Circuit Court Judge Julia Nowicki on Wednesday gave the secretary of state’s office three weeks to present documents connected with an internal investigation of allegations that fraudulent commercial drivers licenses were issued by some employees.
Attorney Joseph A. Power requested the documents. He represents Duane and Janet Willis, whose six children died in a fiery crash on a Milwaukee-area expressway in 1994. Their minivan’s gas tank exploded after it was punctured by a part that fell off a truck belonging to Transamerica Leasing Co.
In a civil suit against the company and the driver, Ricardo Guzman, the couple claim he had fraudulently obtained his license from the McCook facility of the secretary of state’s office.
Although Power accused the office of not taking any steps to look into the situation, Ruand Taylor, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State George Ryan, said the internal investigation failed to produce evidence backing allegations that fraudulent licenses were issued to political contributors at the McCook office.
However, Power alleged that several employees of Ryan’s office gave him depositions claiming that co-workers had taken money for issuing licenses to non-qualified applicants.
“George Ryan is more concerned with filling his campaign money than the interests of the public. He is putting the public at risk,” Power said.
Power said that if Guzman could not speak English, as he told police at that time of the accident, he should not have been issued a license under state law. The plaintiffs have suggested that he pretended not to speak the language to avoid questioning by police.
Attorney Steven Puiszic, representing the secretary of state’s office, said Guzman received his license after passing an oral exam and there is no evidence of fraud in the process. But Power said George Valesco, whose initials were on Guzman’s application to indicate he gave the oral exam to Guzman, stated in a deposition that he did not conduct the exam.
Attorneys for the leasing company and the driver said Guzman does speak English and gave his deposition to Power in English without an interpreter.
Until Wednesday, Puiszic had declined to turn over the documents to Power, claiming they are not relevant to the suit and were protected by executive privilege. The defendants also contended that releasing the documents would violate the privacy of office employees.
But Nowicki agreed with Power that the public interest required their disclosure, and ordered the documents to be submitted to her no later than July 29.
She said she would examine the material and pass on to Power those documents she considers germane to the case. The next hearing was scheduled for Aug. 24.
