecutors for being overzealous in their ongoing investigation into Republican Ryan's 1990s tenure as secretary of state, a period when Fawell was his right-hand man.

"I'm not sitting on any bomb of George Ryan," Fawell said as he left the Dirksen Federal Building. "I'm not going to go there and make up stories about (Ryan) just to save myself. Unfortunately, that's the game they like you to play; that's the game people played with me. They told stories that were untrue."

Fawell's comments after his sentencing marked the first time he had spoken publicly about the trial, where he did not testify in his own defense.

Prosecutors introduced several witnesses at trial earlier this year - many of them immunized against criminal charges - to bolster a complex racketeering case that Fawell had diverted state employees and property to help elect Ryan and other Republicans. Fawell also was found guilty of fixing contracts, cover-ups and destroying evidence and lying to a grand jury shortly before Ryan was elected governor in 1998 with Fawell as his campaign manager.

Fawell is the most significant figure among the 63 charged and 57 convicted so far in the "Operation Safe Road" investigation, which began five years ago with the "licenses-for-bribes" scandal at Chicago-area drivers license facilities.

The 61/2-year prison sentence he received was within federal guidelines.

Pallmeyer opted not to increase the sentence to a maximum 11 years, as prosecutors suggested, or decrease it to less than five years, as recommended by defense attorneys, who say Fawell was unfairly singled out among political operatives in Illinois.

"I can't accept the notion that Mr. Fawell had no idea he was doing something wrong," the judge said.

Under the terms of his sentence, Fawell, who hopes to serve his time in Yankton, S.D., will report for prison Nov. 7, pay $900 in court fees and receive treatment for alcohol abuse. He is expected to be placed on supervised release after serving 85 percent of his time.

"It's a long sentence, but it's not a life sentence," Pallmeyer told Fawell's friends and family, including his mother, former Republican state Sen. Beverly Fawell, who attended the hearing.

Fawell's father, former Judge Bruce Fawell, suffers from Alzheimer's disease, Genson said, and may not see his son again outside of prison.

Prosecutors said Fawell deserved a stiffer sentence because his tone-setting behavior disrupted the secretary of state's office. Nonetheless, assistant U.S. attorney Patrick Collins called the sentence "significant."

"I think (the judge) was persuaded by a lot of the personal issues that relate to Mr. Fawell," he said. "A 78-month sentence is a very severe sentence for a public-corruption defendant."

Ryan, who retired as governor in January, has not been charged, but prosecutors have labeled him a "co-schemer," and his campaign organization, Citizens for George Ryan, was a co-defendant in the Fawell case. The fund, also convicted, has agreed to forfeit $750,000; Pallmeyer added $400 in court-assessed fees Monday.

A third defendant, former Fawell aide Richard Juliano, awaits sentencing and seeks probation. He cooperated with the government in exchange for a potentially lighter sentence.

Mike Ramsey can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or cnsramsey@aol.com.