Witness: Ryan directed firm to Warner
December 20, 2005
BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter

When the wife of a prominent Illinois lobbyist made a sales pitch to George Ryan as she sought a $20 million state contract, Ryan allegedly said her firm was "on the wrong horse" and needed to call the right person.

The right person, Ryan suggested, was Lawrence Warner, the co-defendant in Ryan's public corruption trial, according to Cathy Adduci, who testified Monday. Adduci was a sales manager with Unisys Corp., which was competing for a state contract to digitize state driver's license records. Warner represented Viisage Technology, a company competing for the same bid.

Adduci said she and her husband, the prominent state lobbyist Al Ronan, met with Ryan in 1996 to talk about Unisys' qualifications for the state bid. After the meeting, she said, Ryan called Ronan back into the office separately and the two spoke for about five minutes.

Ryan allegedly told Ronan that Unisys should drop its relationship with one company and instead merge with Viisage.

"We were on the wrong horse and we needed to consider who we were partnering with," Adduci said Ryan told Ronan.

Prosecutors: Warner benefitted
Ryan's former chief of staff Scott Fawell previously testified that because he and Ryan had friends representing companies competing for the same bid, they wanted a "marriage" between Viisage and Unisys so that "everybody was happy."

Ronan's lobbying firm, Ronan Potts LLC, was convicted last year in a bid-rigging scheme tied to McCormick Place. Ronan was not charged with wrongdoing.

Adduci said she had never heard of Warner before Ryan suggested calling him. But when pressed on specifics, she could neither remember who gave her Warner's phone number nor many details of other conversations with Warner.

Adduci said the partnership didn't work out and Viisage won the bid. Warner won 5 percent of the revenue Viisage earned from the state and was paid more than $834,000 in all, prosecutors say. Warner kicked some of that money to another Ryan friend, Ron Swanson, allegedly for doing no work, prosecutors charge.

Where the lobbying money went
Prosecutors on Monday showed a December 1996 letter Warner wrote to Swanson promising him $36,000 from the Viisage contract -- about six months before the state awarded Viisage the contract. Fawell previously said that Warner was annoyed because Ryan allegedly asked him to give Swanson a cut of the deal.

Viisage vice president of marketing Yona Wieder, who also testified Monday, told Assistant U.S. Attorney Zach Fardon he never heard of Swanson and didn't know Warner allegedly gave him a cut of lobbying money from Viisage.

Wieder testified that Warner was well-qualified for the lobbying post. Another lobbyist, Irwin Jann, who worked with Viisage in the past, also allegedly got a cut of the lobbying money. Later, Jann shifted all of his interest to Warner, but Jann's name -- and not Warner's -- remained listed as registered lobbyist for Viisage, according to documents.

Prosecutors allege Warner was trying to hide his ties to the contracts. Ryan is accused of using his official capacity to steer state contracts to enrich his friends such as Warner while allegedly accepting cash and other perks from them.

Warner is accused of using inside information from the state office to shake down vendors for lobbying money. Both men deny the charges.

HIGHLIGHTS
PROSECUTION: While secretary of state, George Ryan directed Unisys Corp. to call his friend and co-defendant, Lawrence Warner, if it wanted a shot at winning a $20 million contract.

DEFENSE: Viisage Technology, represented by Warner, got the contract. Warner was qualified for the job and did legitimate work.

UP NEXT: Former George Ryan aide Kevin Wright expected to take stand today and possibly describe a state deal with a company tied to Ryan's brother.