Missing Bill O'Connell

by Cal Skinner

The Springfield reporter for the Peoria Journal-Star used to turn out more stories than any other reporter at the State Capitol.

He wrote all sorts of little articles on bills he thought might interest his readers.

You could read his paper and figure out virtually everything of potential importance that had happened the day before.

Now, there is nowhere to go, except the General Assembly web site, and, there, you have to sort through slow-moving lists of what has happened.

O'Connell retired when George Ryan was Secretary of State. I remember because Ryan gave him a state seal door knob.

Posted first, along with a lot of other stuff about the end of the session, on McHenry County Blog.

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The Chicagoland vs. Downstate Road Dollar Fight Reignited

by Cal Skinner

The Illinois Legislative Research Bureau is a godsend to Illinois legislators smart enough to use it.

One such person is State Senator Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago).

It appears he has had the LRU replicate the type of cost-benefit study I got in 1999 right before the vote on Gov. George Ryan's Illinois FIRST bonding program was under consideration. (Click to enlarge the table.)

The Research Unit took a look at where money would go for the new projects Ryan proposed versus the ones that were otherwise in the IDOT program.

There was a distinct shift toward Downstate under Illinois FIRST, proving, I guess, that George kept the promises he made on roads in 1998.

How else can you explain a 4-lane Route 67 in Western Illinois, which has less traffic in some places than on Lake Avenue in Lakewood, Illinois (6,500 cars per day)?

The six-county Chicago are got 45% of the road money as a result of a deal cut by State Rep. Bob Churchill when the gas tax was hiked in 1989. Bob caught a lot of heat for sponsoring the bill, but our region's share jumped from 40 to 45%.

The report which Senator Sandoval had prepared should provide ammunition to Chicagoland legislators.

May they use it to guide their actions.

I voted against Illinois FIRST based on the additional money Ryan proposed to divert from the Chicago area.

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Six Degrees of Separation provided the following information in a comment on Capitol Fax Blog:

"This old saw again?

"According to highway mileage of all roads in the system, 24,275 miles or 17.2% of state roads are in Chicagoland’s District 1, and 116,484 miles or 82.8% are elsewhere in the state.

"Also according to the latest stats, District 1 motorists accounted for 58 billion or 55.2% of the total 105 billion vehicle miles traveled in 2008.

http://www.dot.il.gov/travelstats/2008_ITS.pdf

"So, at one extreme we should fund downstate at 82% based on mileage, and at the other extreme 45% based on usage of the system.

"The idealized formula of 55% downstate/45% District 1 seems to strike the right balance between geography and usage. If you are going to attempt to pay for 82% of the system with 30% or 40% of the funds, you had better be prepared to decide which highways and bridges you will close, let go to pot, or transfer to the locals (if they will even take them off the state’s hands)."

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Besides suggesting that folks should look at lane miles in their comments under the Capitol Fax Blog article to which I have linked, let's add some McHenry County traffic counts to the mix.

Route 31 between Crystal Lake and McHenry was repaved last year. I called it the "Valley of the Potholes" in a story before that.

Did the Illinois Department of Transportation widen the road, as it is consistently doing to Illinois Route 59 between Naperville and I-55?

Of course not.

I would note that Route 31 is a major route to the Northwest TOLLway, a concept foreign to Downstaters, about which I have frothed here.

The traffic count is 32,600 just north of Route 176. By the time Route 31 reaches Bull Valley Road, it is down to 20,700.

When I was researching when IDOT thought adding lanes was justified in the late 1990's, what I heard was more than 20,000 vehicles per day justified another lane.

Yesterday, I was told IDOT now thinks that the traffic count should be 24,000 (actually, "24ish" was the exact quote) per day.

The shift, if it represents official IDOT thinking, is certainly a convenient way to withhold highway dollars from the traffic-choked Chicago area.

