Ryan leaves for prison

Source: Chicago Tribune

Former Gov. George Ryan left his Kankakee home at about 5:50 a.m., bound for prison.

He made no statement as he climbed into the front passenger seat of a van. But last night, with his last hope for staying out of prison dashed, he defiantly proclaimed that he would go to prison "with a clear conscience" and vowed to overturn his sweeping corruption conviction.

On his journey this morning, Ryan was accompanied by a half-dozen people, who appeared to be mainly family members. They brought a blue cooler with them.

The 73-year-old Republican has battled to remain free since his conviction 18 months ago as his lawyers filed a series of so-far-unsuccessful appeals.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ryan07_webnov08,1,225464.story

I wish we could say the same about DC.

please stop giving the man credit for covering his own ass. if this fool had been investigated and prosecuted vigorously, using rico, as he should have been, he would have been charged with the deaths of the willis children. they burned to death in the family mininvan in front of their parents eyes. george ryan sold his office and the willis family was destroyed. the moratorium was an act of the worst kind of cowardice.
please get it straight. there is not a decent or noble particle in george ryan's obese, corpulent, evil body. k?

:rant:

:shrug:

george's crime was basically turning the illinois secretary of states office into a campaign cash machine by selling commercial drivers licenses. if you are competent, you don't pay for your license. you test for it. so, an incompetent driver, who didn't even speak english bought his license. since he had no idea what his responsibilities actually were, he failed to maintain his vehicle in a safe fashion. a chunk of metal fell off his truck while driving on the dan ryan expressway (huge, busy road). it punctured the gas tank of the minivan of the willis family. a preacher, his wife and their 6 kids. the parents got out, but could not rescue their kids. they had to stand there and watch their kids fry.
some people think it is a stretch, but he sold his office, an office of public safety, to line his own, and his parties, already deep pockets.
his opponent in his last election tried to make it an issue. he made a commercial about it, flaming van and all. he had the support of the willis' but somehow george spun it that he was using the family tragedy, and the issue died. we all know how that works NOW.

I wasn't aware of that side to the story. Thanks.

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and what part of blood on his own hands, open to murder charges do you not get?
besides which, considering the number of death row inmates exonerated in illinois, further executions were unlikely.

from http://www.illinoisfamily.org/davesblog/sectionlist.asp?s=&month=9&year=2006


9/14/2006

Corruption has consequences; Ryan receives light penalty while the Willis family pays the balance

It seems to me that George Ryan has gotten away with murder -- ok, maybe manslaughter. The corruption in the office of the Illinois Secretary of State helped create the situation that lead to the death of six innocent children. Ryan was in charge of that office. The following letter was written by Scott Willis, father of the six who perished, to the judge who only sentenced Ryan to 6.5 years for his crimes:
Gov. George Ryan is a father and a husband. He seems to have a close, loving family. My wife Janet and I are aware of his years of public service for the State of Illinois. Because of this, it makes the issues of this case so difficult.

First, six young children from Illinois are killed in a fiery explosion in Wisconsin caused by a mud-flap assembly off an Illinois truck driven by an Illinois Commercial Drivers Licensed driver. These deaths would strongly necessitate an investigation by the Illinois Department of the Secretary of State, overseer of public safety on the roads. Besides discovering why the accident happened and who might have caused it, the investigation could have provided insight how to prevent similar future tragedies. When attempts to investigate were made, they were ignored, then suppressed.

Eventually evidence was uncovered pointing toward buying fundraising tickets for Secretary of State Ryan in exchange for CDL licenses. The driver had received his license illegally and was unqualified to drive a truck on the road. Warnings from other truck drivers about the piece of metal dangling went unheeded. The driver could not understand English. Thus, six children were innocent victims resulting from a political scheme to raise campaign money. Now a decision had to be made. Either allow the truth to come out giving understanding and justice for the children's deaths, or cover it up to protect the scheme and the one who benefited from the money.

What was required was a person of integrity and compassion to champion justice for the six children. The secretary of state, George Ryan, should have been the one to take that responsibility. Because it was his campaign that benefited, it would have been the mark of a compassionate and honest man to admit the truth. But under his watch, the investigation was suppressed to protect him, even to the closing down of the inspector general's office so no one could look further.

