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*** UPDATE *** Ryan is getting out early…
The attorney for George Ryan says the former governor has qualified for work release five months before his July 2013 parole.
Former Gov. Jim Thompson says Ryan’s new home will be a halfway house in the West Loop. The 78-year-old Ryan is serving a 6 1/2-year sentence at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., for a 2006 conviction on corruption charges.
* This happened during my day off and I wanted to gauge your reaction…
Former Illinois Governor George Ryan lost a bid on Monday to cut short his 6-1/2 year prison sentence for corruption, with an appeals court rejecting arguments that prosecutors failed to prove he took bribes.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago affirmed the conviction and sentence, finding that Ryan failed to provide honest services to the people of Illinois who elected him, and that he violated this duty by giving state benefits to his friends. […]
On appeal, Ryan argued that the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in a case against former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling unsettled his conviction by changing the law that governs honest-services fraud. In that case, the high court found that honest-services fraud was limited to bribery and kickback schemes.
* This same appellate court upheld Ryan’s conviction a year ago, but the US Supreme Court wanted them to reconsider Ryan’s arguments…
“George Ryan, as a public official, had a duty to provide honest services to the people of the state of Illinois who elected him,” reads the opinoin by Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook. ” And the evidence in this case has shown that he repeatedly violated that duty.
“The benefits included free vacations, loans, gifts, campaign contributions, as well as lobbying money that Ryan assigned or directed to his buddies. In short, Ryan sold his office. He might as well have put up a ‘for sale’ sign on the office.”
* More…
Defense attorneys had argued that gifts and vacations Ryan received from people who later got state business were based on friendship, weren’t an exchange for financial benefits and, therefore, weren’t bribes.
One of several examples cited in Monday’s ruling was a $3,185 check written by a lobbyist to pay for a band to play at the wedding of Ryan’s daughter.
“Ryan’s lawyers vigorously argued that these benefits were tokens of friendship, and that he did nothing in return for them,” the opinion said. But, it continues, prosecutors had fundamentally argued at trial that they were bribes and, “The verdict shows that the jury found in the prosecution’s favor.”
* And Gov. Pat Quinn rubbed salt in the wound…
At an unrelated event, Quinn said that the court has spoken and Ryan had his day in court.
He says Ryan has to “do the time.”
* Meanwhile, Patti Blagojevich is upset that the transcripts still aren’t available from her husband’s trial. Rod Blagojevich’s attorneys can’t file an appeal until those transcripts are finished, but the court reporter has been on a personal leave of absence for over five months and now she’s facing a mountain of unfinished work and has asked for an extension…
In an exclusive interview, she told FOX Chicago News that the situation is “incredibly frustrating.”
“I mean, my girls miss their dad, he’s missing their birthday, my daughter had her sixteenth birthday just the other day,” Patti said.
Mrs. Blagojevich said it’s been bugging her for months. […]
“There sure was a rush to get my husband in jail,” Blagojevich wrote to friends on Facebook, “where he now sits waiting for the long overdue transcripts.”
It’s not like he has a chance on appeal, but I get the frustration.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 11:51 am
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I understand the frustration also, but the wheels of justice grind slowly. And let’s face it, Rod’s not going anywhere anytime soon given the number of convictions. Nothing magic in that transcript that’s going to get him home anytime soon.
Comment by Ron Burgundy Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 12:01 pm
“The benefits included free vacations, loans, gifts, campaign contributions, as well as lobbying money that Ryan assigned or directed to his buddies. In short, Ryan sold his office. He might as well have put up a ‘for sale’ sign on the office.”
I would guess that’s that. A pretty clear smackdown from Easterbrook, a Reagan appointee who used to work for Bork in the Solicitor General’s office.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 12:02 pm
I sympathize with Blagojevich’s daughters, but I’m tired of Patti refusing to acknowledge her husband’s responsibility for his fate. HE instigated the rush to prison with his crimes; stop blaming the court for his punishment.
Comment by Wensicia Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 12:02 pm
I’d be more sympathetic to Ryan if he 1) hadn’t rubbed salt in the wounds of family members of the victims of death row inmates by holding that pep rally at Northwestern law school to announce he was changing his position and 2) if he had shown one iota of real remorse and not that root-canal, clenched-teeth statement that Thompson offered.
You can say the same thing about Rod, times two.
Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 12:23 pm
Even with some distance of time, the Ryan/Blago stories one after the other are hard to fathom.
Both of them lived like kings based on their positions — traveling first-class, never having to pick up a check, every door swinging open, ordering everyone about. The both would have come out the other side with awesome pensions plus numerous, lucrative, legitimate, easy-lifting rainmaker opportunities. Their futures were assured.
