* In the wake of another attempt for presidential clemency for her husband, Lura Lynn Ryan tells Michael Sneed that she hoped for more help from President Obama than she’s been getting. According to Mrs. Ryan, the wife of imprisoned former Gov. George Ryan, Obama approached her during last year’s Abe Lincoln 200th birthday celebration and inquired about her husband…
.”He was very concerned,” she said. “I asked him to please bring my husband home. . . . And the president, who knows George well because they both served . . . together, was so kind and caring. He assured me not to worry and that everything was going to be OK. But then nothing happened.”
Ryan’s son, George Ryan Jr., said he made a recent written appeal to Obama.
“My mother is now on oxygen 24 hours a day for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis,” he said. “We are not asking for a pardon, we are asking for him to come home.”
“I wrote to President Obama [that] mom was incredibly sick and not deserving of being alone now . . . and if nothing else please do this for my mom,” he said. “Mom went to the hospital in November thinking she had pneumonia. Instead, Mom was diagnosed with an incurable disease.
“There has now been a serious change in her condition, and that has resulted in a new push to free Dad to come home and be with her,” he added. “Her doctors feel my father should be home taking care of her.
I ran into George, Jr. a few months ago at a reception in Chicago - not long after Mrs. Ryan was diagnosed. I said I had seen Obama speaking to his mom at the Lincoln birthday event and asked what he had said to her. From what I recall, George said Obama told her to “hang in there.”
I get that Mrs. Ryan is devastated by these turns of events and that her children are very worried about her health. So many people still hate the former governor that it’s almost impossible to defend him. And he didn’t make it any easier with his defiant attitude all the way up to the day he left home for prison. There are also plenty of other women in Illinois who face problems every day because their husbands are behind bars, but they don’t get any publicity because their men weren’t famous or powerful.
In the end, though, it’s very difficult for me to just coldly turn away from Mrs. Ryan because I always had such a soft spot in my heart for her. I told George, Jr. that I would go see her, but I haven’t kept my word - partly because I’ve had to cope with the emotional rollercoaster of the deaths of two friends, partly because I’ve been so busy with the campaign, but also because I truly dread the experience. I know myself well enough to understand that I’d come away feeling incredibly sorry for her. I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with that.
* Carol Marin is also wondering whether another public figure is being unfairly treated…
At the risk of sounding soft on crime and corruption, I’m having a few pangs of sympathy for Betty Loren-Maltese.
That would shock her more than anybody.
But it’s true.
As I watched the former president of the town of Cicero report to the Salvation Army halfway house on Ashland Avenue to finish out the final weeks of her eight-year federal sentence, it seemed as though we in the media might have gone a touch overboard. A gaggle of reporters swarmed her Monday — with video run by virtually every print and television outlet in town including my own — as the 60-year-old Maltese wordlessly made her way from the parking lot to the door.
Public Enemy No. 1? That was Al Capone, also of Cicero.
Her? Not so much.
* Sneed tried today to get some heat off Maltese and onto somebody else who’s staying at the same halfway house…
• The kicker: Sneed is told [former City Water Commissioner Don Tomczak] is staying at the same Salvation Army halfway facility, 105 S. Ashland, as former Cicero President Betty Loren-Maltese, whose homecoming this week netted her headlines and an unwanted headache.
• The irony: “It’s shocking. This guy has come back with no cameras or swarms of media looking to get a grunt or comment,” said a Sneed source. “He ran a political army under two mayors — and when he got caught he flipped. Ironically, Maltese, who is now homeless and penniless, seems to be a better prison release story to the press. Amazing.”
• Backshot: A source who witnessed Tomczak’s corrupt largess once told Sneed: “He [Tomczak] knew how to turn on the city’s water spigot in order to pay his electioneering troops. He would pay you off with overtime money — although you never worked for it. He’d hand new recruits an expensive cigar with the quip: ‘Hey, Babe. You’re on the team.’ ”
• Slingshot: When Tomczak flipped, he told the feds: “Everything in the indictment is true. I did it all.” Maltese always maintained her innocence.
That indictment, by the way, is here.
