Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 6, 2006 18:27:26 GMT -5
Some have reason to thank Ryan
Former Gov. George Ryan's 1999 capital-works program, Illinois First, had
$12 billion for transportation projects but no money for a new bridge over
the Rock River. So state Sen. Denny Jacobs pleaded his case to Ryan in
Springfield.
"(Rep.) Joel Brunsvold and I went to George and said 'This is our
number-one priority,'" Jacobs, an East Moline Democrat who left office
last year, recalled Tuesday. "He said 'All right, you got your bridge.'"
Other times, Ryan shot down his requests, Jacobs said. But the Kankakee
Republican always gave Jacobs a fair hearing, Jacobs said.
"Democrat or Republican, he wanted to make sure everyone got their fair
share, because that made the process work," Jacobs said. "I think he was a
good governor."
Federal prosecutors would disagree with that assessment and are expected
to ask for a stiff prison term when Ryan is sentenced today on
racketeering and fraud charges. But some former colleagues, employees and
observers say there was more to Ryan's long public service career than the
allegations of bribe-taking that dominated his 7-month corruption trial.
The 72-year-old Ryan was convicted of pocketing cash, gifts and other
benefits from insiders who enjoyed state contracts and leases, primarily
during his 2 terms as secretary of state in the 1990s.
"I just think that he's been portrayed as many things - the poster boy for
corruption, and that's not the case," said Ryan friend Joseph Hannon of
Chicago, who sat through much of the testimony. "George was almost
unrecognizable to people who knew him."
Hannon, director of the state's trade office during Ryan's tenure as
governor from 1999 to 2003, said his former boss should be remembered in
part for his 2 trips to Cuba. Ryan took medical supplies to the island
nation and promoted Illinois' agriculture industry, but made it clear to
Cuban leader Fidel Castro he did not approve of the dictator's policies,
Hannon said.
"He let Fidel know that very strongly, eyeball to eyeball," Hannon said.
Cynthia Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political
Reform, has used Ryan as a symbol of state government's ethical abuses.
But she said Ryan deserves a nod for taking some bold actions, such as the
moratorium he imposed in 2000 on executions in the wake of flawed capital
cases and his later commutation of the sentences of death-row inmates.
"Governor Ryan, just like anyone else, isn't a one-dimensional character,"
Canary said. "I do think he accomplished a lot, and I still get a sense he
doesn't know what hit him. ... I think Governor Ryan, like most elected
officials, didn't go into office saying 'I'm going to rob everybody
blind.'
He came from the old school. He made some very poor judgments as to how to
use state resources."
Here's what others say about some of Ryan's accomplishments on the eve of
his sentencing:
Ryan's controversial stand on the death penalty inspired a national debate
about wrongful convictions in capital cases and was an "extraordinary act
of leadership," said Larry Golden, co-director of the Downstate Illinois
Innocence Project at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Ryan's
commutation of death sentences in 2003 - switching them to life in prison
- angered prosecutors and the families of murder victims, some of whom
suggested Ryan was trying to deflect attention from the federal
investigation that eventually led to his indictment.
Golden said he believes Ryan, a former death penalty supporter, changed
his mind about the issue after studying abuses that occurred in death
penalty cases.
"My own personal assessment is he was acting out of a sincerity and moral
conviction," he said.
Rick Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois, credits Ryan with
appointing openly gay people to state boards and commissions even though
it angered conservatives in his own party. He said Ryan supported
gay-rights legislation but was honest to advocates about its slim chances
of passage. A bill later became law under Ryan's Democratic successor, Rod
Blagojevich.
"He treated the gay community and viewed the gay community as part of the
fabric of Illinois," Garcia said of Ryan. "Given the fact that he was a
Republican from Kankakee, that was especially appreciated by the gay
community."
Ryan's Illinois First program was financed partly by hiking the fees that
motorists pay to renew their license plates. The 5-year initiative was
loaded with pork, critics said. But it also put delayed road projects on
the front burner, said Kirk Brown, who served as Ryan's director of
transportation.
"He cared about making sure we had a good highway system in Illinois,"
Brown said.
Former Springfield Mayor Karen Hasara said Ryan was good to the capital
city by helping promote the local airport to state employees and by
advancing construction of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and
Museum, which opened in 2005.
"There are lots of people in Springfield who hate to see things like this
happen to anyone who has really been good to Springfield, but that, of
course, doesn't mean people condone some of the practices" for which Ryan
was convicted, Hasara said.
