Nul, another bad politician
 

Nul, must be another Democrat. oops.


CHICAGO - Former Gov. George Ryan, who drew international praise when he commuted the sentences of everyone on Illinois' death row, was convicted of racketeering and fraud Monday in a corruption scandal that ended his political career in 2003.


Ryan, 72, sat stone-faced as the verdict was read and afterward vowed to appeal.

"I believe this decision today is not in accordance with the kind of public service that I provided to the people of Illinois over 40 years, and needless to say I am disappointed in the outcome," the former governor said.

Ryan faces up to 20 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy charge alone, the most serious against him in the 22-count indictment. The jury found him guilty of all counts, including fraud, obstructing the Internal Revenue Service and lying to the FBI.

Co-defendant Larry Warner, a Chicago businessman and Ryan friend, was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, attempted extortion, illegally structuring bank withdrawals and money laundering.

Neither man took the stand during their six-month trial.

Prosecutors accused Ryan of steering big-money state contracts and leases, including a $25 million IBM computer deal, to his friends and political insiders while he was secretary of state in the 1990s and then as governor starting in 1999.

In return for that help, Ryan was rewarded with annual winter vacations in Jamaica, stays in Cancun and Palm Springs and gifts ranging from a golf bag to $145,000 in loans to his brother's business, prosecutors said.

Warner, 67, raked in $3 million from Ryan-era deals, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald — who during the trial was also leading the federal investigation into the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity.

The case against Ryan and Warner was the state's biggest political corruption trial in decades, and it had it share of troubles.

In late March, months of testimony nearly went down the drain when the judge discovered two jurors had failed to mention past arrests on their court questionnaires. Rather than declare a mistrial, U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer decided to replace the two jurors with alternates and, over the objection of Ryan's attorneys, ordered the jury to start deliberations over.

The new jury had deliberated for 10 days when it announced its verdict Monday.

Afterward, Ryan attorney Dan K. Webb, a former federal prosecutor, zeroed in on the judge's decision to replace the jurors.

"We're going to begin working immediately on post-trial motions to try to get this verdict overturned," Webb said.

During the trial, Webb had pounded on a theme that no one ever testified to seeing Ryan take a payoff. His powerful law firm, Winston & Strawn, represented Ryan for free — at an estimated cost of $10 million.

Ryan's sentencing was set for Aug. 4.

The corruption scandal that led to Ryan's downfall began over a decade ago with a much smaller focus: a federal investigation into a fiery van crash in Wisconsin that killed six children.

The deadly 1994 crash exposed a scheme inside the Illinois secretary of state's office in which unqualified truck drivers obtained licenses for bribes. Ryan was secretary of state at the time, and prosecutors would later argue that thousands of dollars in payoff money from the licenses went into a Ryan campaign fund.

The probe expanded over the next eight years into a wide-ranging corruption investigation that eventually reached Ryan in the governor's office.

Seventy-nine former state officials, lobbyists, truck drivers and others have been since charged. Before Ryan's trial, 74 had been convicted, including Ryan's longtime top aide, Scott Fawell.

Fawell was a star witness against Ryan and the author of a 1994 memo that prosecutor Patrick Collins called "the Magna Carta" of the racketeering scheme.

The memo urged Ryan, then-secretary of state, to replace inspector general Dean Bauer with someone who "won't ask about FR tickets" — political fundraising tickets. Bauer himself pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and acknowledged the government could prove he had spent seven years covering up scandals to spare Ryan personal and political embarrassment

Re: Nul, another bad politician
 

RINO. You know a man has integrity issues when he draws "international praise."

Sorry, but Ryan was a liberal who called himself a Republican. He increased spending and social programs and cleared death row. He is a crook through and through.

Our current governor makes Ryan look like a Boy Scout. Let's see if the Trib goes after Blagoyevich with the same vigor when (if) some of his dealings are exposed?

Re: Nul, another bad politician
 

You wanna know how Republicans feel about the left in Republican's clothes?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1616485/posts

Not to mention in the back-pocket of the anti-2nd Amendment lobby...He was no conservative by any stretch. In fact I would argue that he was corrupt because he was a liberal.

okay, so if he runs as a Republican and beats the Democrat, then he really isn't a Republican because ??

Neo-con fantasy land. Kool-aide slurping fantasy land. Watch out, when it wears off, you're gonna crash hard.

I see this as a major difference between conservatives and liberals.

Ryan does something bad. No one defends him. Liberals call for his head. Conservatives call for his head.

Clinton does something bad. Liberals defend him: his crime wasn't that bad. Conservatives call for his head.

Ummm...his political philosophy. He was big-spending social-program-creating anti-deathrow anti-gun. What would you characterize those political views as?

switching political parties to get elected...looks like an opportunistist. Must be a Republican. ;)

BTW, Reagan switched, too, but I believe his switch was one born of conviction. I can respect that.

Lamar Alexander did exactly the same thing, IIRC. Zell Miller refused to switch parties, even though he knew where he really belonged.

Between George Ryan, Lamar Alexander, and Zell Miller, I would categorize two as crooks and one as the last true statesmen to serve in the Senate.

Zell is an opportunist, seeking the limelight. He got more mileage out of not switching parties, and he knew it.

uh, and wiretapping without warrants is okay then as most neocons still avidly support Bush.

The only major difference is he likes the team he belongs to, and hates the other team. Clinton's blow job and Sandy Berger's skivvies will forever be his rationale. Now, more importantly, is he Cubs fan or is he a White Sox fan? ;)

part Bush on big spending social program
anti death row is purely a logical conclusion to our faulty system
anti gun is principally a city versus country thing

And he's from Kankakee. There are no Republicans from Kankakee.

Take out the death row part, add a war on the other side of the globe to free opressed people, and you've just described George Bush.

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/04/18/news/111924.txt

I say, go get them no matter what they label themselves.