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3,000 jobs at stake

By Bethany Jaeger, with Jamey Dunn contributing
House Speaker Michael Madigan wants the “fumigation” of state government to move faster than it has since Gov. Pat Quinn replaced impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The speaker introduced legislation that would force Quinn to assess about 3,000 high-level state employees that had been hired or appointed by Blagojevich and his predecessor, imprisoned Gov. George Ryan.

“I’m not satisfied with the pace of change,” Madigan said during a Statehouse news conference today. “I think that we have to move faster, we have to move more dramatically.”




The concept has support from Quinn and Senate President John Cullerton, according to his spokeswoman, Rikeesha Phelon.

In fact, Quinn said he thinks it’s a good idea and that he expects it to pass. “It actually helps the process. I think it helps us to take boards and commissions where individuals are appointed to set terms that may not expire for years to come and give me an opportunity to evaluate those people who are appointed either by Rod Blagojevich or George Ryan, both of whom are under clouds of doubt.”

Quinn would have 60 days to reevaluate whether he wanted to retain state agency directors, their top assistants or board members or commissioners appointed by Ryan or Blagojevich. Quinn would be able to reappoint people he thought were doing a good job, but they would have to win Senate confirmation again. Employees also would be able to reapply for their positions.

Madigan said the action is not intended to impugn the integrity or the work habits of people who are doing a good job, but it is intended to be “rather dramatic.” “It clearly will be the type of fumigation of the Ryan and Blagojevich appointments that I think the people of the state of Illinois are demanding so that we can move away from the scandals of the past.”

About 90 of about 276 of the state’s boards and commissions would be affected. They include everything from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum to universities' boards of trustees. Those not affected would include state employees who cannot be fired because of their political affiliations (based on the so-called Rutan provision from a 1990 Illinois Supreme Court decision).

A high-profile position affected by the proposal would include Ginger Ostro, director of the governor’s budget office under Blagojevich and, now, Quinn. Someone not affected would be Jack Lavin, Blagojevich’s director of the economic development agency, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Quinn appointed Lavin his chief operating officer, responsible for coordinating the state’s capture and use of federal stimulus funds. Also not affected by the legislation for now would be John Filan, Blagojevich’s former budget director and former chief operating officer. He currently serves as executive director the Illinois Finance Authority, created in 2004 by Blagojevich.

Although Filan would not be affected by his bill, Madigan said, “I’d like to come back at a later date on that.”

The bill would potentially fire two senior staff members of the Health Facilities Planning Board, Jeffrey Mark and David Carvalho, whom we wrote about earlier this week. Democrats defended the two employees, while House Minority Leader Tom Cross urged the need to fire them because they served before, during and after Blagojevich insiders corrupted the board. Cross tried in vain yesterday to advance his own legislation that would fire them.

Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno added, “It makes sense to take a look at people that were here during the times when we have had unprecedented problems.”

Madigan said he intends to advance the legislation next week. Lawmakers return May 12, which starts the end-of-session rush to approve major budget and ethics initiatives by May 31.

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Should Ryan serve less time than Scott Fawell?

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Feds say Ryan sentence should exceed Fawell's
Former gov's lawyers battle for short stay

If George Ryan's onetime chief of staff Scott Fawell is serving 6½ years in prison, shouldn't the former governor do more time?

That's at least one of the arguments prosecutors will advance in what's expected to be a highly charged sentencing hearing Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer....

...."It would create an unreasonable sentencing disparity if Ryan, an elected constitutional officer holding the highest office in the state, received a lesser sentence than the 78-month sentence imposed by this Court on his right-hand man, Scott Fawell, who typically acted at Ryan's direction," prosecutors wrote in a filing last week.

Those were the arguments prosecutors made two years ago during Ryan's sentencing, and they are still important points today. What will it do to future public corruption investigations in Illinois if the Little Fish ends up serving more time than the Big Fish in the biggest public corruption trial in recent history? Granted, the Big Fish in this case has grey hair, but don't they usually?