Our family's unanswered questions compelled us to look to other options to bring to light the facts surrounding the accident and its follow-up. Joseph Power pursued the investigation and uncovered the facts, and, it should be noted, took great abuse publicly from Mr. Ryan for doing so.

Secondly, Gov. Ryan must have understood as a father what the loss of six young, innocent children meant to Janet and me, yet no personal contact or written contact concerning the accident was ever made. Instead the investigation was terminated and suppressed, and our efforts to investigate were criticized.

Because he was the secretary of state and because of the massive publicity following the accident, he cannot claim ignorance. Thus he bears the ultimate responsibility in the suppression of the investigation.

How could this happen? How could a man, a father, a public servant allow this? What was done was a crime, according to the rule of this court. But the question remains as to the motivation. correctly answered this: "It was politics." Thus, decisions concerning life and death were not decided on principle but on politics.

Janet and I are ordinary people. Not powerful, not forceful. Our children brought great joy to us. Benjamin, Joseph, Samuel, Hank, Elizabeth and Peter were like anybody else's kids: playful, happy, mopey, energetic. The boys loved reading and sports. Elizabeth was her mom's shadow and her doll's mom. We love them. We miss them. We do not despair. We live with a God-promised hope in Jesus Christ.

Almost 12 years have passed since Nov. 8, 1994. The heartache remains but has softened. Janet and I have prayed to not have a bitter or revengeful spirit. These feelings have only occasionally flared up but have not consumed or dominated our thoughts and are not the motive for this letter.

Our thoughts are not on punishment. That is for the court to decide. The real tragedy is that no reconciliation has yet been attained between George Ryan and Janet and me. My wife and I have a strong desire to forgive Gov. Ryan but it must be on an honest basis: sorrow and admission. Even a 6-year-old boy knows when he's done wrong he needs to be truly sorry, and admit it. Then forgiveness and mercy can be graciously offered. That would be our joy.

Respectfully submitted,

Scott Willis.

As been said so often, corruption has consequences; in this case they were severe. It can happen again. We are not going to go away. This is a battle about right and wrong, good and evil. It's a battle worth fighting. Evil tries to win by wearing us down. We deeply appreciate the tenacity of all those who have worked on the side of truth. They have done so with respect and honor. We are grateful to this court for its patience in hearing this case.

Scott and Janet Willis

no one will ever, in my presence, be allowed to praise george ryan for covering his own ass. i will bring the willis children into every single conversation where his name is mentioned.
i am opposed to the death penalty. especially here in illinois, it has been a nightmare of injustice. but a man with blood on his hands does not show courage to stop it. he shows cowardice of the worst sort.

thank you for the link.

Who knows what else he's done.

even this- a rico case could have implicated him in these deaths. a stretch, perhaps. but not impossible. lord knows he deserves more than his piddly 6 and a half years.

because he knew he was going to live at the same place the people on death row are....

:applause: :yourock:

George Ryan's name should not be mentioned without bring up the deaths of the Willis children.

It sickened me to read that he is still claiming he's innocent of any wrong doing, and that he's going off to prison with a "clear conscience." Oh brother, what a load of crap. :eyes:

And isn't it just ducky that Jim Thompson rode with him to the big house. :puke:

probably reminding each other where all the loot is buried, going over the cut, making plans. old time scum bags. and bush enablers. let us not forget that ryan was the illinois chair of the bush campaign.

People have very short memories, don't they?

You might think it is the farms downstate you are smelling but it is actually the stench of our corrupt politicos.

If you can survive Illinois politics you can survive anywhere. We average an indicted Governor every ten years or so and it probably still isn't enough.



Laura

"On the day their children burned to death, Duane and Janet Willis had voted to re-elect George Ryan as the Illinois secretary of state. The same George Ryan, now a disgraced former governor and convicted felon, who is to report Wednesday to a federal prison camp -- it ought to have an Illinois wing -- in Oxford, Wis., north of Madison."

snip

"In short, Ryan diabolically put the enrichment of himself and everyone around him ahead of state government's crucial responsibilities. U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald put it crisply when he issued Ryan's indictment four years ago: When Ryan was in office, "the State of Illinois was for sale."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-1107edit1nov07,1,7411245.story

They treat him like royalty. Here is a convicted criminal who is finally going to jail and the press is all "oh poor George".

nobody showing tape of the willis family, are they? hence my post above. i can't stand it.

Fuck 'em!