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Ryan stonewalls on new indictmentsApril 4, 2002 BY DAVE MCKINNEY, STEVE WARMBIR AND TIM NOVAK STAFF REPORTERS Gov. Ryan angrily dodged nearly a dozen key questions Wednesday about indictments of his campaign fund and two former aides, refusing to say whether he has appeared before a federal grand jury or even whether he still accepts responsibility for corruption on his watch. "I'm not commenting on the investigation in any way, shape or form," Ryan said during his first encounter with reporters since former chief of staff Scott Fawell, deputy campaign aide Richard Juliano and his $2.3 million campaign fund were indicted. Ryan also delivered a scolding to the media for asking about a questionable $30,000 windfall that federal prosecutors say was split between the indicted aides and an unnamed individual, which the Sun-Times has identified as Ryan's daughter, Lynda Pignotti. "More bad information from you folks. You don't know what you're talking about," the governor said. Ryan emerged from his office and attempted to lay ground rules barring questions about the stunning charges that have further rocked his administration and cast deeper doubts about his tenure as secretary of state. No sooner had he set those conditions than a barrage of questions about the indictments began, prompting him to end the impromptu news conference outside his Statehouse office and leave the Capitol with reporters in pursuit. When asked if he viewed his campaign fund as a criminal enterprise, as prosecutors have alleged, Ryan said, "If that's all you got to talk about, goodbye, I'll see you." Pignotti, who worked with Fawell and Juliano on the failed 1996 presidential bid of Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), allegedly received a cut of a $30,000 payment from a company that paid state employees to work on political campaigns, sometimes even while they were on state time. Pignotti, who is not a state employee, declined to comment. "I feel like I'm being harassed," she said late Wednesday. "I have no faith in the media." The indictments also had House Minority Leader Lee Daniels (R-Elmhurst) on the defensive. Without being explicit, federal prosecutors appear to suggest that the House Republican Campaign Committee could have been used as a conduit by the Ryan campaign fund in an effort to conceal campaign work done on public time. The indictments say that Fawell and other workers on targeted 1996 Illinois House races were paid $100,000 by a company owned by former state Rep. Roger Stanley in 1996. A short time later, the Ryan campaign fund made a $100,000 loan to the House GOP campaign fund, which Daniels helps control. Prosecutors are investigating whether the campaign committee passed some of the money along to Stanley's company to pay political workers. A close political ally and friend of the governor's, Daniels denied any knowledge of a scheme to conceal improper campaign work by state employees working legislative races that Daniels' party needed to win in order for him to remain House speaker in 1996. "I don't know what they did. Don't read things into it. And don't go writing headlines here. That's not proper, and you know it," Daniels said. But in the wake of the indictments, he refused to cut ties with Stanley, saying, "I want to see how things unfold." Stanley has not been charged. Having Stanley's companies pay state workers for political work, instead of using campaign funds, created two advantages for those who contracted with him. When campaign funds pay state workers, a public campaign record is created. Stanley's companies were able to make payments without such paperwork. And with no paper trail, there would have been less chance that questions could arise about state workers doing political work on the public's dime. Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan refused to capitalize on the damage inflicted on Republicans by the indictments. "I have a rule," he said. "I don't kick people when they're down." Contributing: Pat Milhizer, Annie Sweeney
Ryan's '98 rival Poshard feels vindicated BY DAVE MCKINNEY SUN-TIMES SPRINGFIELD BUREAU After being portrayed as a negative campaigner, Democrat Glenn Poshard said he feels vindicated that some of the same broad corruption charges he leveled against George Ryan in 1998 are now the basis for indictments against the governor's political fund and two top campaign aides. Poshard, who narrowly lost to Ryan in the 1998 governor's campaign, accused Ryan of turning a blind eye toward a corrupt driver's license system and misusing state employees and state resources. "I am thankful in a sense that the federal investigators have at least said we weren't telling a lie . . . that we weren't just being negative, and there were things there that were covered up," Poshard said. "I don't know that we could have done anything more than we did. It's just nobody believed us. I wasn't trying to be negative or run a pejorative type of campaign." Jim Ryan should have done more: Blagojevich BY ART GOLAB STAFF REPORTER The latest indictments in the licenses-for-bribes scandal quickly became ammunition in the race for governor Wednesday, as Democrat Rod Blagojevich and Republican Jim Ryan traded shots over whether Ryan should have done more as attorney general to investigate corruption in the secretary of state's office. "This is the kind of stuff taxpayers pay the attorney general to stay on top of," said David Wilhelm, Blagojevich's campaign manager. "Did Jim Ryan do his job or did he sit and do nothing for years until federal investigators got serious about the case?" Wilhelm renewed his call for Ryan to return $38,200 in contributions from Citizens for Ryan, labeled a "criminal enterprise" by federal prosecutors. Wilhelm also asked Ryan to release all his correspondence related to the secretary of states's office since 1992. "The question becomes, what did Jim Ryan know and when did he know it," Wilhelm said. Ryan campaign spokesman Dan Curry said Jim Ryan had already begun returning contributions from Citizens for Ryan but he did not know how much had been returned. The Ryan campaign did not respond to the demand for the correspondence. Ryan's campaign fired back with a list of public officials prosecuted by Ryan, and asked Blagojevich to document what he has done as congressman to clean up corruption. "Where has Rod Blagojevich been during his public career while Jim Ryan has been cleaning up public corruption?" asked Ryan campaign director Steve Culliton. "What action has the congressman produced? Is there anything behind the talk?" Wilhelm shot back: "Last time I checked, Rod Blagojevich was not the attorney general of Illinois, charged with representing the people's interests and rooting out corruption during the biggest political scandal in the history of the state." Ryan was dogged by the issue throughout the primary campaign, most notably when he was ambushed by his two Republican opponents at a City Club luncheon. When State Sen. Patrick O'Malley criticized him for doing little in the licenses-for-bribes investigation, Ryan said it would have been "irresponsible" to conduct a state investigation while the U.S. attorney's office was handling the case. "But I will tell you that as state's attorney and as attorney general, I have sent many public officials to prison," Ryan told O'Malley. But when pressed later by reporters, Ryan couldn't name one. On Wednesday, Ryan's campaign listed 36 officials prosecuted by his office, including a postal worker for stealing stamps, a school district office manager for stealing public money, three prison guards for having sex with inmates, and a county clerk for stealing votes. Contributing: Dave McKinney |
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