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Posted on 01/15/2003 3:18:40 AM PST by kattracks
CHICAGO (AP) -- A former aide to Gov. George Ryan says his "political machine" routinely ignored laws barring campaigning on state time, and that Ryan never seemed to mind.
Richard Juliano testified Tuesday at the federal racketeering trial of longtime top Ryan aide Scott Fawell and the Citizens for Ryan campaign committee, saying key political posts were regularly staffed by state employees.
Ryan was on hand for three campaign strategy sessions at which it was clear the participants were drawing state salary checks, he said.
"Did Mr. Ryan make any statement admonishing anyone not to do it?" asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins.
"No," Juliano testified.
The trial was expected to resume Wednesday.
Fawell, 44, and the campaign committee are charged with a pattern of racketeering that includes extortion, bribery and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors say Ryan and the campaign committee used state employees, state money -- and even a state TV set and a state refrigerator -- for the political organization that propelled Ryan to the top office in the state.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon told the jury Fawell and the Citizens for Ryan had "sacrificed the public good on the altar of personal and political greed."
"This isn't a case about the gray areas between politics and government," Fardon said. "This is a case about crimes."
Defense attorneys scoffed at that claim, saying Fawell was only doing what campaign managers in Illinois have been doing for decades.
"This wasn't a machine," said Fawell attorney Edward Genson. "This is the nature of elective office in Illinois."
Fawell is the highest ranking official charged thus far in the federal government's four-year corruption investigation. The probe began as an inquiry into bribes paid for drivers licenses and expanded to include a wide array of corruption when Ryan was secretary of state.
Fifty-seven former state employees and others have been charged and 50 convicted in the scandal which sent Ryan's poll ratings into a nosedive and prompted the 68-year-old former pharmacist to retire after one term.
Ryan has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.
Juliano, who was second only to Fawell in the Ryan organization, has pleaded guilty to mail fraud and is now a cooperating federal witness.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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