... not in Illinois, tho'
story.news.yahoo.com
Illinois Governor's Campaign Charged with Racketeering
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Gov. George Ryan's campaign organization and two aides were indicted on corruption charges on Tuesday, the latest development in a scandal that has forced Ryan out of politics and may affect Republican chances of maintaining its quarter-century grip on his post.
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· Ill. Governor's Aides Face Corruption Charges - NPR
Related Links
· Indictment: US v. Fawell - Findlaw (pdf)
· Gov. George Ryan - official site
The indictment announced in Chicago grew out of a four-year federal investigation of Illinois' licenses-for-bribes scandal, which has ensnared another top Ryan aide and more than 40 other employees of Ryan's former secretary of state's office.
The 10-count indictment also marked just the third time that a U.S. campaign organization has been indicted, said federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. The others were then-President Richard Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign, known by the acronym CREEP, and the presidential campaign of right-wing economist Lyndon LaRouche (news - web sites), Fitzgerald said.
It charged Ryan's campaign organization, Citizens for Ryan, with four counts of fraud and racketeering, charging the campaign with 20 acts of mail fraud, bribery and obstruction of justice between 1992 and 1999, which included the 1996 Republican presidential campaign and several state races.
"The indictment alleges that personnel and resources were diverted from the secretary of state's office to the Ryan campaign organization," Fitzgerald said. "It also alleges an effort to conceal these activities from public scrutiny and from law enforcement."
Ryan decided not to run for a second term this year, all but admitting the scandal had made him unelectable. He has become nationally known for declaring a moratorium on the death penalty and for twice visiting Cuba.
In the meantime, the license-selling scandal that sunk Ryan became a divisive issue in the just-concluded Republican primary battle to succeed him, which was won by state Attorney General Jim Ryan -- who is no relation to the governor.
DEMOCRAT HOLDS LEAD
A recent poll showed Democratic nominee Rod Blagojevich holding a solid lead over the Republican Ryan, a potential upset in the Midwestern state that last elected a Democratic governor in 1972.
A Blagojevich aide said the indictment reflected a "culture of corruption" growing out of "25 years of one-party rule."
The indictment said Ryan's campaign manager and former chief of staff, Scott Fawell, allegedly tracked fund-raising by state employees that included diverting to the campaign bribe money received for selling driver's licenses to unqualified truck drivers, some of whom later got into deadly accidents.
Gov. Ryan appointed Fawell in 1999 to be the chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which operates Chicago's convention centers.
When state investigators began probing the scandal, Fawell, 44, suppressed the investigations, had investigators terminated, and ordered documents to be shredded, Fitzgerald said. Fawell was charged with theft of government funds, perjury and four counts of filing false tax returns.
Another aide, Richard Juliano, 34, who worked for a private company owned by Fawell as well as the Ryan campaign, will plead guilty to one count of mail fraud and was cooperating with prosecutors, Fitzgerald said.
Juliano resigned last week from his job at the U.S. Department of Transportation where he had been the agency's liaison to the White House since 1999.
In a statement from his lawyer, Juliano regretted "not exercising appropriate judgement and independence" when, beginning as a college student, he took orders from Fawell, who was described as his "boss and political mentor."
Besides seeking $1 million in restitution from Ryan's campaign organization, conviction on the four counts could bring an additional $2 million in fines. |