(source: Springfield State Journal Register)
Former Gov. George Ryan's 1999 capital-works program, Illinois First, had
$12 billion for transportation projects but no money for a new bridge over
the Rock River. So state Sen. Denny Jacobs pleaded his case to Ryan in
Springfield.
"(Rep.) Joel Brunsvold and I went to George and said 'This is our
number-one priority,'" Jacobs, an East Moline Democrat who left office
last year, recalled Tuesday. "He said 'All right, you got your bridge.'"
Other times, Ryan shot down his requests, Jacobs said. But the Kankakee
Republican always gave Jacobs a fair hearing, Jacobs said.
"Democrat or Republican, he wanted to make sure everyone got their fair
share, because that made the process work," Jacobs said. "I think he was a
good governor."
Federal prosecutors would disagree with that assessment and are expected
to ask for a stiff prison term when Ryan is sentenced today on
racketeering and fraud charges. But some former colleagues, employees and
observers say there was more to Ryan's long public service career than the
allegations of bribe-taking that dominated his 7-month corruption trial.
The 72-year-old Ryan was convicted of pocketing cash, gifts and other
benefits from insiders who enjoyed state contracts and leases, primarily
during his 2 terms as secretary of state in the 1990s.
"I just think that he's been portrayed as many things - the poster boy for
corruption, and that's not the case," said Ryan friend Joseph Hannon of
Chicago, who sat through much of the testimony. "George was almost
unrecognizable to people who knew him."
Hannon, director of the state's trade office during Ryan's tenure as
governor from 1999 to 2003, said his former boss should be remembered in
part for his 2 trips to Cuba. Ryan took medical supplies to the island
nation and promoted Illinois' agriculture industry, but made it clear to
Cuban leader Fidel Castro he did not approve of the dictator's policies,
Hannon said.
"He let Fidel know that very strongly, eyeball to eyeball," Hannon said.
Cynthia Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political
Reform, has used Ryan as a symbol of state government's ethical abuses.
But she said Ryan deserves a nod for taking some bold actions, such as the
moratorium he imposed in 2000 on executions in the wake of flawed capital
cases and his later commutation of the sentences of death-row inmates.
"Governor Ryan, just like anyone else, isn't a one-dimensional character,"
Canary said. "I do think he accomplished a lot, and I still get a sense he
doesn't know what hit him. ... I think Governor Ryan, like most elected
officials, didn't go into office saying 'I'm going to rob everybody
blind.'
He came from the old school. He made some very poor judgments as to how to
use state resources."
Here's what others say about some of Ryan's accomplishments on the eve of
his sentencing:
Ryan's controversial stand on the death penalty inspired a national debate
about wrongful convictions in capital cases and was an "extraordinary act
of leadership," said Larry Golden, co-director of the Downstate Illinois
Innocence Project at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Ryan's
commutation of death sentences in 2003 - switching them to life in prison
- angered prosecutors and the families of murder victims, some of whom
suggested Ryan was trying to deflect attention from the federal
investigation that eventually led to his indictment.
Golden said he believes Ryan, a former death penalty supporter, changed
his mind about the issue after studying abuses that occurred in death
penalty cases.
"My own personal assessment is he was acting out of a sincerity and moral
conviction," he said.
Rick Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois, credits Ryan with
appointing openly gay people to state boards and commissions even though
it angered conservatives in his own party. He said Ryan supported
gay-rights legislation but was honest to advocates about its slim chances
of passage. A bill later became law under Ryan's Democratic successor, Rod
Blagojevich.
"He treated the gay community and viewed the gay community as part of the
fabric of Illinois," Garcia said of Ryan. "Given the fact that he was a
Republican from Kankakee, that was especially appreciated by the gay
community."
Ryan's Illinois First program was financed partly by hiking the fees that
motorists pay to renew their license plates. The 5-year initiative was
loaded with pork, critics said. But it also put delayed road projects on
the front burner, said Kirk Brown, who served as Ryan's director of
transportation.
"He cared about making sure we had a good highway system in Illinois,"
Brown said.
Former Springfield Mayor Karen Hasara said Ryan was good to the capital
city by helping promote the local airport to state employees and by
advancing construction of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and
Museum, which opened in 2005.
"There are lots of people in Springfield who hate to see things like this
happen to anyone who has really been good to Springfield, but that, of
course, doesn't mean people condone some of the practices" for which Ryan
was convicted, Hasara said.
(source: Springfield State Journal Register)