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Ryan updates
Tuesday, Apr 18, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller As expected, lots and lots of coverage today. Here’s some. · Sun-Times: U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald added, “People now know that, if you’re part of a corrupt conduct where one hand is taking care of the other and contracts are going to people, you don’t have to say the word, ‘bribe’ out loud.” · Dismissed juror: Some on panel weren’t ‘fair’ Ezell, 44, an office manager from the Southwest Side, said tensions rose as she found herself in the minority, voting to acquit former Gov. George Ryan on a couple of counts early in the deliberations. Ezell charged that juror Kevin L. Rein, 48, of Glen Ellyn, was particularly abusive, yelling at her “things like, ‘You’ve got to be an idiot. You’re stupid. You’re a dog.”’ · The Sun-Times has all of its links here. Sneed had a talk with Ryan after the verdict… Marin: Ryan is the latest, but likely not the last…. Larry Warner says he believes he went down on all charges because he was tried with a politician. That’s funny, because Ryan’s friends think just the opposite. · Tribune stories are here. · Daily Herald’s story is here. · Zorn. · Comments on convictions in former Gov. Ryan’s racketeering trial · CBS2 has tons of stuff. · Ryan conviction a setback for lead attorney Dan Webb · Lots of Daily Herald stories here.
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- DOWNSTATE - Tuesday, Apr 18, 06 @ 6:57 am:
APPEAL and aquital because of this jury.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Apr 18, 06 @ 7:14 am:
One down and hundreds to go, starting at the top again.
- Randall Sherman - Tuesday, Apr 18, 06 @ 10:07 am:
To those who might be saying “Oh, poor Dan Webb,” just because his client (George Ryan) was convicted on all 22 counts on Monday, let me tell you this:
If it were up to me, Dan Webb would be tossed into the next cell from Ryan. And then I’d throw away the key.
Why say this? This goes back to Webb’s days as federal prosecutor, and the trial and conviction of Cook County Commissioner Martin Tuchow in 1983.
Tuchow, the 48th Ward Democratic Committeeman (who was the first committeeman to slate a woman for alderman and the first to slate an Asian-American for alderman), was Chairman of the County Board’s Finance Committee when he was convicted for actions involving his work as an attorney… not for anything he did in public office. While Tuchow may not have been a saint, the offenses he was nailed for by an overzealous Webb and a federal judge (John Grady) who had a strong streak of anti-Semitism would today be at worst offenses that gets an attorney a 30-day suspension from ARDC or the State Supreme Court, not the destruction of a political careeer that continues to have an impact on the residents of Cook County.
Why does this case affect all of Cook County? That’s because when Tuchow was convicted, he lost his seat on the County Board, and was replaced as Finance Committee Chairman by John Stroger. Had it not been for this case, Tuchow would have likely been elected County Board President when George Dunne retired in 1990. John Stroger would have never gained the president’s chair, and county taxpayers would have been spared all of the waste in county government created under the Stroger regime.
So if you are upset over the waste you see in Cook County government, be sure to blame Dan Webb for his significant role in making this mess possible.
- WARDOG - Tuesday, Apr 18, 06 @ 2:54 pm:
Now that Fitzgerald has the Ryan cinviction under his belt, he should go ahead and quit playing around and go full bore after Blago. If he thinks Ryan was bad, wait til he digs up all the crap on this present administration. There isn’t probably one of his departments that isn’t corrupt, from putting janitors in union jobs because he helped make and put out Blago campaign signs and not being able to even pass a test, to hiring over veterans, to hiring so called minorities in various positions and jobs. Take a look where Chico Bell’s stepdaughter is at for one example. Enough said for now.
- B Hicks - Tuesday, Apr 18, 06 @ 4:34 pm:
Wardog: Were all the people that Irv Smith placed in jobs qualified?
What agency do you work for, and how did you get your job?
- Peaches - Tuesday, Apr 18, 06 @ 7:37 pm:
At least Irv Smith didn’t put a music teacher, one of Mell’s factory workers, a mayor and other assorted, but very well qualified (as long as you aren’t anywhere near the correctional center) Democrats in place as Wardens. Or Tony Rossi’s brother in Jacksonville - who lost the keys to the place.