* Zorn thinks Betty may be gearing up for something else…
Some of the fascination about the return to the Chicago area of former Cicero Mayor Betty Loren-Maltese after her long stint as a guest of the federal government surely relates to a lingering suspicion some of us have that, somehow, someway, she’ll be ba-a-a-a-ack. […]
Illinois law — 65 ILCS 5/3.1‑10‑5 (b) — says “A person is not eligible for an elective municipal office if that person…has been convicted in any court located in the United States of any infamous crime, bribery, perjury, or other felony,” but state and county offices are still possibilities. Something is telling us we haven’t heard or seen the last of Betty Loren-Maltese.
* Before we get all teary-eyed for the infamous, though, here’s something to sober you up…
The Chicago City Council is unlikely to go along with Mayor Richard Daley’s idea to allow the inspector general to investigate aldermen, but they might come up with an alternative to provide some measure of oversight, influential Ald. Ed Burke said today.
The longest serving aldermen, Burke, 14th, said he doesn’t think his colleagues will approve Daley’s proposal without changes.
“I haven’t taken a head count, but from what I’m hearing from comments, I would doubt it,” Burke told WLS-Radio reporter Bill Cameron.
* Related…
* George Ryan Asks President Obama For Clemency
* George Ryan’s wife and lawyer appeal to Obama
* Former Melrose Park police chief sentenced to prison
* Former Jefferson County treasurer faces sentencing
* City Hall moves to fire Carothers ally at water department
- Carl Nyberg - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:03 am:
In sentencing former Melrsose Park chief of police Vito Scavo, Judge Gottschall explicitly reasoned that Scavo shouldn’t get more time than George Ryan.
When a federal judge says this, it forces everyone battling against corruption to fight for Ryan to serve not one day less than his whole sentence.
Gottschall seems to be under the impression everything was just peachy keen in the Melrose Park PD with the minor exception of the chief of police and portion of the PD running an extortion racket out of the village’s police headquarters.
This is addled thinking by the judge. I was personally threatened with false arrest when Scavo was chief of police. I know another person who was placed under false arrest. And I know a Mexican-American business owner who was shaken down for a bribe as part of a traffic stop (this may have been slightly after Scavo’s departure).
So, Gottschall has hardened my opposition to any clemency for George Ryan. The more time cut off Ryan’s sentence, the more federal judges will reason that people aren’t really bothered by corruption.
Sorry, George, you do have to suffer for the sins of others. That’s just the way it is.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:04 am:
Felons are not victims. They are the victimizers. When their families suffer during their incarcerations, their families are included into the list of those these felons victimize.
Our society is extremely careful after centuries of inhuman prison treatment. So careful that we empathize with the felons sometimes as much as we do those innocents they victimize. We are currently debating how much punishment to meter out to terrorists whose acts demonstrate absolutely no empathy to innocents. That is how concerned we are. And that’s good.
But let’s remember who the victims are and ensure that felons receive their just punishments. That is justice for all, after all.
- shore - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:05 am:
There was a real simple way for the Ryans to avoid this problem. Don’t break the law.
- Third Generation Chicago Native - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:06 am:
The only time I saw Lura with Ryan the last few years was at the trial.
I did not see her in the pictures of George on his gambling, drinking, whatever events. No sign of the wife. George was also spotted right before his trip to the big house, in a Bears sky box, no wife around.
No sympathy from me. Keep him locked up. Really how much time is he really going to spend with his wife if he gets out? Just a bunch of bulloney and cat litter droppings if you ask me.
- Leroy - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:07 am:
“He assured me not to worry and that everything was going to be OK. But then nothing happened.”
Keep Hope and Change alive, Mrs. Ryan….
- UISer - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:15 am:
I agree with Dick Durbin. It is time for the Governor to come home. Politically it would be a bombshell for Obama, which is why it won’t happen.
- UISer - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:18 am:
True Observer,
Where in that quote did he promise anything?
- Greg - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:23 am:
Why would we allow someone to yet again leverage his stature and connections to receive special treatment?