Risk all that for a few extra bucks?
Ryan’s a little easier to understand. I don’t think he saw until it was to late that the rules he had grown up with had changed.
Blago still makes no sense at all. He pulled all his stupid capers while Ryan was going down, and with the knowledge that the feds were on him. Lunacy.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 12:27 pm
I wish Blago could have been burned at the stake, but the court still has a duty to produce transcripts within a reasonable time. It won’t make a difference in this case, but still.
Comment by Excessively Rabid Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 12:28 pm
I get the frustration on her part but is there only one person who can do this? It seems strange that there is nobody to pick up the slack while the person is on personal leave.
Comment by southern Illinois Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 12:49 pm
=== “I mean, my girls miss their dad, he’s missing their birthday, my daughter had her sixteenth birthday just the other day” ===
Enough of Patti’s pity party, already.
Hey Patti, missing birthday parties is the whole point - when you’re convicted of breaking the law, they send you to prison to deprive you of the luxuries you otherwise would enjoy. Are you really that dense?
Comment by Coach Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 12:51 pm
Now Blago knows how those that were waiting for him to review their appeals for clemency or pardons feel.
Comment by Stooges Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 12:52 pm
Rod started his prison sentence in March, 2012…several years after he committed the crimes for which he was convicted.
Yes, the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind slowly on both ends depending on your perspective. I think it largely balances out.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 1:00 pm
Point of clarification:
Can someone please explain to me what “work release” entails for a 78 year-old man?
Thanks,
YDD
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 1:01 pm
Wordslinger, I think the court was quoting the prosecution’s closing argument there in analysing what arguments were made to the jury. The media has reported it like the court said it.
See page 14 of the slip opinion:
http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/tmp/KH0R9Y2K.pdf
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 1:03 pm
YDD,
I bet he’ll get the Rostenkowski chair on Fox Chicago
Comment by Frank Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 1:17 pm
Frank -
In all seriousness, I was serious. He’s 78, well past the age of retirement, and wasn’t in that great of health when I last saw him ten years ago.
Do they really expect him to go to work flipping burgers every day?
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 1:19 pm
You know, Mrs. Blagojevich, I would feel a heck of a lot sorrier for your family if I hadn’t seen the stacks and stacks of clemency petitions piled up in the Governor’s office that Rod refused to review because he feared that a “Rodney King” would keep him out of the White House. Where was your concern for the families of those people?
Comment by Soccermom Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 1:32 pm
If Fitzgerald needed those transcripts they would have been ready the next day.
Comment by The Captain Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 1:33 pm
It’s really really too bad Ryan is getting out of jail at all.
As for Patti, I predicted on this blog when he went away that we’d hear from her pretty much nonstop about how tough things were for her. She reminds me a lot of the Paterno family and how they’ve handled their own situation.
Comment by Shore Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 1:35 pm
Wasn’t his original reporting date to prison postponed to allow for him to sell his home. Which he never sold.
Comment by Do I recall Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 1:38 pm
=== In all seriousness, I was serious. He’s 78, well past the age of retirement, and wasn’t in that great of health when I last saw him ten years ago. Do they really expect him to go to work flipping burgers every day? ===
I’m going to guess “work” is to be commensurate with the persons abilities. I would assume, although I’m just guessing here, that if Ryan did something like volunteer at a library or a community center or something, that would satisfy the requirements of “work.”
Comment by Just Observing Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 1:56 pm
The transcript delay is just more evidence of the crises in court funding that exists across the country…including the crises caused by the failure of the Senate to approve Obama’s judicial nominees. Forget Blago…he’s not the only one who is waiting on transcripts due to the shortage of court reporters.
Comment by D.P. Gumby Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 2:05 pm
“I mean, my girls miss their dad, he’s missing their birthday, my daughter had her sixteenth birthday just the other day,” Patti said.
–I hope this is just spin/general venting from Patti, and that she isn’t giving her child unrealistic expectations of when her father will return from prison.
Comment by Robert Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 2:27 pm
the court has an obligation to provide those transcripts. If the person who does them is out on personal leave, this is why temp agencies exist. And if Blago has this problem, I’m guessing he’s not the only one.
Comment by cermak_rd Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 2:48 pm
The Tribune website has a story about a new Blagojevich book that says the Feds have a tape recording of a conversation in which Rod “mentioned naming Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry to Obama’s vacant Senate seat so he could ‘have a shot’ at having sex with her.” Maybe they should take their time with those transcripts.
Comment by And I Approved This Message Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 2:52 pm
We can’t afford to hire temps. We can’t afford anything, remember?
