From The State Journal-Register:
Citizens for Ryan running out of money
By DOUG FINKE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU
In just the first six months of this year, Gov. George Ryan's campaign fund balance went from $2.3 million to less than $500,000 after paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills.
In campaign disclosure reports filed Wednesday, Citizens for Ryan reported $492,058 on hand as of June 30. That compares to $2,361,349 in the fund at the start of the year.
Most of the money paid out went to various law firms for legal expenses.
"We have not gotten into the nature of what those services are," said Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton, declining to discuss if the legal expenses were related to the licenses-for-bribes scandal from when Ryan served as secretary of state.
The governor has not been charged with any wrongdoing in the federal investigation. However, his campaign committee is charged with racketeering, and prosecutors say $170,000 in bribes paid for Illinois licenses issued to unqualified truck drivers made its way into his campaign fund.
Citizens for Ryan reported more than $744,000 in direct payments to various law firms, with more than $561,000 going to Altheimer & Gray, whose lead attorney is longtime Ryan associate Jeremy Margolis. The firm has collected huge fees from the Ryan campaign and from the state since the bribery scandal erupted.
Altheimer & Gray initially represented Citizens for Ryan after the campaign fund was indicted as a criminal enterprise. A judge later disqualified the firm from representing the fund because of a conflict of interest.
Ryan's fund also lists as an expense $1 million under "CFR litigation escrow account." Culloton said that is the money a judge ordered the fund to hold in reserve in the event restitution is ordered. Ryan's lawyers are fighting this, contending that $200,000 would be enough.
Payments were made from the fund to at least eight other law firms and attorneys.
The fund also reported paying $6,964 in legal expenses for Rob Newbold, now a deputy secretary at the Illinois Department of Transportation. In both 1994 and 1998, Newbold was a downstate coordinator for the Ryan campaigns for secretary of state and governor. Federal prosecutors allege that in both elections state workers illegally performed political work on state time.
Newbold could not be reached for comment Wednesday. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Culloton would say only, "Rob had some expenses and wanted to get reimbursed personally."
The fund reported meager income of just over $51,000. Much of that - $41,150 - came from Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, a fellow Republican who decided to give back to Ryan money he had donated to her campaigns over the years.
Nearly $5,000 came from Ryan himself in the form of reimbursements for travel expenses originally billed to the campaign. Culloton said that since Ryan is not running for re-election, he feels comfortable billing the state for travel expenses that used to be paid out of the campaign fund.
"He now collects some of the travel stipends that he as a governor and state employee is entitled to collect for business travel," Culloton said.
Although Citizens for Ryan is running out of money, a new fund has been established to benefit the retiring governor.
The Friends of George Ryan Trust was established to help pay Ryan's legal bills stemming from the licenses-for-bribes investigation. Ryan has promised to make public a list of the fund's donors later this year.
Doug Finke can be reached at 788-1527 or doug.finke@sj-r.com.