- lake county democrat - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:28 am:
Rich, what about all the truly innocent people in prison (and/or those who have served longer for petty crimes and/or convicted with dubious evidence). Why do you think George Ryan deserves President Obama’s quite finite attention and they don’t? Please don’t say “the all do” — again, this is a very finite resource, pardons/commutations.
- scoot - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:30 am:
Gov Ryan should be released from prison. He has served about the same time or more then previous Illinois Governors (Kerner & Walker) have in fed prison (16-17) months. His life is changed and he will never be the same man he once was.
Put him on house arrest or something in this situation. No matter your politics you should not want to see a former Governor die a lonely life in prison.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:31 am:
When I was acquainted with him, I didn’t particularly like George Ryan, and I’m quite certain he didn’t like me.
Given his crimes, he has taken a very hard fall and done some hard time. Justice tempered with mercy is still justice. Let him die a broken man at home.
Carl, Gottschall’s reasoning in the Melrose Park case is ludicrous. Did Ryan set the new standard in sentencing for some reason?
The cases aren’t even close. The police chief of a town — in America — was shaking down businesses to pay for “protection.” How sinister is that?
- wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:36 am:
–Either he didn’t mean what he said and was just humoring an old woman or he changed his mind afterwards.–
Or, he didn’t say it.
- Responsa - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:38 am:
I had no doubts about the validity of the Ryan conviction and believed that even as an old man Ryan must serve out his sentence. Fair is fair no matter who you are/were. I thought that for him to be released for humanitarian reasons to be able to come home to care for his sick wife would be an hypocrisy and a slap in the face to the family of every other imprisoned convicted felon who is also struggling to hold it together in their absence. I still feel sentences should be respected and served whether they are for state or federal offenses.
However, the recent disclosures over the Illinois prisoner release program which apparently sends often violent and repeat offenders back into society after serving only a fraction of their time has caused me to rethink this hard line against George Ryan to an extent.
- Bill - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:45 am:
Cut the old guy loose. He got railroaded. Even if was guilty what he got convicted of was no big deal. He’s been punished enough.
- Served - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:47 am:
“It’s going to be OK” is something people say to each other all the time, and it rarely means “I’ll take care of this for you.” Mrs. Ryan probably took it to mean that he was going to grant clemency, when it was a general declaration of goodwill.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:47 am:
===Why do you think George Ryan deserves President Obama’s quite finite attention and they don’t?===
Where did I say that? Point to it before you write another word here.
- Yellow Dog Democrats - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:48 am:
Ryan’s lawyers can and should petition for a chance for him to visit his wife.
Like Rich, I like her. Like Rich, I recognize that imprisonment takes a toll on family members. And given Ryan’s lack of contrition, he does not deserve special treatment.
On a side note, kudos to the Chicago City Council for standing up to Daley’s efforts to divert attention away from himself and wrap himself in the blanket of a Reformer.
The Chicago City Council should have its own inspector general, just as the Illinois General Assembly has theirs. While they’re at it, the Chicago City Council should consider expanding the investigative tools of the Mayor’s Inspector General.
- dupage dan - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:52 am:
I agree with UISer only in that if Obama releases Ryan it will be a bombshell. I will not bode well for Obama if he does that. Obama still enjoys much support in his home state but releasing Ryan would cut into that support. Not a good idea with so many seats in play this November.
I don’t agree that Ryan should be released. While I don’t have sympathy for Tomczak he at lease fessed up and took his lumps. Neither Loren-Maltese or Ryan expressed any remorse or admitted one lick of responsibility for their actions. If that was a strategy, it failed. If they truly believed it they deserve the whole sentence. It is difficult for me to feel much sympathy for Ryan’s wife as well. I don’t know her so I won’t comment on her personally. However, Ryan’s lifestyle during his years of corruption included paying for everything with cash. Cash he got thru corruption. At his trial evidence was presented showing how so few checks were written by Ryan and, presumably, by his wife. Ryan couldn’t deposit the ill gotten gains in the bank so he just funnelled it into his wallet and paid for stuff with cash. Could Ryan’s wife not think that was hinkey? Really? Was she utterally unaware of what was going on? Really? At least in this case Ryan reaped what he sewed. Business as usual should not be tolerated.
