Illinois governor's campaign, two former aids indicted

Associated Press WriterCHICAGO (AP) -- Gov. George Ryan's campaign committee and two top former aides were charged Tuesday with racketeering in the biggest indictment to come out of a four-year federal investigation into a licenses-for-bribes scheme when he was secretary of state.

Prosecutors have said some $170,000 ended up in Ryan's campaign fund. The Republican governor, who decided not to seek a second term after the scandal hurt his popularity, has not been charged with wrongdoing.

Scott Fawell, Ryan's top aide when he was secretary of state and the manager of Ryan's successful 1998 campaign for governor, was charged with racketeering, mail fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Also charged was Richard Juliano, 34, who served as a top campaign aide to the governor before becoming the U.S. Transportation Department's liaison to the White House. Prosecutors said he resigned from that job last week.

The indictment said the two men were part of a racketeering enterprise in which Ryan's campaign committee illegally used state workers for political purposes.

"The indictment alleges that Citizens for Ryan, as a campaign, for a number of years broke the law with considerable vigor," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said. "Public funds were stolen and plundered for political benefit."

Federal prosecutors said the primary goal was to illegally use secretary of state employees for campaign activities, performing official acts as a way of helping the campaign and concealing certain campaign activities from public exposure and possible prosecution.

Fawell and others were behind the creation of false documents in the secretary of state's office to justify pay raises and promotions for employees in return for the campaign work they performed, according to the indictment.

The investigation has already resulted in the conviction of some 40 defendants including at least 20 current and former employees of the secretary of state's office.