According to the Chicago Tribune, Fawell served more than four years of his 6 1/2 month sentence, which was reduced by only four months for testifying against his old boss.

So now, I'll ask the question again that federal prosecutors asked two years ago: Shouldn't George Ryan serve more time than Scott Fawell?

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Now is not the time to commute George Ryan’s sentence

Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

The news this morning is full of stories about Sen. Dick Durbin’s very public mulling over whether to ask President George Bush to commute our former governor’s prison sentence. Sen. Durbin’s focus seems to be on how George Ryan is faring today. He, and his wife, are frail. To recall why he is in prison (pdf):

• He was convicted on 18 counts of public corruption.
• He structured his office so that hiring, promotions, and raises for staff were predicated on what they delivered to his re-election efforts.
• Equipment was looted to benefit his campaigns.
• He told a State’s Attorney investigating corruption in his staff to lay off “his guys.”
• He abetted the shake down of bidders over the awarding of contracts, and even of a small village over the location of a state prison.
• He apparently raised campaign money without disclosing where it came from, or when.
• He accepted bribes from contractors in the form of vacations and endeavored at the time to mask the bribes by writing checks to the contractors, which they surreptitiously paid back to him in cash.
• He arranged for bribes in the form of payments and loans to his relatives.



Ryan’s supporters cite several reasons for continuing to stand by the man. He got along famously with the General Assembly, and sheparded to passage a legislative agenda that many at the time said was too ambitious. But the reason with the most moral weight is always that, in the waning days of his administration, he commuted the sentences of dozens of prisoners, becoming in the process the man who emptied death row.

These are all true descriptions of some of what George Ryan has done with his time here on Earth, but none of them explain why Sen. Durbin is talking about him now. Nor is it because Ryan and his wife are advancing in age and declining in health. We are having this discussion because the President of the United States is about to leave office. It is no small irony that Ryan’s request that the President commute his sentence is based largely on his own decision, when similarly lame in office, to commute the sentences of dozens of prisoners.

From pay raises to pension enhancements, public officials have long used the tail end of their tenure in office for selfish acts. Now is the time when electeds are most insulated from voter backlash. Whether you see these as courageous or cowardly, they are always opportune.

So let’s not pretend that every fourth- or eighth- December is the time when prisoners subjected to excessive punishments always happen to reach a more proper measure of their debt to society. What Sen. Durbin is considering asking the President to do is not a delicate fine-tuning of the scales of justice but a blunt swinging of the lame duck’s ax. And the proper question is not, should President Bush commute George Ryan’s sentence, but is now the right time? Is barely one year in prison suitable for pervasive abuses of the public trust? For someone who has never acknowledged the breadth of his wrongdoing? Indeed, who has always maintained that “his conscience is clear” despite everything that has been proven? Who has failed to apologize to the Willis family who paid the ultimate price for the Ryan administration's corruption--the loss of six of their children? Who has yet to explain the $156,423.70 that magically appeared in his campaign fund on December 31, 2000? Who has yet to make a single act of contrition?

Now is not the time to commute George Ryan’s sentence.

To comment, please visit ICPR's blog.

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Illinois corruption update: Ex-Gov. Ryan runs out of appeals, ex-Gov. Thompson to ask for sentence to be commuted

En route to Mississippi I drove through Vienna (pronounced VYE-uh-nuh), Illinois, where I came across the Paul Powell Museum. A longtime Illinois Democratic politician, he was Illinois' Secretary of State when he died in 1970. Twenty years later, Republican George Ryan would be elected to the post.

Powell was possible the most dishonest Illinois politician ever, which is saying a lot. In many states, the Secretary of State's office is known as the department of motor vehicles. While Powell was Secretary of State, checks for driver's licences were made out to "Paul Powell," not "Illinois Secretary of State," or even "Paul Powell, Secretary of State."

After he died, over $800,000 in cash, much of it in a shoebox, was found in Powell's Springfield hotel suite. Powell never earned a salary of more than $30,000 a year. I wonder where that cash came from?