- TomD - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:53 am:
I used to see Mrs. Ryan in the courthouse cafeteria during Governor Ryan’s marathon trial. I remember her being gracious, polite and delightful, even though those were difficult days. God Bless her.
And, Rich, I can relate to your moment. Grief is messy, and (maybe like you) it is intruding on all sorts of things that I know I need to be doing. Hang in there — you’re not alone.
- dupage dan - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:56 am:
sowed, not sewed
- cassandra - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 11:11 am:
Well, I dont know….
On the one hand, it’s expensive to keep elderly prisoners in the pen, especially when you consider
the unlikely prospect that they will commit additional crimes. A competent risk assessment
should be able to predict the likelihood of recidivism fairly accurately. In many cases, it would be cheaper to send them home…if they have one.
On the other hand, Ryan is no ordinary prisoner.
He has come to symbolize the massive corruption that existed and still exists in Illinois state politics. And clearly we didn’t learn anything because we voted Democratic governor Blagojevich
a second term, despite widespread rumors of
possible corruption in his administration.
In the absence of any substantive ethics reform, we need these symbols to remind us of how poor a job we have done in electing public officials. There is always hope that we will pay more attention next time.
If family illness is a factor in letting him out early, it should be a factor for all prisoners and there should be a formal procedure for making these decisions.He should not be a special case. If he and his wife wish more contact, there is no reason why he and other prisoners shouldn’t have access to videoconferencing and other technology. But this should be available to all prisoners, not just George.
- A Moderate's Moderate - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 11:13 am:
i agree with others that Ryan’s unwillingness (til the bitter end) to own up for his mistakes should be a deciding factor here. Why soften someone’s punishment if they cant acknowledge their behavior?
- lake county democrat - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 11:30 am:
Rich, I’m responding to ” There are also plenty of other women in Illinois who face problems every day because their husbands are behind bars, but they don’t get any publicity because their men weren’t famous or powerful. In the end, though, it’s very difficult for me to just coldly turn away from Mrs. Ryan because I always had such a soft spot in my heart for her….”
My point: you know full well that a President gives very few pardons/commutations while in office, particularly before his (her) last year of office. The attention he will give this now is surely limited and if his aides were to present him with this for consideration, that means someone else won’t be presented. That is what I mean by “finite resource” and I really don’t think that’s in debate. To suggest that George Ryan should get some of this attention in that context is, in my opinion, wrong.
- Dan S, a voter and Cubs Fan - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 11:36 am:
I am very sorry for the Ryan family as a human being, but I do not feel sorry for George Ryan. This is just more of the fallout from the crimes he was convicted of. I am very sorry Mrs Ryan is ill, but this is reallity, it has and will happen to other families when crime is commited and the crimminal is sent to jail.
- chief illiniwek - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 11:37 am:
“Hard time” is called “hard” for a reason. If she didn’t want to die alone she shouldn’t have stood idly by while he sold whatever state property wasn’t nailed down for decades.
Ryan acts like some would-be martyr. Nothing separates him from a common criminal, many of whom die in prison, alone and away from their families, every year.
- Keep Smiling - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 12:00 pm:
I’m a nice person. Really, I am. But if George Ryan were out of prison because his wife is ill and wants his company, I would be furious.
I agree with those who say that it is unfortunate Lura’s husband is not available for her at this point in her life. At the same time, she is fortunate to have a son like George Jr who can take care of her. Things could be much worse - as they are for many - if she had few friends and no other family, or if she had a very young family that she alone had to take care of. In other words, I don’t understand how anyone can see this as an exceptional circumstance of need. I feel less sympathy for Lura with every re-upped request.
George and Lura Ryan are both blessed to have lived fairly long, healthy, interesting and high quality lives. They should be thrilled by the bounty that they enjoyed throughout their lives. But George Ryan was a crooked politician and he risked these final years together with his crimes. Crimes with terrible, ugly and tragic consequences. And I’m not talking about Lura’s need for help and companionship. So a get out of jail early card for this guy? Not a chance.
