George Ryan

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For the former member of the Canadian House of Commons, see George Ryan (Canadian politician).

George Ryan
Image:George Ryan.jpg
41^st Governor of Illinois
Term of office: January 1999 – 2003
Lieutenant Governor:	Corinne Wood
Predecessor:	James Edgar
Successor:	Rod Blagojevich
Born:	February 24, 1934 Maquoketa, Iowa
Political party:	Republican
Profession:	Pharmacist & Businessman
Spouse:	Lura Lynn Ryan

George Homer Ryan (born February 24, 1934 in Maquoketa, Iowa) was the Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1999 until 2003. Although Ryan "raised the national debate on capital punishment" by issuing a moratorium on executions in 2000 [1], he was marked by corruption and racketeering charges that led to his retiring from politics in 2003, and to criminal convictions in 2006.

1 Early life
2 Accomplishments as Governor
3 Opposition to capital punishment
4 Scandals and corruption
5 Trial, conviction and sentence
6 Electoral history
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Early life

Ryan grew up in Kankakee County, Illinois. After serving in with the U.S. Army in Korea, he worked for his father's two drugstores.<ref name="Salon">The redemption of Gov. Ryan Salon magazine online, January 16, 2003, accessed September 6, 2006.</ref> He attended Ferris State College of Pharmacy (now Ferris State University) in Big Rapids, Michigan. Eventually, he built his father's pair of pharmacies into a successful family-run chain which was sold in 1990. <ref name="Salon">[2]</ref><ref name="SCP-bio">Biography at Stop Capital Punishment siteaccessed September 6, 2006.</ref>

Ryan married his high school sweetheart, Lura Lynn Ryan, and they have five daughters (including a set of triplets)<ref name="SCP-bio">Biography at Stop Capital Punishment siteaccessed September 6, 2006.</ref> — Joanne, Julie, Jeanette, Lynda, and Nancy<ref name="CST-Oct5-2005">Fawell: Ryan's family, friends got cash Chicago Sun-Times, October 7, 2005, accessed September 6, 2006.</ref><ref name="">Family Members on Payroll Chicago Tribune, January 19, 2006, accessed September 6, 2006</ref> — and one son, "Homer" (George Homer Ryan, Jr.)<ref name="">Cast of characters stars in drama made in Illinois Chicago Tribune, September 29, 2005, accessed September 6, 2006.</ref><ref name="CST">Ryan Guilty Chicago Sun-Times, April 17, 2006, accessed September 6, 2006.</ref><ref name="CST-Sneed">Michael Sneed's lunch with George Ryan Chicago Sun-Times, April 18, 2006, accessed September 6, 2006.</ref> George Ryan Sr.'s brother Thomas "Tom" Ryan has also been a significant political figure in Kankakee County.<ref name="Salon">[3]</ref> In addition, Tom's son-in-law, the husband of George Ryan's niece, is Kankakee County Clerk Bruce Clark.<ref name="CST2">Lobbyist's Ex-Girlfriend Tells of Ryan Junkets Chicago Sun-Times, January 10, 2006, accessed September 6, 2006.</ref>

George Ryan is a member of the Republican Party and became one of the most successful politicians in Illinois history, never losing an election while serving on the Kankakee County Board (1968-1973), in the Illinois House of Representatives (1973-1983), which included two terms as Minority Leader and one term as Speaker, and a record five terms in statewide office: two as Lt. Governor under Governor James R. Thompson (1983-1991), two as Secretary of State (1991-1999), and one as Governor (1999-2003). He was elected Governor in 1998, defeating his Democratic opponent, U.S. Representative Glenn Poshard, by a 51%–47% share of the vote. Ryan was considered a moderate Republican; his stance on gun control positioned Ryan to the political left of his Democratic opponent. Ryan also chose a female running mate (Lt. Governor Corrine Wood).

[edit] Accomplishments as Governor

One of Ryan's pet projects as governor was an extensive repair of the Illinois Highway System called "Illinois FIRST." FIRST was an acronym for "Fund for Infrastructure, Roads, Schools, and Transit." Signed into law in May 1999, the law created a $6.3 billion package for use in school and transportation projects. With various matching funds programs, Illinois FIRST provided $2.2 billion for schools, $4.1 billion for public transportation, another $4.1 billion for roads, and $1.6 billion for other projects.

He also improved Illinois's technology infrastructure, creating one of the first cabinet-level Offices of Technology in the country and bringing up Illinois's technology ranking in a national magazine from 48th out of the 50 states when he took office to 1st just two years later.

Ryan committed record funding to education, including 51% of all new state revenues during his time in office, in addition to the billions spent through Illinois FIRST that built and improved schools and education infrastructure.

