Illinoians....the Ryan verdict is in...

[Jon99]

No not a stretch. If not for the corruption in the Sec of State's office, then the truck driver would not have been able to get the license. The Willis family was devestated because of what he allowed to happen.

He was NOT the one that took the bribe to allow that driver license to be issued.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

look, Ryan may be the nicest landscaping customer you ever have in the course of your business. But his trail of political corruption is immense and the records indicate that the liscense selling scandel WAS directly connected to the George Ryan campaign.

Before you start rolling your eyes around, please remember that as of yesterday, the guy is a convicted felon. I think you'll perhaps have to excuse a few people of thinking a little less of him.

Ryan's office knew in '93 of license selling
Key staff member may have attempted to conceal evidence

Published October 31, 1999

Five years before federal prosecutors secured indictments in Illinois' driver's license-selling scandal, aides to then-Secretary of State George Ryan had evidence that employees were selling licenses illegally in response to pressure to raise large amounts of campaign cash for Ryan.

A 1993 investigation headed by the Lake County state's attorney and Ryan's handpicked inspector general uncovered information that scores of driver's licenses were sold in exchange for campaign contributions at the Libertyville licensing facility and perhaps as many as three other offices in northeastern Illinois, investigative reports and other records show.

The federal investigation was launched after six children in one family died in a fiery accident on a Wisconsin expressway involving a trucker who may have bought his drivers license.

Prosecutors traced $170,000 in payoff money to the Citizens for Ryan campaign fund.

Ryan denied that he had known about the payoff money in his fund. Initially, he said there long had been a ``culture of corruption'' in the secretary of state's office and he praised federal prosecutors for rooting it out.

 

[troy mcclure]

George Ryan may not have directly issued the license to the driver who's truck caused the accident that claimed the lives of several children. However, as Sec of State, he oversaw the climate of corruption and greed that directly led to the licenses for bribes scandal. There was overwhelming evidence of corruption in his administration while serving (or rather scamming) the people of IL. It was interesting to learn that one year he withdrew only $78 from his bank accounts -- all year. I'd be amazed to learn how one could live on only $78 for an entire year.

As said before, the man is now a convicted felon and rightly so. Instead of pleading that his long years of service should count for something (implying he should have skated on these charges instead of being convicted), he should have apologized for everything he caused. I hope he enjoys this time behind bars.

 

[Jon99]

Yes, he has been doing crooked things his entire political career, everyone knew that when he was elected, but now people feel the need to blast him. If people didn't like the way he did business, they shouldn't have voted for him. But to blame him for the death of those children because he was SoS is completely ignorant, using that logic why not accuse Edgar of the same thing????

 

[troy mcclure]

Quite simple: Jim Edgar was Governor and George Ryan was SoS. It is the SoS who oversees the Motor Vehicle Bureau and as such is directly responsible for issuing driver's licenses in IL. Take a look at your license -- the SoS's name is at the top of the license, not the governor's. The buck stopped (all too often) with Ryan. And too many people didn't know about his corrupt practices until the licenses for bribes scandal broke. Ryan was really good at covering up his corruption.

 

[Kitka]

Certainly a stretch!

Not really, when you know the facts of the case that poster is speaking of.

 

[Jon99]

Which one of the counts in which he was found guilty mentions the selling of licenses?? People are adding 1 and 1 and getting 3..

I think one must have been living in a cave if they didn't know Ryan was the master of backroom politics.. And the DA and FBI would start doing in depth checks of everyone in Springfield, we might have a hard time having a quorum.. Do you really think Mayor Daley would survive such an investigation??? Would he father have???

 

[Jon99]

Not really, when you know the facts of the case that poster is speaking of.

Ok, what is the connection that you speak of????

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Which one of the counts in which he was found guilty mentions the selling of licenses?? People are adding 1 and 1 and getting 3

ok, if that is the way you want it.

Your "really nice guy" was technically only found guilty of 22 counts of:

racketeering (giving state contracts for bribes and personal payments to himself and his family, mail fraud, giving false statements to the FBI including those concerning the liscense scandel and exactly how much of that money ended up in his re-election account, Income Tax Fraud and knowingly filing false Tax returns for 4 years.

Yep, he is one heck of a man. How dare people think badly of him.

 

[Jon99]

Like I said, the people of this state voted for him when anyone that wasn't living in a cave knew he was a back room dealer...Accuse him of being on the take or whatever, but blaming him for the death of those children is absurd..

 

[Tinks]

WLS radio this morning was discussing how about a year ago Ryan made a statement that if the jury found him guilty he would accept that verdict and serve his term in prison and apologize....blah,blah

Then they replayed his lawyer talking about appeal.

I hope he finds a nice jail cell. He can be a nice guy Jon99, but he still broke the law and deserves what he gets. Too bad we can't get the other corrupt politicians in this state.

 

[troy mcclure]

Of course George would say what he said a year ago because his attorney's and cronies were telling him he would slide through the trial with at most a minor slap on the wrist. Of course then no one was expecting a jury of ordinary citizens to stand up to the system and say enough is enough and the corruption stops now.

I don't know Ryan personally and he may be a nice person. But now he is a nice person who is also a convicted felon. He may not be directly responsible for the deaths of the Willis children, but he was responsible for attempting to cover-up the licenses for bribes scandal and other investigations into the SoS office. For that and everything else he was convicted for, he deserves to go to prison.