When Gov. James R. Thompson tapped House Speaker George Ryan as his running mate in 1982, it was a move by the boisterous, free-spending chief executive to fortify his credentials with conservative Republicans heading into a difficult re-election campaign.
But this week when Gov. George Ryan chose the former governor to serve as his lawyer in a civil suit over the license-for-bribes scandal, it helped solidify Thompson’s credentials as a highly paid, politically connected lobbyist who still holds a valuable key to the governor’s office.
“Since George is not only a personal friend but an old political comrade of mine from our days as governor and lieutenant governor together, I am happy to do it,” Thompson said. He will represent Ryan in the lawsuit filed by the Better Government Association.
But more is at stake between Ryan and Thompson than the simple issue of friendship. Thompson, who served a record 14 consecutive years as Illinois governor, has benefited greatly from his relationship with Ryan.
Thompson helped steer the passage of a controversial rewriting of the state’s liquor laws on behalf of Chicago Blackhawks owner and liquor baron William Wirtz that Ryan signed in May. A year earlier, he lobbied a rewrite of state utility deregulation for Commonwealth Edison Co. And as chairman of the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn, Thompson has benefited from his firm’s contracts with state agencies and Senate Republicans totaling more than $265,000 in the state budget year that ended June 30.
Although Ryan aides said it hasn’t been decided whether campaign funds or taxpayers will foot the bill for Thompson’s defense in the BGA lawsuit, the former governor has noted that the state’s ceiling on payments for outside legal counsel of $175 an hour is well below what his firm normally is paid.
“We hope to get a fair fee,” Thompson told the State Journal-Register of Springfield. His firm earlier represented Ryan in getting a federal lawsuit filed by the BGA thrown out of court, although his fees were paid by Ryan’s campaign fund.
Thompson has done well through his ties to Ryan, even though their relationship has suffered some serious strains.
When Thompson was elected in 1976, he immediately struck up a better working relationship with Senate leaders–a relationship that continued when Ryan was elected House GOP leader in 1979 and House speaker in 1981.
In 1981, when Democrat Alan Dixon moved up from secretary of state to the U.S. Senate, Thompson rejected Ryan’s heavy lobbying to replace Dixon and instead appointed a gubernatorial staff member, Jim Edgar, to the post.
Still, by 1982 Thompson recognized that he needed to generate enthusiasm among conservative Republicans for his re-election bid. Thompson had supported the Equal Rights Amendment, for which he was sharply criticized by the GOP right. He chose as his running mate Ryan, who had used the power of the chair to maintain strict legislative rules that made the ERA difficult to ratify.
But Thompson’s campaign was divided on the strategy of choosing Ryan, and some worked actively to try to get him off the ticket. The GOP eventually won by only 5,074 votes.
Even as lieutenant governor, Ryan didn’t always see eye-to-eye with Thompson. When Thompson proposed increased gasoline taxes, an expansion of sales taxes and higher license plate fees for road and sewer repairs in 1987, Ryan balked and proudly declared he was taking a “neutral stance” on the program.
By the 1990 election, when Thompson had announced he was stepping down and Edgar became the front-runner for governor, Thompson actively supported his transportation secretary, Gregory Baise, for secretary of state against Ryan. Edgar, however, made it clear that he was backing Ryan for the job, and Baise ended up as the losing GOP candidate for treasurer.
Still, Ryan valued his relationship with the former governor. In many ways, his recent Illinois FIRST public works construction program harks back to Thompson’s own Build Illinois pork-barrel-laden infrastructure program.
Using Ryan’s huge secretary of state office in the state Capitol, Thompson headed unsuccessful efforts to rewrite state gambling and horse-racing laws on behalf of Arlington International Racetrack owner Richard Duchossois.
But out of Ryan’s office, Thompson led Commonwealth Edison’s efforts to rewrite the state’s electrical utility law, which gave the company a significant cushion before fully opening the door for competition in the residential market.
Last spring, Thompson’s access to Ryan helped the former governor win the “Wirtz Law,” a statute giving Wirtz’s Judge & Dolph and other liquor distributorships valuable legal contract protections that make it difficult for liquor manufacturers to terminate their relationship with wholesalers.
One of Thompson’s only legislative setbacks as a lobbyist was when Ryan used his amendatory veto power to water down a bill that would have stripped most of the oversight authority from an advisory board that determines whether generic drugs are safe. Sponsors of the original bill hope to negotiate a compromise with Ryan, keeping alive the issue and Thompson’s lobbying effort on behalf of Barr Laboratories.
Comptroller’s records also show that Thompson’s law firm last budget year had a series of contracts for legal services with the state, including two involving labor relations for the State Police that paid out $217,856.
State Police officials said the contracts were sent out for bid, but Winston & Strawn was among only two bidders, and the other firm did not comply with bid requirements. This budget year, Winston & Strawn was the only bidder and the law firm has been paid $61,492 on a State Police contract worth up to $200,000.
Last budget year, the firm also had two contracts with Northern Illinois University that paid out $41,057. It also collected $6,000 from Senate Republicans for contract work for GOP Senate President James “Pate” Philip of Wood Dale. And it was paid $757 by the Department of Children and Family Services for technical advice in obtaining federal reimbursement money.
Meanwhile, in the fallout from the latest chapter of the license scandal, officials for Secretary of State Jesse White have transferred to other facilities the manager, assistant manager and three supervisors of the West Lexington Street facility in Chicago that was raided last week by federal agents.
Those transferred are not suspected of wrongdoing, but six other West Lexington facility employees were arrested on bribery-related charges, and the alleged wrongdoing “was on their watch,” said secretary of state spokesman Dave Druker. “We want to send a message.”
