Fawell breaks silence, claims his crimes were just politics as usual

The man who ran Gov. George Ryan's political and government enterprises broke his silence, attempting to explain his crimes as normal "Illinois politics."

"I think the rules have changed about how politics and government and campaigns are run," said Scott Fawell, on WTTW's Chicago Tonight show Wednesday, after serving prison time for his role in Ryan's corruption across two statewide offices.

Later in the 25-minute TV interview, the 52-year-old DuPage County native said what he did to land in prison was "politics."

"It is the politics I grew up with. It is Illinois politics," Fawell said. "I paid a price. I paid a very serious price."

Fawell was convicted of racketeering in 2003 and sentenced to 6.5 years in prison. At first he refused to testify against Ryan, but changed his mind when prosecutors said doing so would get his girlfriend a lighter sentence for bid rigging.

Fawell said federal prosecutors "exploited" his relationship - he was married to another woman at the time - with Andrea Coutretsis, who appeared with him on the show.

He called the choice between turning on Ryan and saving his girlfriend a decision between "the lion or the tiger."

"I give them credit. They are smart," Fawell said.

Fawell's overarching message, however, appeared to be that he believed he was just doing political business for Ryan as it had always been done until federal prosecutors made it illegal. However, Illinois has a long history of politicians and their operatives going to jail for using taxpayer dollars to acquire campaign donations, bribes and political favors.

Federal authorities were able to deem Ryan's campaign and government work a criminal enterprise because of a widespread pattern of trading taxpayer contracts and perks for campaign cash and personal favors.

Fawell, however, doesn't consider himself to be what prosecutors convicted him of.

"I don't consider myself a racketeer," he said.

As for his guilt, Fawell said, "It is tough. It is a tough thing to say. Some of the things they said I did, I did."

But he again went back to his trial defense that even if he did want prosecutors claimed, it wasn't illegal, it was just politics.

"We didn't necessarily argue, 'No. It didn't happen,'" he said, adding that he thought he simply "put together a good political organization."

Fawell, who once had a database of people who owed him and Ryan favors, said now that he is out of prison, he is "radioactive." He has found some work. His girlfriend said she got turned down for a job at a clothing story because of her felony record.

Again, Fawell spoke highly of a bygone era where political operatives could go to jail and come back out to a decent job with their old friends.

"In the old days when guys went away," he said, "They would come back and plug into the system."