I was on tight schedule--I didn't want to be on the road while I took part in a teleconference--so I was unable to visit the museum, which is in downtown Vienna.

One day there may be a George Ryan museum in his hometown of Kankakee. Why I am I talking about the disgraced former secretary of state, who later became governor?

Because earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, refused to hear Ryan's appeal of his 2006 racketeering and fraud conviction.

Ryan chose not to run for re-election in 2002, his successor, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, who lied to 12 million Illinoisans when he proclaimed "I will govern as a reformer," nervously awaits the jurors' verdict in the corruption trial of his friend and political confidante Antoin "Tony" Rezko. Another friend of the governor, Christopher Kelly, faces was indicted on tax charges last year. In the last two years, Blagojevich's campaign fund has piled up over $2 million in legal bills.

The Democrats control the each of the state's constitutional offices, and it hold a majority of both houses of the General Assembly. So it's up to the opposition, the Republican Party to fix things, right?

I still think so, but the Illinois GOP has to work on its image. Ryan's attorney is former Illinois Governor James R. Thompson, a Republican. And now that Ryan's appeals are exhausted, Thompson plan to ask President Bush to commute Ryan's prison sentence.

Yeah, he is Ryan's lawyer, but doesn't Thompson care about the state? Or the party? Folks watching the television news tonight, or reading tomorrow morning's papers, will have this image to digest. A former Republican governor asking the president to commute the prison sentence of another former Republican governor.

Thompson undoubtedly knows other lawyers. Why can't he ask one of them to represent Ryan. It's not about money, since I believe Thompson, whose image was tarnished while serving on the board of Hollinger, is representing Ryan pro bono.

If the Illinois Republican Party is going to, as I've phrased it in the past, "take back the state," we have to completely wash our hands of the mess of the George Ryan legacy. Thompson is not helping things.

Perhaps there is a museum board seat in Thompson's future.

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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Inverness Man and His Engineering Firm Indicted in IDOT Fraud

Barrington area resident Kamleshwar Gupta and his firm, Kam Engineering (KEI) of Elgin, has been indicted by United State's Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald for overcharging the Illinois Department of Transportation by over $1 million from 1994 through 2003.

The State Board of Elections reveals campaign contributions to Rod Blagojevich, George Ryan, Jim Edgar, Judy Baar Topinka, Sid Mathias, and Jim Schmidt.

Blagojevich received $15,000 from 2002-2004.

Ryan got $6,200.

Mathias - $3,500 from 1999-2006.

Edgar got $5,500.

Schmidt - $500.

Judy Baar Topinka - $1,200, all in the 1990's.

A bookkeeper has apparently agreed to testify against Gupta.

This is the first indictment after Federal Appellate Court Judge Ann Williams' scathing and crystal clear opinion upholding the convictions of Mayor Richard Daley's patronage men.

If you were the U.S. Attorney's Office would you be interested in knowing how Gupta got convinced to contribute $3,000 on April 8, 2004, and, then, another $5,000 on the same day? And, five weeks later still another $5,000?

The press release, which follows, says Gupta faces 80 years in prison. He is 63.

Think it is “let's make a deal” time?

The U.S. Attorney's pres release follows:

ELGIN ENGINEERING FIRM AND ITS OWNER INDICTED FOR ALLEGEDLY
OVERCHARGING IDOT MORE THAN $1 MILLION DURING NINE-YEAR SPAN

CHICAGO – An engineering consulting firm in Elgin and its owner were indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly overcharging the Illinois Department of Transportation more than $1 million while performing various jobs for the state agency between 1994 and 2003, federal law enforcement officials announced today. The defendants, Kamleshwar Gupta, and the engineering firm he founded and owns, KAM Engineering, Inc. (KEI), allegedly submitted false invoices and financial information regarding overhead expenses and the number of hours worked by KEI employees on contracts for IDOT.

