Taking Care of George

By Amy Hart in News on Dec 9, 2005 8:20PM

Rest assured, the George Ryan trial will end sometime, but until that time comes, we will continue to hear testimony from prosecution witnesses about how much the former governor loved money.

Earlier this week Ryan’s former press secretary, Dennis Culloton, testified Ryan told him to tell the press that he paid for his vacations in Jamaica. However, Culloton now thinks Ryan tried to mislead him, and that the governor was taken care of by his host, businessman Harry Klein, who reimbursed him with cash after Ryan wrote him checks for the trips. Culloton also said that Ryan gave him a gift of a check written against the account of his political campaign.

Yesterday Donald A. Udstuen, a former lobbyist for the Illinois State Medical Society, testified that he spoke to Ryan’s co-defendant Larry Warner about how they would “take care of George” and give him cash they received in turn for drumming up state business with the companies they represented.

“Dr. Don” also testified that he warned Ryan about being careful how he spent the money in his campaign fund, but said he never actually saw Ryan take bribes. The defense pointed out that Udstuen made a deal with the government to testify and plead guilty to a charge of tax fraud in lieu of more serious charges.

Is there anybody involved in this trial that doesn’t make us feel a little creepy?