Comment by Cheryl44 Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 2:53 pm
Getting the transcripts filed is the least of Patti’s problems. That’s like being upset a leaf fell on your car when you’ve got no money for gas, four flat tires, and dare I say, a thrown rod.
Comment by Cheswick Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 2:56 pm
I actually feel badly for Patti Blagojevich because her comments on the transcripts indicate she still believes Rod is somehow going to walk out of jail a free man sometime in the next year or so. She needs to get on with her life and so do Rod’s children. That doesn’t mean they have to disown Rod, but it does mean he isn’t going to play a meaningful role in their lives again for many years and you have to deal with that reality.
Comment by Rod Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 3:56 pm
I wonder if Gov. Ryan is eligible for Social Security disability coverage due to age — perhaps a better income source than merely Social Security for seniors that he should be eligible for.
Comment by Capitol View Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 4:15 pm
I agree with John Kass. I would prefer seeing Blagoyevich wearing his prison-issued jumpsuit picking up trash on the side of the Edens. I made personal sacrifices because I went without a raise for 4 years. I made work-related sacrifices because we were unable to get important vacancies filled. The taxpayers have no idea the extent of Rod’s fraud. I don’t feel sorry for Rod or his family. We all know who Patti’s father is.
Comment by Emily Booth Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 4:35 pm
If I were Patty I would just be quiet until the statute of limitations had run out on the crimes I committed>
Comment by Leave a Light on George Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 4:35 pm
Is Ryan eligible for Social Security at all? I’m not a government worker, I know teachers in IL don’t pay into SS–what about other state employees?
Comment by Cheryl Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 5:06 pm
If Ryan had not gotten the stay on going to jail, he would have been on “work release” since April.
I guess he’ll do something similar to his prison job, whatever that was…
Comment by Pat Collins Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 5:58 pm
Rod believes this was all a mistake. I would bet he is the one telling Patti that he will get out on appeal, so hurry up the transcript.
It is a little crazy that no one else could type up a transcript for any trials when a person takes six months of leave. The judge should have sped up all those transcripts in the order the trial was held.
Comment by John Parnell Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 6:48 pm
Perhaps Rod has found prison to his liking…and doesn’t want to get out !
Comment by The Steamer Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 6:54 pm
The daughters are lucky their mother is not in jail with their father
Comment by Old timer Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 8:15 pm
Shore, I really don’t believe you want 78-year-old Ryan to serve every day of his sentence. There’s no justice without mercy, and Ryan has given all he had.
But it you do, I encourage you to rattle the Obama Administration to put some big skins on the barn of the financial gangsters who’ve put nearly half of American homeowner under water and are doing their bet to ruin capitalism.
And they’re still in business today.
I guarantee you, FDR, HST, DDE, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan would have smacked them down hard. With the relative low costs of elections back then, they didn’t have to worship at the Altar of the Cheap Hustler.
Soccermom, it always blows my mind to hear that Blago actually thought he was presidential material. Shame on us that we elected him twice.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 10:10 pm
word, I rarely disagree with your observations, but regarding Gov Ryan’s lifestyle as Governor, you are just wrong. I don’t know about Governor Blagojevich’s style, but Mr and Mrs Ryan’s style as Governor was more humble than any I’ve ever seen.
I could give an essay’s worth of examples, but I will only bother with two or three. Early on at a small lunch at the mansion with a half a dozen or so staff; the meal is over and both Ryan’s start gathering the dirty plates and silverware and carrying them into the kitchen. In the van, Mrs Ryan sometimes sat on the Governor’s lap to make room for more people in the van. It was almost impossible to buy Gov. Ryan a meal at a restaurant; he insisted on paying with his credit card. I never saw him travel first class, tho I suppose sometimes he might have.
Anyway, this is gospel; I was there, day in and day out for 4 years. I guess it really doesn’t matter any more, but i want to set the record straight on his behalf.
Comment by steve schnorf Wednesday, Aug 8, 12 @ 10:42 pm
Schnorf, thanks for the insight. For what it’s worth, I’m glad your old boss is getting out early.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Aug 9, 12 @ 8:01 am
I have no problem with Ryan being released early–everyone insists that he be treated like everyone else, so if he qualifies for early release, he should have it; and as far as work-release, I assume he finds something he can do, given his age.
As for Patti and Rod, I just have to shake my head. If she really believes the things that she is saying about Rod being released, then no wonder they’re in the mess that they’re in–two more clueless people couldn’t possibly be found.
Comment by champaigndweller Thursday, Aug 9, 12 @ 8:38 am
==Can someone please explain to me what “work release” entails for a 78 year-old man?==
Maybe he can prepare Blago’s transcripts.
Comment by Anonymice Thursday, Aug 9, 12 @ 10:01 am