Gupta, 63, of Barrington, and KAM Engineering, of Elgin, which has approximately 30 employees, were each charged with four counts of mail fraud in an indictment returned on April 17 by a federal grand jury in Chicago. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of more than $1 million in proceeds of the alleged fraud scheme. The charges were announced today by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Michelle McVicker, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General in Chicago; and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Gupta and KEI are scheduled to be arraigned on April 30 in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

According to the indictment, during a span of nine years, GUPTA and KEI fraudulently altered KEI’s timekeeping records by moving hours among different KEI jobs and contracts. The altered hours reported to IDOT fraudulently increased the amount of money that KEI billed to and collected from IDOT. Contrary to regulations applicable to IDOT contracts, Gupta and KEI caused employees to keep timesheets in pencil, rather than in ink, to facilitate fraudulent alterations of the employees’ timesheets.

The indictment alleges that Gupta directed Individual A, a bookkeeper, to falsely alter original employee timesheets. As a result, Gupta and KEI manipulated labor and overhead to increase the amounts that would be paid to KEI by IDOT, including by inflating the hours for which KEI could bill under contracts that paid KEI based on the hours worked, and by inflating KEI’s overhead costs. Gupta allegedly signed that fraudulent invoices that he directed Individual A to create.

The alleged scheme resulted in KEI overcharging IDOT a total of $1,069,293.44, according to the indictment. IDOT officials provided extensive assistance in the investigation after uncovering the alleged fraud scheme. IDOT’s responsibilities include administering federal and state highway funds in Illinois, including substantial funds from the Federal Highway Administration.

The Government is being represented in court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Egan.

If convicted, each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The Court, however, would determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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George Ryan going to jail

I wrote about his conviction here at Illinoize last year. I discussed that he was on a public access program in Chicago on a show whose intended audience was black. The reason for it was simple.

A lot of people may have looked up to George Ryan because he got a lot of bruthas off death row. I explained that in my post because this program was a live call in show and a lot of people expressed their support and admiration for the ex-governor. On the other hand I also explained that I was suspicious of the "why". Why did then Governor Ryan commuted all death row sentences before he left office in 2003?

In that post I leapfrogged off of a Sun-Times Column by one Rich Miller. And I explained at that point that it indicated what I would have always suspected. He did that to say he had a positive legacy or as Miller stated...

The other question I hear a lot is, "What was Ryan's motivation for veering so far to the political left by emptying Death Row and changing his mind on gay rights and women's rights?" Some believe he was cynically playing to the liberal
Democratic jury pool in Cook County. The thinking goes that he knew he would end up on trial and he wanted to create as much sympathy as possible. Others think he changed because he was somehow trying to atone for all the laws he broke -- as if becoming a social liberal would get him in good graces with God.

Obviously since whenever we pick up a paper we complain about how Illinois is a corrupt state or that Illinois is full of inept or incompetent politicians it's bound to be obvious that not too many people sympathize with the ex-governor right now. So I want to go in another direction here.

I was looking at the Wikipedia article on Ryan. Trying to find some quick facts on what sent him to prison and I found this post by a blog called Urbangora.

This post gives a list of some of politician's in Illinois who might have righted high on the integrity scale. And I'll open up the floor to those of you who might want to talk about who else that either was in politics or currently serve in politics who might rank high on the integrity scale.

BTW, I write about it because it appears he's going to have to report to prison in Duluth, Minnesota on November 7th. That is provided that the US Supreme Court comes to his rescue before he reaches prison.

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Unlucky sevens

Former Gov. George Ryan could go to federal prison within seven days — correction: by November 7 — pursuant to a decision by the federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

On Thursday, the full court affirmed that Ryan would not receive a retrial for his federal corruption conviction last April. Ryan requested the full panel of judges review an August ruling by a three-judge panel that determined he should not receive another trial. According to Thursday’s court order, even the three dissenting judges wrote that they agreed “the evidence of the defendants’ guilt was overwhelming.” But they disagreed over whether the management of the jury during the six-month trial harmed the case.

