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Durbin

* Has everyone had their say about George Ryan yet? Probably not, which is why we have another thread on this topic today…

When Sen. Dick Durbin first floated the idea that he might ask President Bush to commute former Gov. George Ryan’s 6 1/2 year prison sentence, we thought that he simply was sending up a trial balloon.

Politicians sometimes do that. Put out an idea, see what the public reaction is, but leave yourself room to back out. Dutifully, we put forth an editorial explaining why a commutation was a bad idea as did many Illinois newspapers, columnists and pundits. Even our letter writers fired up their pens and expressed their displeasure.

To say that we were disappointed when Durbin decided to follow through and write Bush a letter, pleading for mercy for Ryan, would be an understatement. Durbin’s decision permanently stains his credibility.

* More…

We cannot figure out why U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Springfield Democrat, believes that commuting the sentence of our corrupt former governor, George Ryan, is an idea worthy of ignoring overwhelming public sentiment against it. […]

We consider Durbin an honorable public servant with a sterling record. His decision to write this letter is a profoundly disappointing deviation from it.

* More…

His willful criminal behavior perpetuated Illinois’ worldwide infamy for corrupt elected officials, no doubt inhibiting many good women and men who might have considered public office.

* Obama defers to Bush…

President-elect Barack Obama’s office said Wednesday that he doesn’t feel it’s “appropriate” to get involved in the controversy about whether former Republican Illinois Gov. George Ryan should get executive clemency from President George W. Bush.

* Kass pounces…

But the Combine wouldn’t like it. So he punted, probably sending a tingle up the leg of Tony Rezko, the convicted influence peddler and Obama’s personal real estate fairy, now facing years in federal prison.

You can almost hear Rezko shriek, from solitary confinement, in his orange jumpsuit:

“At this time! At this time? See? He didn’t rule it out! Maybe next time is my time! Next time! Oh thank you, Barack. Next time, yeah baby!”

* I told you about this yesterday…

Democratic Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan said today that she does not agree with Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s decision to send a letter to President George W. Bush asking him to commute the federal corruption sentence of former Republican Gov. George Ryan.

* This piece is the only real news of the day, and I’m probably excerpting too much, but it’s worth it…

“When it comes to the law, there should not be two sets of rules - one for President Bush and Vice President Cheney and another for the rest of America,” Durbin said after Bush commuted the 30-month prison sentence of Cheney aide Scooter Libby. “Even Paris Hilton had to go to jail. No one in this administration should be above the law.”

Earlier in the summer of 2007 when talk of a Libby commutation was rampant, Durbin said, “It sends a terrible message at a time when we are demanding accountability from the generals at Walter Reed … to suggest anyone in our government is above the law.”

In commuting the sentence, Bush noted that Libby already paid a price by losing his respect and government positions. Likewise, Durbin said Monday Ryan will always have a “cloud” over him because of the conviction. […]

Durbin said Monday he always seeks to right injustice, though he said Ryan was not the victim of injustice. He portrayed his decision to help Ryan as one that sprouted routinely as any other problem brought by a constituent — but he couldn’t identify one previous time when he wrote a letter asking a president for commutation.

After the press conference, Durbin’s staff revealed there was one other time. Though it wasn’t made public at the time, it was likely when he urged for the commutation of another high profile politician, former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds. […]

Much like with Ryan, Durbin invoked the criminal politician’s wife as reason enough to open the prison doors.

“His wife has been in a homeless shelter,” Durbin said of Reynold’s wife at the time. “She’s been on Welfare. This has torn them apart.”

At the time, Durbin also praised Clinton’s pardoning of U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 11:17 am

Comments

So we finally found one thing Obama does not want to get involved in. He has been acting as if he was president (nothign wrong with selling confidence) since prior to the election.

Comment by Wumpus Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 11:30 am
Mel Reynolds was in jail far longer, and his family REALLY suffered.

No comparison AT ALL to Ryan.

I have no issue with Reynolds getting communtation. Ryan in no way is the same.

Comment by Pat collins Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 11:32 am
===No comparison AT ALL to Ryan. ===

Yes, there is. More on that later.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 11:36 am
i haven’t had much to say about this, although i don’t support the idea of commuting ryan’s sentence.

however, i wasn’t the least bit surprised that dick durbin made the suggestion. with the death of his daughter — a tragedy that no parent should suffer — i’m not at all surprised that durbin is thinking about family and about how precious they are. wanting ryan to be able to live out the rest of his (and, more to the point, his wife’s) life with his family is probably more pronounced given what he just went through.

the fact is that the “traditions” of illinois politics are still present for those who came up under them. i can’t think of a single pol i’ve met since moving here that was elected more than a few years ago that understood how capricious these traditions are. and some will vehemently defend them. i love how politicians can see how important image is to their vocation, but can’t see how the specter of corruption taints them (even if they aren’t anywhere near it). dick durbin can be forgiven. he’s from illinois. and he’s proud of it…

Comment by bored now Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 11:45 am
The only argument I could make on Durbin’s behalf here is I bet if you asked most people in this State if Ryan was acting any differently than past Gov’s, 95% of us would say Yes. I’d be in the 5% saying no, but set that aside, and I think most people believe what Ryan did was status quo… that the case, commute his time and shame on us.