- dan Page D. - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 12:01 pm:
All elderly prisoners should be considered for adjusted sentences, especially if they appear to present no risk of re-offending. We have bloated our prisons, in large part, by making sentences so long, and now we have an aging population (with lowest risk of recidivism) that we pay huge costs to incarcerate. Other states have recognized this and started to release older prisoners. Let’s introduce sentence adjustment for elderly prisoners and let Ryan apply for it. He seems like a good candidate.
- fedup dem - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 12:10 pm:
Not one minute of clemency for George Ryan! If it is his fate to die in federal prison, I consider that to be God’s will. If Jim Thompson or Dan Webb object, have the federal judge haul their butts into jail for contempt!
- formalde - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 12:54 pm:
My heart breaks to hear that Mrs. Ryan is terminally ill. She will be in my thoughts and prayers. As for George Ryan, he must serve the remainder of his prison term and embrass his reality and not hyde behind sympathy for his wife.
- the Patriot - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 12:55 pm:
I will pray for Mrs. Ryan. However, George Jr. should take a drive to the grave site of the family who died in a fiery crash caused by a man who bought a Illinois drivers license from his Father. He and his mother lived off of dirty money for 30 years whether they were aware of it or not. Sorry Ma’am, but I don’t see that you have it worse then any other lady working two jobs to make ends meet while her knucklehead husband is behind bars.
- BIG R.PH. - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 1:05 pm:
If you can’t do the time then don’t do the crime. Let’s face it when Big George was handing out driver’s licenses he didn’t think he would get caught. But he did and the sentence needs to be served. Period.
Do you think that the people who got killed by the illegal drivers get their relatives back? Is their pain and suffering any less?
What he got convicted of was only the tip of the iceberg! Let him rot! If for nothing else if you let him out it will provide a mechanism for Blago trying to worm his way out.
- Pat collins - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 1:28 pm:
1) I think based on Federal parole guidelines GR is eligible in the summer of 2013.
2) At my firm, we had a case of a man accepting “gifts” from vendors. That man was a purchasing manager. The gifts were things like paid for vacations, etc. He was caught and fired. His wife worked there. She was also fired since the firm felt “she had to know”.
I suggest that there may be some analogy.
3) That a Judge used him as an example for a light sentance does not impact GR’s case. It shows why she is a bad judge, who should never have been confirmed.
4) I do not think that GR should be given any consideration that any other prisoner would not get. Being unable to help family members when things are tough, is hard, but it is also why you should not commit a crime.
- lake county democrat - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 1:59 pm:
Just want to say that dan Page D makes an excellent point — and I think it shows the ridiculousness of asking the leader of the free world to pay attention to matters that belong before a parole board with an “old age” guideline.
- truthman - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 2:29 pm:
For heavens sake, send George Ryan home.
Whatever he may have done, he has paid for it dearly. He has lost his honor, his pension, his livelihood. Now he is losing his wife.
After he left office the citizens of this State elected a bigger, meaner, and more heartless, replacement. Twice.
We all make mistakes.
- Interested Observer - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 2:40 pm:
To all who are in favor of George Ryan getting out of a “country club prison”….how are you going to feel about Blago, if and when, Blago is in prison and (Lord help her) something happens to Patty that she asks for her husband to come home early from his sentence? Are you going to be in favor of Blago getting out early as well? IMHO don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.
- Former Card Carrying Repub - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 3:01 pm:
If the President begins making a habit of letting people out of prison because it’s sad, no matter who it is, then I’m taking him off my Top 5 I’d most like to drink with.
Cm’on BO, you’re better than that…there’s actually INNOCENT people in prison who need your attention, not the guilty ones.
- Former Card Carrying Repub - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 3:09 pm:
truthman, what about the truth in sentencing victims (young, non-violent) who are in prison for 20+ years because of their mistakes? There’s a bunch who will be missing a lot of family funerals because they’re only crime was they continued to use and get caught time after time.
Not being cold…but this is the sandbox the feds set up and we must all play in it.
- sal-says - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 3:12 pm:
Sorry.
How’s about all the dead folks cause of the license bribes while Geo was Sec of State?