Ryan and his friend, Chicago businessman Larry Warner, were found guilty of using public office for private gain during Ryan’s years as secretary of state (1991 to 1999) and as governor (1999 to 2003). The Kankakee Republican has remained free during the appeals process and could ask to remain free if he takes his case to the last resort: the U.S. Supreme Court.

Back to the Capitol in 7
The Illinois House could vote on controversial mass transit funding just two days before threatened service cuts and fare increases.

Members will return to Springfield to conduct business one week from today. This comes after House Minority Leader Tom Cross met with House Speaker Michael Madigan in Chicago Wednesday to discuss ways to save mass transit from financial turmoil. But the leaders aren’t necessarily on the same page about whether a mass transit plan should rely on revenue from increased taxes, expanded gaming, other sources or all of the above.

The minority leader still prefers alternatives to tax increases. “Tom Cross and a majority of our caucus does not feel that now is the time to be increasing taxes on people, especially in light of what is being proposed by the Cook County board president and the mayor of Chicago,” said David Dring, Cross’ spokesman.

Alternatives include allowing a Chicago casino and the expansion of positions at existing casinos to help mass transit and to pay for a major capital construction plan. Dring said Cross also proposed diverting $300 million of the revenue from the state sales tax on gasoline to aid mass transit, and he’s proposing a menu of items to replace that money, such as increasing fees on auto titles and raising transit fares by 10 percent to 15 percent. “That is something we just thought about because that would be less money you would have to take from the sales tax on gas,” Dring said, adding a 15 percent fare increase would be “much more modest” than the fare increases planned by the Regional Transportation Authority if the agency doesn’t receive long-term state help by November 4.

Madigan, on the other hand, “did not seem to warm up to our idea of the sales tax on gas,” Dring said.

The speaker is open to a Chicago casino to pay for a road and school construction projects but only under certain circumstances, such as whether the revenue would stay in Chicago or be divvyed up all over the state, said Madigan spokesman, Steve Brown. However, the speaker still doesn’t want to rely on gaming legislation to save mass transit. “He has said that he doesn’t plan to hold transit riders hostage to the casino interests or the gambling interests,” Brown said.

In fact, Madigan still plans to push for a plan that would include a small sales tax increase in Chicago for the sake of mass transit. Lawmakers could vote for a second time on that measure next week. It previously fell short of the necessary votes in September.

Lawmakers were told to be prepared to work at the Capitol Thursday, November 1, Friday, November 2 and potentially Monday, November 5. And the governor repeated his statement Wednesday that he would call the General Assembly into another special session in mid-December to address the so-called 7 percent solution to Chicago-area property taxes. See the background here.

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"Worst sports team owner" Bill Wirtz dies

During my three year stint as an employee at the Bismarck Hotel, now the Hotel Allegro, I got to know--a little bill--Bill Wirtz, whose family then owned the property. I found him to be a friendly and charming man.

Still, I have to agree with many other that Wirtz, who died of cancer early today, was easily the worst owner in professional sports.

The Wirtz dynasty was founded in real estate, and for a while the magic touch carried over to the Chicago Blackhawks, an "original six" NHL team. Wirtz' father Arthur purchased the team in 1954, the "Hawks" won a Stanley Cup in 1961. And for a while the team gave the Cubs, White Sox, and the Bears a run for their money as Chicago's most popular team. The Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita led teams of the 1960s and early 1970s, after that championship, brought a tremendous amount of excitement to the city.

But Hull jumped to the World Hockey Association in 1972--Wirtz' father still owned the team until his death in 1983--but the team remained successful, but without a Stanley Cup, into the 1990s.

But free-agency came to hockey in 1990 and Bill Wirtz' Blackhawks refused to spend the money to keep star players such as Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick, and Ed Belfour in Blackhawks sweaters. The Blackhawks have only qualified for the NHL playoffs twice in the last ten years.

