Former Governor George Ryan (R.) has been found guilty:
When the bad news came, George Ryan handled it without tears or whining.
“Hang in there,” the snowy-haired, 72-year-old former governor advised one well-wisher after gathering up his coat and that of wife Lura Lynn as if it had been just another day at court.
“Bye, ladies,” he told four courtroom sketch artists who had drawn pictures of him from the beginning of his racketeering and fraud trial six months ago until Monday, when he was convicted of steering millions of dollars in state leases and contracts to political insiders, lying to federal agents and tax fraud.
Ryan had just heard a verdict all but sure to send him to prison for years. But he seemed intent on not giving his adversaries the satisfaction of seeing him turn weak at the end.
Once the state’s most powerful Republican, Ryan remained dry-eyed as he vowed to fight on in a federal appeals court to salvage a reputation wrecked by the state’s biggest corruption scandal in decades.
In general, I have no sympathy for crooked pols, and I am not proud of Gov. Ryan nor do I condone his behavior. I am glad “Duke’ Cunningham is going to rot away in jail, and I eagerly await Tom DeLay’s comeuppance when that happens. But for Gov. Ryan, I am sad, and a good part of me hopes he gets a lenient sentence. His suspension of the death penalty in Illinois, IMHO, outweighs anything else he may have done short of rape and murder. Some of you may say his death penalty act was a political maneuver- I don’t care. It was the right thing to do, he too a lot of crap from his own party for it, and when I think of Gov. Ryan in the future, that is what I will try to remember about him- that even as a flawed man, he did the right thing when it mattered.
Steve
Well, I agree with John on this count, although I’m mystified by why Duke Cunningham’s corruption isn’t similarly mitigated by his status as a war hero. I mean, throw the book at him, but that fact makes his story rather poignant in my book.
DougJ
that even as a flawed man, he did the right thing when it mattered.
I agree completely. He likely saved innocent people’s lives with that order and I give him a lot of credit for that. It doesn’t mean he shouldn’t go to jail, but still it should count for something somehow.
capelza
No disagreement from me, John Cole. I thought the same thing.
How could the suspension of the death penalty have been political, though? I have never understood that accusation.
Pooh
Also, credit for, sorry for the cliche, taking it like a man, something Cunningham did rather better than DeLay as well.
DougJ
Who was Cunningham in Top Gun? Was he Maverick or Iceman?
Pb
Hey, it wasn’t a political maneuver–they don’t put people on death row for 18 counts of “racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, cheating on his taxes and lying to federal agents” in Illinois yet, do they?
See? No chance of a death penalty verdict there! Man, Illinois is so soft on crime–here in NC, we gave a guy a life sentence for stealing a black and white TV! He was in prison for 35 years, too, until the pinko commie parole board let him back on the street at the dangerous age of 65. However, if he tries to pull anything like that again he’ll go right back in–he’s still got five years of parole left!
Steve
The point is that, arguably, he was hoping that by doing a noble thing he would get more sympathy in connection with his ongoing scandal. I don’t buy it – I don’t think most corrupt politicians are simply evil through and through, although I might make an exception for Tom DeLay. I think he just wanted to do the right thing.
ppGaz
Righteous post, John. I agree totally, but with capelza’s caveat.
fwiffo
Sometimes lame ducks do unpopular and nakedly self-serving things on their way out because they won’t face electoral repurcussions. They also sometimes do unpopular but principled things. I think this has to be a case of the latter, since I can’t really see how it would benefit him.
Steve
It wasn’t really that unpopular, to tell you the truth. I lived in Illinois back then, and it was positively an embarassment what was going on, with DNA evidence exonerating one death-row immigrant after another. There is no way anyone could have been executed in that climate, with so much doubt swirling around the entire system – and if it turned out an innocent person was executed, imagine the consequences. I’m not trying to minimize the fact that he did the right thing, but understand the context.
elledblu
So corruption doesn’t matter?
Sorry, not feeling any sympathy for this guy. I hope he gets the max.
(And I’m no fan of the death penalty – I just think that issue is completely irrelevant. Doing a good deed doesn’t buy you immunity for your bad deeds.)
LITBMueller
And they call the left “moral relativists.” Sheesh. Even is his motivation for suspending the death penalty was for the purest of reasons, how can that “outweigh” his violation of the public trust?
Just a reminder: he was found guilty on all 18 counts of racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, lying to the FBI, obstructing the IRS and filing false tax returns. Ryan and four other
This activity took place before he became governor and suspended the death penalty. When he was interviewed by federal authorities about these activities while he was governor, what did Ryan do? He lied. And, while Governor he also leaked the selection of a state prison site to one his partners in crime (who then profited on the tip), and arranged a sweethart lobbying deal for the same pal.
I’m sorry, I fail to see how his death penalty stance can outweigh any of this. He was an incredibly corrupt man.
gratefulcub
I love the fact that he took a stand on the death penalty and did the right thing.
Hasn’t everyone done something to be commended for?
He sold his office to the highest bidder. He was supposed to be working for the people of Illinois, but instead used his office for personal gain. I can’t muster much sympathy.
The Other Steve
Sadly, what he did is a large norm of Illinois politics.
But yeah, no excuse. I think he did the right thing with the death penalty(and probably a few other things too), but the corruption underneath him got out of control.
Otto Man
Yep. He’ll be remembered for the moratorium, and deservedly so. That doesn’t mitigate his crimes, but it does show the man was more than a nakedly criminal guy like DeLay.
Davebo
His commutation of all death sentences may have been a reflection of his character.