Comment by Bill Baar Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 11:49 am
Sorry, I mean 95% would say No… that Ryan was just acting as past Gov’s and most Pols have done…

Comment by Bill Baar Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 11:51 am
Reynolds molested a high school girl and then bragged about it being like “winning the lottery.” That is a little different than what old George was convicted of at an unfair sham trial.

Comment by Bill Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 11:55 am
Reynolds served his full sentence for that. He was commuted for tax issues.

Comment by Pat collins Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 12:06 pm
== old George was convicted…at an unfair sham trial. ==

LOL

Comment by Speaking at Will Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 12:06 pm
I still think Durbin is in the midst of grief over his daughter’s death and that has clouded his clear thinking on this issue. Had it not been for that, I really don’t think Durbin would have written the letter to Bush. It doesn’t make it right but I truly believe that is where he is coming from.

Comment by Little Egypt Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 12:14 pm
Anybody that knew George Ryan knew that Scott Faywell always threatened people that tried to go around him to tell George anything. If George had known that the sale of drivers licenses for bribes was going on he would have immediately stopped it. I am supprised that all those people don’t come forward now. You know who you are. George’s only problem was that he trusted the people that worked for him to much. As far as the Willis family goes, my heart goes out to them, but to blame George Ryan is wrong. The woman that took the bribes is soley to blame. It amazes me that no one even noticed how much money she had in her own checking account and of coures she bought fundraiser tickets with some of the money to protect her position so that no one could move her from her crooked operation. People are being fired today at the Secretary of State’s office today because of stealing money. It was not invented under George Ryan’s administration. Anytime there is money people will try to steal it.

Comment by top10 Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 12:39 pm
Bill, Gov. Ryan had the best defense money could buy (though he didn’t pay for it).

Get over it.

I covered courts for a lot of years, and I saw a lot of poor drunks and crackheads get pushed through the system because they had lousy public defenders. That’s certainly not the case with Ryan.

Commutation has nothing to do with his guilt. That’s a settled question.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 12:56 pm
Settled in your mind, perhas, ws, but for one juror being removed…..?

Comment by steve schnorf Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 1:03 pm
Steve’s right, Word. In all your years covering the courts did you ever see a judge exclude an obvious NG juror while retaining an obvious G juror who did the same or worse things.
All they had on George was the testimony of rats trying to save their own hides.
That’s over with. Now it is just about cutting a ruined old man loose so he can live out the rest of his years in some kind of peace.
How many murders or rapists have you seen who got less time than Ryan? It happens every day.

Comment by Bill Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 1:15 pm
For the record, I don’t oppose commutation for Gov. Ryan, if he admits guilt and apologizes. In fact, I’ve been surprised at the vehemence of those who do oppose it.

But let’s not pretend the guy didn’t get a fair trial. He had Dan Webb and the unlimited resources of Winston and Strawn! He lost at trial, he lost on appeal. Are you saying there’s no justice in the United States?

And Bill, he got a lot less time than he could have. You and I might not agree on the severity of the penalities, but it’s the law, dude. And everybody in the game knew the stakes when they sat down at the table.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 1:23 pm
Durbin has already stated that he wouldn’t be asking for Ryan’s clemency when Obama is in office. He is doing this when Bush can take the heat for it.

If he feels that such an injustice is being forced on the Ryans, why would he care who is in the Oval Office?

Durbin needed to say that he would ask any president for this clemency. Instead he has been playing politics with it. That kinda stinks up the whole thing, in my opinion.

So I don’t take much from Senator Durbin’s letter to President Bush other than as some kind of half-hearted political game Durbin stumbled into without thinking through the consequences of his actions.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 1:28 pm
I can not believe those who say Geo. Ryan is a victim of underlings run amock (top 10.) Remember all the SOS contracts changed to benefit Warner. Remember George himself giving Warner a preview of where the prison was to be built (Grayville)? Then Warner scamming Grayville for thousands of $ in lobbying fees to have the prison sited there. Remember George’s childhood friend Dean Bauer stopping the internal investigation into the license for bribes? Remember Faywell FROM THE WITNESS STAND stating that George and Warner no longer let him in on the fun times?

George Ryan as a person may be all the wonderful things folks say he is. He is also a convicted federal felon and deserves to serve the time.

Comment by Leave a light on George Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 1:45 pm
leave the light- for your information it wasn’t Warner,it was another person that took advantage of George, that overheard him on the phone and he used that to his advantage. Also Bauer never told George about that.

Comment by top10 Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 1:59 pm
top10 - And Faywell?

Comment by Leave a light on George Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 2:12 pm
This is Illinois, and we all seem to love the political games - Illinois style. Commute or pardon is definitely the correct action and is consistent with my philosophy of Catch and Release in these matters. That way we have the potential fun of catching them again!

Comment by A Citizen Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 3:10 pm
Never thought of it that way. lol

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 3:11 pm
Maybe all this is to free Ryan up for appointment as Senator! It would put some money in his bank account, provide health care for him and Lura Lynn, and probably give him a bit of retirement $$ in a couple of years. It’s the right thing to do. (Sorry about that Bill.)

Comment by Pot calling kettle Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 4:02 pm
If the choice for Senator appointee came down to G Ryan vs Oberweis my money would have to be on Ryan. Perhaps a good QOTD for a slow news day?

Comment by A Citizen Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 4:49 pm