And the team' popularity plummeted. People living outside of Chicago find this hard to believe, but home games, with rare exceptions, are not televised in the Chicago area--not even on cable. People have busy lives, and kids who aren't exposed to televised hockey don't become fans. (Road games are televised on cable, but the Blackhawks play in the Western Conference, and play a lot of games on the west coast, when kids are sleeping.)

But Wirtz, on the rare occasions when he addressed the TV issue, responded that three things make the Blackhawks successful: "Season reservations, season reservations, and season reservations."

But that failed Wirtz too. The Blackhawks average 12,000 fans a game, but play in the 20,000 capacity United Center.

Besides the realty holdings, the Wirtz empire includes Judge & Dolph, a wine and liquor distributorship. In one of Illinois' most idiotic laws--a hold over the 1930s--beer, wine, and liquor manufacturers are prevented from selling their products directly to businesses. They have move their goods through a middleman such as Judge & Dolph. During the unhappy term of disgraced Illinois Governor George H. Ryan, a law passed, nicknamed the "Wirtz Law," made it virtually impossible for alcohol producers to fire companies such Judge & Dolph. A federal judge ruled that the law was unconstitutional three years later.

To comment on this post, or to read my latest "Kansas Kronikles" post, click here.

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George Ryan Conviction Upheld

The racketeering conviction of former Governor George Ryan, a man who was elected state representative the same year I was, has been upheld.

Here is the Chicago Tribune article about the appellate court decision.

The decision was 2-1 that he had a fair trial.

When the appellate court took the case and allowed Ryan to remain out of prison during his appeal, it said that, if the conviction were upheld, he would be incarcerated almost immediately.

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The photo of an unsmiling George Ryan was taken from a photo used as evidence at his trial.

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George Ryan's Corrections Director Indicted for $50,000 in Kickbacks

First a disclaimer: I worked closely with Don Synder, a former county sheriff, when he was Director of the Department of Corrections under former Governor George Ryan. He was the most responsive Director that I worked with on the Prison Reform Committee. One of the men charged along with Synder is John J. Robinson of Barrington Hills.

What follows is the press release from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald:

U.S. INDICTMENT ALLEGES FORMER IDOC DIRECTOR PAID $50,000 IN KICKBACKS BY TWO LOBBYISTS REPRESENTING STATE PRISON VENDORS

CHICAGO – A former Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), who allegedly received approximately $50,000 in illegal kickbacks, and two lobbyists accused of paying him the kickbacks while representing vendors that had multi-million-dollar contracts with the state prison agency, were indicted today on federal charges. The defendants, Donald N. Snyder, Jr., who was IDOC director from 1999 until early 2003, and lobbyists John J. Robinson, a former Undersheriff of Cook County, and Larry E. Sims were charged in a six-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Snyder, 52, of downstate Pittsfield, Il., allegedly received the kickbacks while he served in the state cabinet during the administration of former Gov. George Ryan. Today’s indictment stems from an investigation that grew out of the Operation Safe Road probe of corruption during Ryan’s terms as Governor and, earlier, Secretary of State. Snyder, who was appointed by Ryan, had approval authority over the award of millions of dollars in contracts to vendors, including health care providers, who provided inmate health care services in IDOC institutions.

Robinson, 59, of Barrington Hills, who was Undersheriff of Cook County from 1991 until 2001, also worked between 1996 and 2003 as a paid consultant/ lobbyist for several vendors and/or institutions seeking to promote and develop their business with IDOC. Robinson formed J. Patrick Noll (JPN), which developed and promoted correctional business on behalf of clients, including Vendor A, an Illinois health care company that was awarded millions of dollars in contracts to provide health care services at Illinois prisons during Snyder’s tenure at IDOC. Under a 1996 contract with Vendor A, JPN was initially paid $2,500 a month, plus five percent of Vendor A’s income from Illinois corrections contracts, with a provision that the monthly retainer would rise to $4,500 a month when Vendor A’s Illinois prisons contracts exceeded $4 million, the indictment states.