But then again so is his insistance that he is totally innocent. His lying to investigators,
So give him 15 years and I’ll be happy.
Zifnab
Imagine if he’d put a freeze on the death penalty and not done any criminal activity at all. Then he might be one of those rare and treasured “good Republicans” we hear less and less about each day.
I honestly don’t have any sympathy for him. He was a man in power with a great deal of authority and a great deal of respect, and he decided to trade power for money. If he went on to spend the rest of his term in office pulling baby kittens from trees and running a soup kitchen for the homeless out of the governor’s mansion, he still robbed the state of nearly $5 million in tax dollars.
I can’t commend him for shutting down the death penalty. However, if the next man in office refuses to lift the prohibition, I’ll commend that future Illinois governor for upholding it.
Blue Shark
John Writes:
“In general, I have no sympathy for crooked pols”
…Yet you seem to make exception for the entire Bush Administration…by far the most crooked administation in American History.
…Is that only because they have not yet been convicted as have Allen, Cunningham, and others?
…How is your tolerance for Incompetence?
…How is your tolerance for Illegalities?
…How is your tolerance for Corruption?
…I am serious. I would really like to know how long you will support these fools, and what must they do for you to decide that nothing, absolutely nothing they have done in five years time has benefited the average (read me and you) American?
Pb
Sort of like Clinton, but with (criminal) convictions.
Steve
I guess, yeah, I part company with John on the notion of giving him a lenient sentence. The fact is, we convict so few of the corrupt politicians that are out there, we need to give a severe sentence to send the right message, regardless of how many babies they may have kissed.
I agree that one should try to look at a full picture of the man, but I don’t think that should actually translate into a lighter sentence. As Zacarias Moussaoui would say, that’s a lot of American BS.
HyperIon
He did the right thing when it mattered AND he did the wrong things when it mattered. He stole from the public and violated the public’s trust. I don’t see how his doing the right thing on the death penalty mitigates his many other criminal acts.
Mr.Cole, get a grip.
danelectro
where’s phil gramm these days? is this why he retired?
JP
I’m with John on this one. Ryan took a principled stand, and even if he did it to try to salvage a ruined legacy, he probably saved innocent lives. In my mind, that’s what matters.
Jill
Ryan stopped killing people in order to save his legacy. Bush thinks that starting another war and killing thousands more will save his legacy.
Helena Montana
I don’t know about the lenient sentence but he does seem like a genuinely nice person. Just goes to demonstrate the power of power to corrupt, I guess.
james richardson
John,
Are you sure you’re a Republican?
(/snark)
Richard 23
Doing the right thing doesn’t absolve the man of guilt for his own crimes. I shed no tear for the dry eyed man. Commute his death sentence at the very least.
kazheel
imagine that, a world where all your good deeds can cancel out your bad deeds….
Pb
Hitler liked dogs.
don surber
John advocates leniency based on politics
That is a definition of corruption, my friend
File this under Cole Stupidity
Vlad
Looking at it cynically, he might’ve done it to curry favor with other inmates in the joint.
That said, it was still the right thing to do.
Joel
Vlad has a point. A noncynical point, I say.
Johnny
I think you are right, at least partially.
One of the conversations I have both been a part of, as well as having overheard others have, says something like the following:
Once Ryan realized that the accident in Wisconsin, that killed the family that just voted for him, was was caused by a bribe/illegaly purchased trucking license, which monies had then flowed back to his campaign…genuine human remores kicked in to play.
Which in turn caused him to look at (our) Illinois, clearly flawed Death policies (way, way too many people ending up on death row with no real, or clearly faked evidence)…it caused him to respond as a Human who was a republican polititician, rather than as exclusively as a politician.
Aristotle said that we have sympathy with what we fear (why a freeman doesn’t understand the worries of the slave, why a white man who has never been pulled over and searched for no reason doesn’t understand why the black man-who looks and acts the same except for skin color-objects to it happening all the time).
It would have served Ryan better to have come to that realiztion sooner.
But I don’t have too much sympathy for Ryan. Besides being another standard Illinois corrupt politician (by no means do the republicans here have a corner on corruption, here in Illinois the only thing the Repubs and Demos agree on is their right to be corrupt), his enlightenment came a little too late to save him legally. However, if there is a God in heaven, than perhaps it saved his soul from burning in hell for being responsible for that families misery.
Johnny
Oh, and kudos to Peter Fitzgerald, for holding to what he believed in, and dooming him with the Republican party, both nationally and locally, by forcing the appointment of a truly independent US Attorney, rather than a handpicked, “politically friendly” one.
It destroyed his political carreer, but proved him to be head and shoulders above ALL illinois politicians. And that comes from someone who found him far TOO conservative. But once he stood up as an honorable person, I would have voted for him as Senator for the rest of my life.
Kudos Mr. Fitzgerals, for being one of the few elected representatives who remained a Human, when all around you became that sub-speices that we call “Politicians”.
Beej
Blue Shark has obviously not been reading this blog for a looooooooooooong time.
Beej
Oops! Split infinitive.
Obviously Blue Shark has not read this blog in a looooooooong time.
ppGaz
Or, ever.
W.B. Reeves
The crux seems to be that Ryan, while a mega crook, was no slaughterer of the innocent. Given current realities, we’d probably be better off if he were in the White House.
Darrell
Classic example of how whacked some on the left have become.. cold blooded murderers on death row = “innocents”
Many on the left say “but they had a difficult childhood” and other excuses for the horrific crimes committed by those on death row. Now they refer to these violent murderers as… innocents.
Reeves, do you consider yourself normal? just curious