Apr 18, 2006 6:00 pm US/Central
Corruption Hunt In Full Swing After Ryan Verdict
CHICAGO (AP) ―
Federal prosecutors are pushing ahead with investigations of political patronage and payoffs at City Hall and in state government, saying the racketeering conviction of former Gov. George Ryan doesn't close the book on their war against corruption in Illinois.
"As long as they keep stealing, we'll keep chasing them," said U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald -- the same federal prosecutor heading Washington's CIA leak investigation -- after Ryan was convicted Monday of all 18 counts, ranging from racketeering conspiracy to tax fraud.
Just three weeks away is the trial date for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's former patronage chief, Robert Sorich, and three other former officials on charges of using fraud to get around a court order barring political patronage as a basis for filling city payroll jobs.
Prosecutors have obtained indictments charging corruption on one board that decides which Illinois hospitals get financing for expansion plans and another that determines where the giant pension plan for school teachers outside Chicago invests its money.
With the battle against the state's endemic graft now at white heat, Robert D. Grant, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Chicago office, has sent for reinforcements. The state is getting a third FBI squad devoted exclusively to fighting the corruption war.
"What you're seeing is a frontal assault on business as usual -- the politics of insiders using the system to benefit themselves and their friends," says Jay Stewart, executive director of the Chicago-based Better Government Association.
Veteran defense attorney Rick Halprin says styles change in the war on crime as everywhere else but "right now the policy is to vigorously prosecute political corruption."
Ryan, 72, once the state's most powerful Republican, has been the focal point of the biggest political corruption scandal in Illinois for decades.
It began eight years ago as an investigation of bribes paid for truck drivers licenses when Ryan was secretary of state and quickly expanded.
Ryan, known nationally as an outspoken foe of the death penalty, stepped down after one term as governor with his reputation in ruins and his standing in public opinion polls plunging.
A federal court jury that sat through the six-month trial found him guilty Monday of racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, tax fraud and lying to FBI agents. Longtime friend Larry Warner, 67, an insurance man and lobbyist, was convicted of racketeering and other offenses.
Ryan was convicted of steering state leases and contracts to Warner and others and in return getting expense-paid vacations in Jamaica, Mexico and California as well as gifts ranging from $145,000 in loans for his brother's floundering business to a free golf bag.
Ryan insists he is innocent and is promising an appeal.
Attorneys say the case proves that Fitzgerald isn't afraid to go after the big fish in the political pond.
"There's no question that Fitzgerald will follow the evidence wherever it leads and in this case it led right to the top," says Chicago attorney Joseph A. Power Jr., who as a persistent Ryan critic prodded prosecutors to kick the investigation of the former governor into high gear.
Forty-four city officials, truck drivers and others have been charged and 35 convicted in the government's two-year investigation of Chicago's $34 million Hired Truck Program, under which the city outsourced hauling jobs to private truckers. The investigation has expanded lately to include allegations that Sorich and others used fraud to load up the city payroll with campaign workers.
One man who scored high on his job interview allegedly was stationed in Iraq at the time.
Sorich and other major figures charged in the investigation have close ties to the 11th Ward Democratic Organization headed by Cook County Commissioner John Daley -- the mayor's brother.
Meanwhile, Chicago businessman Stuart Levine, a former board member at the $36.4 billion Illinois Teachers Retirement System pension fund and a major Republican campaign contributor, has been charged with seeking kickbacks from companies wanting to do business with the fund.
Levine also has been charged in connection with an alleged scheme to pressure a Naperville hospital to finance a major expansion plan through a favored investment company and other alleged financial corruption on the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.
Levine has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. But already some others charged in the schemes are making deals with federal prosecutors and could appear as witnesses at trial.
And many believe the government is only getting started in its hunt for political wrongdoing in Chicago and at the Statehouse in Springfield.
"I don't get the sense from reading the pleadings in the Sorich case that they're anywhere near done," says Cindi Canary, head of the foundation-financed Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. "I believe there are some very nervous people at City Hall right now."
Video Library:
Tragic Crash, Whistleblower Set Ryan Investigation In Motion Ryan's Legal Road Is Far From Over After Verdict Dismissed Juror Said Jury Was Not Fair Or Impartial Ryan Trial Jury Has No Regrets About Verdict Suburban Woman Talks About Her Connection To George Ryan Dismissed Juror Says She Could Have Changed Ryan Trial Outcome Ryan, Warner Show Little Emotion During Verdict Ryan Defense Team Promises Appeal After Guilty Verdict Family Of 6 Children Killed In Fiery Crash Emotional About Verdict After Sentencing, What's Next For Former Gov. George Ryan? While Ryan Verdict Shocking To Some, Others Said It Was Expected Glimpse Inside The Minds Of The Jurors Who Decided Ryan's Fate A Sweeping, Surprise Verdict In The George Ryan Corruption Trial U.S. Atty. Fitzgerald And Prosecutor Collins Discuss Verdict Jurors Discuss Reaching The Ryan Verdict About The Ryan Jurors And What They Said Courtroom Sketches Capture Expressions Of Ryan, Jury Comments From The Ryan Trial Foreperson Little Emotion When Ryan Trial Guilty Verdict Announced Former Gov. Ryan Says He Will Appeal Guilty Verdict Ryan Sentencing Date Set For August Former Gov. Ryan Guilty On All Counts Willis Family Watches Closely For Ryan Verdict Waiting For The Ryan Verdict In The Courtroom Jon Duncanson On Gov. Ryan's Remarks About The Trial How Are The Jurors Dressed For The Verdict? Ryan And His Wife Enter Courtroom Ryan Trial Verdict Was A Long Time Coming Former Gov. Ryan Arrives At Courthouse A Look At The Jury Deciding Fate Of Ryan, Warner Recap Of Charges Against Former Gov. George Ryan Mike Flannery On Waiting For The Ryan Verdict Breaking News: Jury Reaches Verdict In Ryan Trial
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