Sims, 58, of Pleasant Plains, Il., near Springfield, was a lobbyist for several vendors, including Vendor B, a Pennsylvania health care company that was trying to promote and develop its corrections business and was awarded millions of dollars in contracts to provide healthcare services to IDOC inmates during Snyder’s tenure.

Snyder and Robinson were each charged with five counts of mail fraud, and Sims was charged with one count of perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury during the investigation. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of $50,000 from Snyder. All three defendants will be arraigned at a later date in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

“As a top state official, Mr. Snyder was bound by various rules governing his acceptance of gifts or favors of any kind. He was forbidden from receiving cash kickbacks from anyone, much less from lobbyists representing companies doing millions of dollars in business with IDOC,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “The indictment alleges that he brazenly violated the duty he owed to the state and its citizens to perform his job honestly.”

Mr. Fitzgerald announced the charges with Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Thomas P. Brady, Postal Inspector-in-Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Alvin Patton, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division; and Michelle McVicker, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, all in Chicago.

According to the indictment, Robinson and Sims were involved in separate kickback deals with Snyder, but in both instances – in consideration for the cash payments – Snyder allegedly gave each of them information and assistance on issues and concerns they raised on behalf of their various vendor clients. To conceal the scheme, Snyder allegedly filed false Statements of Economic Interest with the state, failing to disclose the cash payments he received from Robinson and Sims, and Sims allegedly filed false lobbyist registration statements, failing to disclose any of the money he paid to Snyder. All three allegedly lied to federal agents investigating whether Robinson and Sims had given anything of value to Snyder.

Regarding the payments by Sims to Snyder, the indictment alleges that in late 1999 or early 2000, Snyder and Sims discussed the compensation that Sims received from Vendor B, and Sims agreed to pay Snyder a portion of the monthly fee that Sims received from that client. Beginning in early 2000 and continuing until approximately the end of 2002, Sims gave cash to Snyder each month, totaling approximately $30,000, after Sims received his monthly fee from Vendor B.

Regarding the payments by Robinson to Snyder, the indictment alleges that in late 1999 or early 2000, Snyder agreed to accept cash derived from the consulting or lobbying fees that Robinson earned from their representation of one or more vendors doing business with IDOC. From early 2000 until December 2002, Robinson allegedly paid kickbacks to Snyder totaling approximately $20,000, which amounted to about one-fourth of the monthly fees that Robinson’s company, JPN, received from Vendor A. Robinson paid Snyder periodically when they met at various corrections-related meetings or events, the indictment alleges.

The perjury count against Sims alleges that on May 5, 2005, he lied when he testified before a grand jury that he never gave Snyder any cash gifts, and that he could not remember if he ever gave Snyder any gifts at all other than a Green Bay Packers sweatshirt on one occasion. Sims, in fact, had given Snyder cash kickbacks derived from lobbying fees that Sims received from Vendor B.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joel Levin and Laurie Barsella.

If convicted, Snyder and Robinson each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison on one count of mail fraud and 20 years in prison on each of the other four counts of mail fraud, and Sims faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted of perjury. All three defendants also face a maximum fine of $250,000 on each count. The Court, however, would determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Udstuen Prison Release Today

Former Crystal Lake resident and heavy weight Republican political advisor to politicians ranging from former Governor George Ryan to former McHenry County and State GOP Party Chairman Al Jourdan is scheduled to get out of prison in Oxford, Wisconsin on May 3rd.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons web site said he was on his way to prison on September 5, 2006.

Ryan has been convicted of racketeering and other corruption charges with Udstuen’s help. Ryan is appealing his convictions.

Jourdan has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

For all the stories in McHenry County Blog on Udstuen, type his last name in the search engine at the top of the page of McHenry County Blog.

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Photo from ABC Channel 7.

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