- Conservative Republican - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 3:13 pm:
If I had time, I would Google the alleged “terminal illness” that Lura Lynn is suffering. I note in one report that she has been living with this for over two years. It isn’t made very clear in any report that I’ve read as to what her life expectancy is under the circumstances. If it is very possible that she could live life out through the actuarial life expectancy of a woman of her age without the “illness”, then the illness shouldn’t be a consideration for George’s early release. I note that the Ryans’ have been playing the hardship card in their strategy to minimize George’s prison time ever since his conviction.
Has anyone bothered to note that the train wreck of a state fiscal crisis that we have is one that was put in motion when George started his gravy train of a state budget in 1999, resulting in exponential growth in state spending and obligations during his administration? The significant increase in state spending under Ryan helped fuel the corrupt practices for which he was convicted (e.g. new prison construction his buddy “lobbied” for, with knowledge beforehand).
- John Families - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 3:24 pm:
Ryan, although he did introduce the moratorium, was notably unsympathetic to the legitimate concerns of family members of prisoners while he was in office. In fact, he refused to talk to the Prison Phone Campaign who wanted to end the practice of inflating the costs of phone calls astronomically–profits went directly to the phone companies, and the state got huge signing bonuses for prison contracts. Many many family members eventually have their phones shut off b/c they can’t pay these phone bills, but they are desperate for their kids or themselves to have that contact.
Ryan is not alone. There are many prisoners–with all kinds of crimes–who have mothers, fathers, sons and daughters that die–and they are not ever allowed even a funeral furlough. Because these are often the poorest people in the state, their families desperately need their care and support through their illnesses and the trauma of their death. In fact, the sadness/grieving/anger/stress/helplessness of the prisoner can lead to mental breakdowns or even rage in prison, which increases stress on guards and other prisoners. Keeping family bonds and connections is a major factor in reducing recidivism. Too bad elected officials–including Ryan– couldn’t put all the pieces of this puzzle together. Prison is too expensive to use it the way we do. We are bankrupting ourselves with barely any criticism about what we do.
Ryan did more than his part to cause this mess–now he should advocate for all families, not just his.
- steve schnorf - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 5:06 pm:
Rich, I don’t have any problem defending Gov. George Ryan, and unlike most on here, I actually knew him.
He was a very good Governor, able to work around partisanship, supposedly a missing talent today. In the whole time I worked for him neither he nor anyone in his office ever tried, even a single time, to tell me who to hire for any position or who to award a contract to for any service. Let’s hear a few of you who were around for the length of time and at the levels I was say that about their time in government.
He was personally humble and a very decent man. He clearly did not enrich himself at the expense of the citizens of this State. He was very close to Mrs Ryan and to his children and grandchildren.
I have calculated that I was probably with him around one thousand times in the 4 years I worked for him, at his office in the capital or in Chicago, in my office, at the mansion, and at other events. I can guarantee you you could have taped the whole 4 years and not hear either the language or the sentiments that we’ve heard expressed on tape by other Governors.
Believe me, he cared about the people of this State and he cared about governing to the best of his ability. If he was Governor today we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in because he would understand that it was his responsibility to do something about it and he would.
- Leroy - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 5:18 pm:
Wow…and entire thread about Ryan and prison, and not one invocation of the Willis children….
- wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 5:20 pm:
Schnorf, here’s to you. It’s a good man who stands by his guy when it ain’t popular. I think Ryan should be released, too.
- Justice - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 5:48 pm:
“steve schnorf - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 5:06 pm:
Rich, I don’t have any problem defending Gov. George Ryan, and unlike most on here, I actually knew him.”
Well stated Steve! I met the Governor in 1999 and continued to work for him until the end. I was definately not well known to him, but worked hard for him. Say what you will, but when he gave you his word he meant it…no MOUs…no knife to the back. He was a self made and very much a family man. I was in the background and he always treated me with respect and always asked how I was doing. Compared to the last 10 years….he was better than the present and former governor that Illinois had to clean up after. Unfortunately, Quinn and his hacks have me on the layoff list. HE IS MORE OF A MAN THAN THEY EVER WILL BE and done more for this state than either Blago or Quinn could do in 20 years! Hats off to you Steve and hope your family is well.
