In a pointed jab at the law firm representing Gov. George Ryan’s campaign fund, federal prosecutors Friday asserted that Ryan himself currently calls the shots for his indicted Citizens for Ryan political finance committee.
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Less than two weeks ago, under questioning by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer, attorneys from Altheimer & Gray, the firm representing Citizens for Ryan, were unable to say who controlled how its campaign funds were spent.
Prosecutors are trying to force Altheimer & Gray off the case because it already has represented several people who are expected to testify against Citizens for Ryan in its coming racketeering trial.
In papers filed to bolster its bid to disqualify the firm, the government claimed that Ryan now is in charge of the fund and has written “the payees and amounts for numerous Citizens for Ryan’s checks, including checks issued in the last two months.”
The filing states that an unnamed clerk “who has signed most of Citizens for Ryan expenditure checks for the last year has informed the government that George Ryan currently authorizes the checks that she signs.”
Citizens for Ryan has paid the legal bills of witnesses who have testified before a federal grand jury investigating alleged corruption during Ryan’s eight-year tenure as secretary of state.
Though prosecutors claim Ryan now controls the campaign fund, their filing did not indicate whether Ryan had a similar role during much of the 1990s, when Citizens for Ryan allegedly marshaled public employees to work on political campaigns on state time.
Ryan has not been charged with wrongdoing, and the fund has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton said he would not discuss the government’s filing.
But Altheimer & Gray, in a separate filing identified Ryan as the “beneficiary” of the fund and submitted a sworn statement from the governor waiving any questions of conflict of interest involving the law firm’s continued representation of his fund.
Altheimer & Gray proposed using an outside attorney, Thomas Breen, to question government witnesses previously represented by the law firm.