So, here's the deal: If you're being investigated, questioned, subpoenaed, etc. by the U.S. Attorney's office in connection with the Illinois secretary of state scandals, the governor's campaign fund will pay your legal bills, unless you were one of those low-level mopes actually selling commercial drivers licenses.
Only, for most of those involved, the free legal dough has a catch. You have to use the governor's preferred lawyer and his law firm, Jeremy Margolis' Altheimer & Gray.
Margolis has made a fortune giving legal advice to casinos and once published a study claiming there's no relationship between legalized gambling and crime.
But he also happens to represent the governor's campaign fund, which was indicted three weeks ago for racketeering. He even represented former Ryan Chief of Staff and campaign manager Scott Fawell while Fawell was allegedly destroying documents and lying to a grand jury. Fawell has since been indicted on multiple counts of corruption.
Margolis is a walking conflict of interest, and that's the least of his faults. A former director of the Illinois State Police, he first gained notoriety in the 1998 governor's race, when George Ryan brought him in to investigate allegations that secretary of state workers were handing out commercial drivers licenses to anyone who bought George Ryan campaign-fundraiser tickets.
Margolis took a quick look and declared there was no organized effort to sell licenses for campaign donations, and insisted that no follow-up investigations were needed. And then he began aggressively, and dishonestly, defending Ryan in the media.
"This is campaign time," he told reporters with a dismissive tone. "Six-hundred-dollar bribes which you wouldn't normally report are big news now."
Margolis reviewed a diary kept by secretary of state whistle-blower Tony Berlin, but he claimed when his investigation was complete that the whistle-blower had a "lengthy arrest record," so Berlin was chalked up as untrustworthy. But after Ryan was safely elected governor, the U.S. attorney revealed that Berlin's diary was crucial in making bribery cases against Marion Sieble, Berlin's boss, and others. And Berlin's supposedly "lengthy" arrest record? He was busted once for DUI. Margolis smeared him.
One of the documents Margolis never mentioned was a memo written a week after the Rev. Scott Willis drove over a piece of metal that had fallen off a semi, which caused his van to blow up and kill all six of his children. In the memo, Secretary of State Inspector General Dean Bauer said he suspected the truck driver, who didn't speak any English, had bribed his way to a driver's license. The memo didn't surface until many months after the 1998 election.
The Margolis influence was felt beyond the license-for-bribes scandal. A Margolis friend at Ryan's secretary of state office was given the job of spying on a separate state-police investigation into campaign work done on state time.
After Ryan was elected governor, Margolis chaired a gubernatorial transition committee and began "monitoring" the federal corruption investigation for the governor.
It wasn't long before Ryan's campaign was paying Margolis to represent almost all the Ryan employees who were receiving visits from FBI agents and testifying before grand juries.
It's more than just conceivable that the campaign-fund cash was, and still is, being used as hush money. Heck, even several people who refused to be represented by Margolis, or who agreed but now have new lawyers, are getting their bills paid - to the tune of $1.1 million and rising.
Ryan's workers might feel somewhat obligated, voluntarily or otherwise, to be a member of the team in order to shield themselves from devastating legal bills.
Don't believe it? Well, the U.S. Attorney said last week Margolis had once claimed that one of his clients had no information about secretary of state corruption. But the woman turned over incriminating evidence to the feds after a judge found that Margolis had too many conflicts of interest and terminated their lawyer-client relationship.
The cozy legal situation also allows Margolis and his partners to know what the current and former Ryan workers are saying to the government, and could say to a jury. That prior information would be crucial to Margolis' defense of the governor's campaign committee. And then there's the conflict of interest of Margolis cross-examining one of his former clients who is now testifying for the prosecution.
Given all this, it's no wonder the U.S. Attorney announced that he wants to freeze the campaign fund's assets and remove Margolis and his firm from the latest corruption case.
Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter. He can be reached at (http://www.capitolfax.com).
Only, for most of those involved, the free legal dough has a catch. You have to use the governor's preferred lawyer and his law firm, Jeremy Margolis' Altheimer & Gray.
Margolis has made a fortune giving legal advice to casinos and once published a study claiming there's no relationship between legalized gambling and crime.
But he also happens to represent the governor's campaign fund, which was indicted three weeks ago for racketeering. He even represented former Ryan Chief of Staff and campaign manager Scott Fawell while Fawell was allegedly destroying documents and lying to a grand jury. Fawell has since been indicted on multiple counts of corruption.
Margolis is a walking conflict of interest, and that's the least of his faults. A former director of the Illinois State Police, he first gained notoriety in the 1998 governor's race, when George Ryan brought him in to investigate allegations that secretary of state workers were handing out commercial drivers licenses to anyone who bought George Ryan campaign-fundraiser tickets.
Margolis took a quick look and declared there was no organized effort to sell licenses for campaign donations, and insisted that no follow-up investigations were needed. And then he began aggressively, and dishonestly, defending Ryan in the media.
"This is campaign time," he told reporters with a dismissive tone. "Six-hundred-dollar bribes which you wouldn't normally report are big news now."
Margolis reviewed a diary kept by secretary of state whistle-blower Tony Berlin, but he claimed when his investigation was complete that the whistle-blower had a "lengthy arrest record," so Berlin was chalked up as untrustworthy. But after Ryan was safely elected governor, the U.S. attorney revealed that Berlin's diary was crucial in making bribery cases against Marion Sieble, Berlin's boss, and others. And Berlin's supposedly "lengthy" arrest record? He was busted once for DUI. Margolis smeared him.
One of the documents Margolis never mentioned was a memo written a week after the Rev. Scott Willis drove over a piece of metal that had fallen off a semi, which caused his van to blow up and kill all six of his children. In the memo, Secretary of State Inspector General Dean Bauer said he suspected the truck driver, who didn't speak any English, had bribed his way to a driver's license. The memo didn't surface until many months after the 1998 election.
The Margolis influence was felt beyond the license-for-bribes scandal. A Margolis friend at Ryan's secretary of state office was given the job of spying on a separate state-police investigation into campaign work done on state time.
After Ryan was elected governor, Margolis chaired a gubernatorial transition committee and began "monitoring" the federal corruption investigation for the governor.
It wasn't long before Ryan's campaign was paying Margolis to represent almost all the Ryan employees who were receiving visits from FBI agents and testifying before grand juries.
It's more than just conceivable that the campaign-fund cash was, and still is, being used as hush money. Heck, even several people who refused to be represented by Margolis, or who agreed but now have new lawyers, are getting their bills paid - to the tune of $1.1 million and rising.
Ryan's workers might feel somewhat obligated, voluntarily or otherwise, to be a member of the team in order to shield themselves from devastating legal bills.
Don't believe it? Well, the U.S. Attorney said last week Margolis had once claimed that one of his clients had no information about secretary of state corruption. But the woman turned over incriminating evidence to the feds after a judge found that Margolis had too many conflicts of interest and terminated their lawyer-client relationship.
The cozy legal situation also allows Margolis and his partners to know what the current and former Ryan workers are saying to the government, and could say to a jury. That prior information would be crucial to Margolis' defense of the governor's campaign committee. And then there's the conflict of interest of Margolis cross-examining one of his former clients who is now testifying for the prosecution.
Given all this, it's no wonder the U.S. Attorney announced that he wants to freeze the campaign fund's assets and remove Margolis and his firm from the latest corruption case.
Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter. He can be reached at (http://www.capitolfax.com).