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 6:55 pm:
I am not trying to interject my views on this George Ryan situation but I would like to comment on Mr. Schnorf’s observations.
I believe that your experiences with Mr Ryan are more a testament to your honesty and not his. If someone is known to be honest, they are not approached by the corrupt players to be in on deals. It is simply bad and risky business.
Blago didn’t choose Kelly and Rezco because of their high moral management styles. He got them to work the deals. The players don’t need a score card-they just know.
- steve schnorf - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 7:24 pm:
PJW, I couldn’t disagree more
- Lynn S - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 11:42 pm:
#
- scoot - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 10:30 am:
Gov Ryan should be released from prison. He has served about the same time or more then previous Illinois Governors (Kerner & Walker) have in fed prison (16-17) months. His life is changed and he will never be the same man he once was.
Dear Scoot: I’m 41, and really not old enough to remember all the things Walker and Kerner got in trouble for. I can tell you, however, that neither of these former governors is accused of having the blood of six innocent children (who died a fiery death on an expressway as a result of Ryan’s corruption) on their hands, and for that reason alone Ryan should do all of his time. It amounts to roughly one year per dead child, and it should sicken you that he is getting off so lightly.
And weren’t Walker’s crimes alleged to have taken place after he left office? A bank criminal is usually held to a different standard than a murderer.
- Leroy - Thursday, Feb 18, 10 @ 5:18 pm:
Wow…and entire thread about Ryan and prison, and not one invocation of the Willis children….
Only because I didn’t get here until now, Leroy. I know folks here think I am fanatical about the suffering of the Willis children, but my younger brother was injured in an accident when he was in 7th grade and was in the burn unit at Memorial Hospital in Springfield for 5 week with 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 55% of his body, and this was back in the early 80’s when medical technology was not as good as it is now. One of the guys in the accident with my brother died of his injuries (over 80% burned, if memory serves correctly), and the guy who pulled my brother out and saved him lost two fingers from my brother’s burning shoes. This gentlemen was never the same after the incident, and committed suicide roughly five years ago.
The staffers at Memorial are wonderful people who my family has always held in the highest regard, but the burn unit is he-double hockey sticks on Earth. Not many here will believe me when I say it is probably a blessing in disguise that the Willis children are dead, but try being outside the door when they are debriding the dead skin off your brother, and he is screaming through the morphine. Or walking into a room and seeing his hair burned straight up, and the eyebrows almost singed off his head.
I’m leaving now, because I’m weeping as I write this. I am sorry Lura Lynn has a lung disease (my father died of lung cancer almost 2 years ago, and had emphysema for almost 3 years before that. The money Lura Lynn lived on for many years was almost all dirty, and some of it was blood money. But her husband will never make up for those six innocent children, and has never expressed any regret for what he did. he’s going to have to do every day he was sentenced to. That will be justice, and even then incomplete justice.
- Former Card Carrying Repub - Friday, Feb 19, 10 @ 9:35 am:
Steve, if he was the man you say he is, why is he in prison? Are you saying he was railroaded?
This shouldn’t be a commentary on the man you worked with or all the good he did for the state (which I agree). It’s about the equal application of jusitce, mercy, forgiveness. If you let him out early, you have to review ALL cases similar to GR’s.
When I worked under GR’s administration, I was personally a little put off there at the end of his term when he froze raises for MC employees and made us take on additional duties. Politics as usual were taking place (some MC’s got extra money for doing extra duties, most (non-connected)didn’t). And Steve, that’s simply not fair and you had to have known about it.
- Conservative Republican - Friday, Feb 19, 10 @ 10:00 am:
George Ryan, always a genial and kindly man?
Sorry, I knew him for decades and I cannot count the number of times I have seen him in public acting in an ugly, angry, contemptous manner.
Also, the record made in the federal case against him provides ample evidence of personal benefit from his corrupt dealings, free Jamaician trips to name just one.
George Ryan started Illinois on the path of deficits run amok, with budget busting “Illinois First” and much other pork.