George Ryan Pardon/Commutation

Illinois needs more accountability for corruption, not less. Blago Chavez is probably already drafting his pardon petition and learning to fake an illness.

--

Glock21 Op/Ed

 Sheesh Anonymous 3:17PM, how ageist! So, an old politician breaks the law and we should let him go because he is old, sick, and broken? Well what about the folks who ended up broken by his giving licenses for bribes. How about this, we just reimplement the Death Penalty and George Ryan is the person to test if the lethal injection is still lethal or if the electric chair can still crank out a few volts. Would that be the Death Penalty or Euthanasia. Depending on your perspective, the moral dilemma could be of the right vs. the left. The Left would cry about the Death Penalty and the Right could cry about Euthanasia.

Execution is the only method to solve putting Ryan out of our and his own personal misery. Ship him to Texas!

There are plenty of youth in asia.

"Why is it so easy to be judgmental and harsh, and why is it so hard to be compassionate about someone who has made a very bad mistake and who has already paid a far greater price than most could endure?"

His mistakes led to the deaths of others. Greater price? Bah. He got off easy on that one due to the indirect nature of the situation.  It's not being judgmental and harsh to agree with the results of a fair trial in which he was given due process before his liberty was stripped of him.  It has nothing to do with the cost. It has to do with the rule of law and ensuring that elected officials get the message that corruption and violating the public trust to abuse their position will not be tolerated.

Tunnel-vision compassion doesn't sound like a virtue in this case.

--

Glock21 Op/Ed

I was using tunnel-vision as a descriptor for the compassion you seem to be demanding.  It looks at Ryan as if your compassionate requests happen in a vacuum where it doesn't adversely affect others by doing so. You seem to think his punishment is unduly harsh because of his age, but such arguments were made during his sentencing and he has not been denied due process with the decision.  He is being punished when he is old for committing crimes later in his life.  That's not the system being cruel, that's a criminal taking risks at an inconvenient time for him to face jail time.  It isn't compassion to thwart the rule of law because of the bad timing of his criminal enterprises.  It's not fair to his victims, both direct and indirect, nor does it help reinforce the legal risks involved in corruption by other elected officials, who generally seem to have the strange idea that the risks of corruption are low enough to be worth it... just as Ryan did.

There's more at stake than Ryan's lousy situation that he created for himself to consider when applying your compassion.

--

Glock21 Op/Ed

Isnt there parole in the federal system?  I think that there is still good time credit if your sentence is less than X  but I am not sure.  Personally Iwould like to throw George out only when its Blago's turn to go in....  jeff skilling got a sentence that will be keeping him in jail until he is 90... should he get out when he is 70+ because he is old??????

Anon... you're comparing apples and oranges and doing so on irrelevant levels of the scenario.  Ryan's situation was taken into consideration at sentencing just as your example's would be.  Given all of the possible variables that may be additionally considered they may not have the same result even for the same charge and age/health issues.

--

Glock21: Killer of Old People, Destroyer of Chritsmas, Scrooge of the Immortal Souls of Innocent Puppies!

Durbin's right.  Let Ryan out---no pension.  Let him pay for his own upkeep instead of the State of Illinois.

I think the idea is to give Ryan a pardon so they can give themselves cover when they give Blago a break and yank Fitzgerald.

Quid Pro Quo you watch, Fitz, will "want" to be reassigned to a better position after Obama asks him quietly to do so and the media will start talking about how people didn't care when people talked about Ryan being pardoned. Maybe it won't work now that everyone is against Ryan’s pardon, don’t forget Obama came from the same Chicago machine as Rezko and Blago.

I'm to short, but it may fit. I just can't see Fitz, going much longer.

Anon, would you please come out and admit you're shilling for Ryan, and possibly Blago, too?

George Ryan's corruption led to the horrific deaths of the six Willis children.  These children, ages just a few weeks to teenager, burned to death on an expressway in Wisconsin because a semi-truck driver who had purchased his license in Illinois from a Ryan underling failed to pull over and fix his broken truck.

Admittedly, I'm passionate about this topic because I got to see my little brother spend five weeks in the burn unit almost 25 years ago.  He still bears physical and emotional scars from his experience.

But, hey, if you're willing to allow me to push George Ryan and Dean Bauer (who's already finished his sentence, thank you very much!) and a few other of these schmucks in a gas-fueled fire so that they can feel the torment those innocent children felt before the children died, then I'll agree to a commutation.

Ryan got almost $800,000 from his state pension and a full life.  Only three of Scott and Janet Willis' kids lived past the age of 16.

Who deserves our compassion?

And who still refuses to apologize for the anguish he caused others besides his wife (who's now trying to live with the reality that they aren't going to have $12,000/month in pension income from the State of Illinois)?

The one who hopes...

P.S.  Glock:  love your new signature!!