Gov. George Ryan – Man of Conscience

“Death penalty experts estimate that roughly one in eight men awaiting death have been wrongfully convicted through false confessions that had been coerced or dubiously reported by the police; mistaken eyewitness identifications; murderers who portrayed innocent people as accomplices or jailhouse informants who became witnesses in exchange for the kinds of favors that clearly tempted lies.


From Ryan’s speech:

“If you really want to know what's outrageous and unconscionable, outrageous and unconscionable, 17 exonerated death row inmates is nothing short of a catastrophic failure. . . .

This is a blanket commutation. I didn't believe I would do it myself. I realize it will draw ridicule, scorn and anger from many who oppose this decision. They'll say that I am usurping the decisions of judges and juries and state legislators. But as I have said, the people of our state have vested in me to act in the interest of justice. Even if the exercise of my power becomes my burden, I'll bear it. Because our Constitution compels it. I sought this office, and even in my final days of holding it I can't shrink from the obligations to justice and fairness that it demands.

…I can tell you this: I'm going to sleep well tonight knowing I made the right decision.”


It’s wonderful to see a conservative Republican acting on conscience.”

“Yeah, what are the odds?

Actually it he's following the "right to Life"-"Pro-life" Conservative dogma, so it's not unexpected.”

“A decision worthy of applause.”

“Yeah, Ryan is a sweet heart, I wonder if he is realted to the Clintons....

Feds indict former aides to Gov. Ryan
Tribune staff reports

April 2, 2002, 5:02 PM CST

Two of Gov. George Ryan’s former top aides, as well as the governor’s political campaign committee, were indicted today on federal charges they illegally used state workers for political purposes.

It was the biggest indictment to come out of the federal government’s four-year Operation Safe Road investigation, which began as a probe into the selling of driver’s license for bribes when Ryan was secretary of state. The governor has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

"The indictment alleges that Citizens for Ryan ... for a number of years broke the law with considerable vigor," U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald said during a news conference at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago. “Public funds were stolen and plundered for political benefit."

“The message sent today is that tax dollars are not free money ... to be used for campaign purposes or for the personal benefit of those who work (for a campaign),” Fitzgerald said.

Scott Fawell, Ryan’s chief of staff when he was secretary of state and manager of Ryan’s successful 1998 campaign for governor, was charged with racketeering, mail fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice in a 10-count indictment. Fawell currently is chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which runs Navy Pier and McCormick Place in Chicago.

Also charged was Richard Juliano, a top campaign aide and later a staff member to the governor before becoming the U.S. Transportation Department’s liaison to the White House. Juliano resigned last week from the Department of Transportation, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Fitzgerald said Juliano is cooperating with the government’s investigation.

The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of more than $1 million in campaign funds allegedly raised illegally by Citizens for Ryan during the scheme, which ran from 1992 to October 1999, according to prosecutors. The money ended up being used in Ryan’s campaigns for secretary of state and governor, as well as in the 1996 presidential primary and some state legislative races, Fitzgerald said.

Juliano and Fawell will be arraigned sometime in the future, the prosecutor said.

The indictment charges the two men were part of a racketeering enterprise that involved Ryan’s campaign committee and the Illinois secretary of state’s office. It says the racketeering included 20 acts of mail fraud, bribery and obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors said the operation’s primary objectives were to illegally use secretary of state employees for campaign activities, to perform official acts as a way of helping the campaign and to conceal certain campaign activities from public exposure and possible prosecution.

Fawell and others caused the creation of false documents in the secretary of state’s office to justify pay raises and promotions for employees in return for the campaign work they performed, according to the indictment. Documents were destroyed, and perjury was committed, to cover up the activities, Fitzgerald said.

“More disturbingly, documents were destroyed at the Homewood (secretary of state) facility,” he said.

Prosecutors previously have alleged that during Ryan’s tenure as secretary of state, managers at driver’s licensing facilities were pressured into raising tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. That fueled a massive bribery scheme in which managers took payoffs in return for issuing driver’s licenses to hundreds of unqualified motorists, authorities have said.

About $170,000 in bribes ended up in Ryan’s campaign coffers, prosecutors have said.

Fitzgerald today said the indictment does not accuse Fawell or Juliano of being personally involved in issuing driver’s licenses in exchange for bribes. But the prosecutor added that Fawell is charged with cutting off an investigation into the alleged practice.

“Fawell took steps to end the investigation and to terminate the investigators,” and gave false testimony in a subsequent grand jury probe, Fitzgerald said.

Operation Safe Road has resulted in the convictions of 42 people to date. Nearly half were former secretary of state’s employees.

Among those convicted was Dean Bauer, a former top Ryan aide and close friend who admitted to obstructing justice to try to protect Ryan from political embarrassment; and Larry Hall, a longtime friend of Fawell’s, who pleaded guilty to a bid-rigging and kickback scheme.

Fawell entered politics immediately after graduating from college, going to work in 1981 as administrator of Milton Township in DuPage County. He joined the re-election campaign of then-U.S. Sen. Charles Percy (R-Ill.) in 1984 and later served in the secretary of state’s office and in Ryan’s office of lieutenant governor.”

“I live in Illinois.

I think the press has conflated two issues--the injustice of the criminal justice system in this state and George Ryan's potential charges of misconduct.

I think he was 'dead-on' with his analysis of the system HERE.

As for the suggestion of his potential charges of misconduct while in a different office, (ie: not the gov.) I need more information.

But I think the two ISSUES need to be separated.

Mark”