[edit] Opposition to capital punishment

Ryan first gained national attention in the area of capital punishment when, as governor, he declared a moratorium on his state's death penalty in 2000. "We have now freed more people than we have put to death under our system — 13 people have been exonerated and 12 have been put to death. There is a flaw in the system, without question, and it needs to be studied." [4]. Ryan called for a commission to study the issue, while noting, "I still believe the death penalty is a proper response to heinous crimes, but I want to make sure ... that the person who is put to death is absolutely guilty."

The issue had garnered the attention of the public when a death row inmate, Anthony Porter, who had spent 15 years on death row and was within two days of being executed, was exonerated with the help of a group of student journalists at Northwestern University who had uncovered evidence that was used to prove his innocence. In 1999 Porter was released, charges were subsequently dropped, and another person, Alstory Simon, confessed and pleaded guilty to the crime Porter had been erroneously convicted of.

Ultimately, on January 11, 2003, just days before leaving office, Ryan commuted (to "life" terms) the sentences of everyone on or waiting to be sent to Illinois' Death Row — a total of 167 convicts — due to his belief that the death penalty could not be administered fairly. He also pardoned four inmates, Aaron Patterson, Madison Hobley and Leroy Orange (who were released), and Stanley Howard (who remained in prison due to a separate conviction). These were four of ten death row inmates known as the "Death Row 10," due to widely reported claims that the confessions that they had given in their respective cases had been coerced through police torture.

Ryan is not the first state governor to have granted blanket commutations to Death Row inmates during his final days in office. Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller also commuted the sentence of every Death Row inmate in that state as he left office after losing his 1970 bid for a third two-year term.

[edit] Scandals and corruption

Ryan's term was marked by a scandal involving the illegal sale of government licenses, contracts and leases by state employees during his prior service as Secretary of State; in the wake of numerous convictions of former aides, he chose not to run for reelection in 2002. In December 2003 he was indicted on 18 federal racketeering, fraud and conspiracy charges. His trial started in September 2005. The scandals are widely believed to have hurt Republicans' short- (and, perhaps long-) term chances for re-winning Illinois' governorship; state Attorney General Jim Ryan (no relation) lost to Rod Blagojevich in the 2002 election, ending 25 years of Republican governorships. All told, seventy-nine former state officials, lobbyists, truck drivers and others have been since charged in the investigation, and at least 76 have been convicted. [5] Associated Press, April 17, 2006.

The corruption scandal that led to Ryan's downfall began over a decade earlier as a federal investigation into a deadly crash in Wisconsin that killed six children. The investigation revealed a scheme inside Ryan's secretary of state's office in which unqualified truck drivers obtained licenses through bribes. (The truck driver who crashed into the van carrying the children had an apparently valid Illinois license, yet spoke only Spanish. In order to get a truck driver's license, one has to pass a written exam given only in English. So the investigators asked how this man got his license.) As the AP wrote: "The probe expanded over the next eight years into a wide-ranging corruption investigation that eventually reached Ryan in the governor's office." [6]

In addition, it was alleged that he gave illegal contracts to big campaign contributors such as Lawrence Warner, who testified against him at trial. In addition, Ryan was found to have accepted illegal gifts such as staying at a campaign donor's Montego Bay, Jamaica vacation home. Ryan also put some family members on the campaign's "ghost payroll," to be paid for work without providing services.

Ryan's daughters and a son-in-law, Michael Fairman, were implicated by sworn testimony from Ryan's chief of staff, Scott Fawell, during the trial. In addition, Fawell testified that Ryan's mother's housekeeper was illegally paid from campaign funds, and that Ryan's adopted sister, Nancy Ferguson, also received campaign funds without performing campaign work.<ref name="CST-Oct5-2005">Fawell: Ryan's family, friends got cash Chicago Sun-Times, October 7, 2005, accessed September 6, 2006.</ref><ref name="CT-Oct7-2005">Election Funds Went to Relatives Chicago Tribune, October 7, 2005, accessed September 6, 2006. </ref> Stipulations agreed upon by the defense and prosecution and submitted to the court included admissions that all five of Ryan's daughters also received the illegal payments. In addition to Lynda Fairman, who received funds herself beyond those her husband Michael testified he had received, the stipulations also included admissions from the rest of Ryan's daughters — Jeanette Schneider, Joanne Barrow, Julie Koehl and Nancy Coghlan — that they did little or no work in return for payments from their father's campaign funds.<ref name="">Family Members on Payroll Chicago Tribune, January 19, 2006, accessed September 6, 2006</ref><ref name="CT-Oct7-2005">Election Funds Went to Relatives Chicago Tribune, October 7, 2005, accessed September 6, 2006.</ref><ref name="CST-Jan19-2006">Ryan daughter tells of no-work job Chicago Sun-Times, January 19, 2006, accessed online September 6, 2006.</ref>

[edit] Trial, conviction and sentence

In late 2005, George Ryan (along with lobbyist friend and contributor Larry Warner) went to trial for racketeering and bribery. Ryan was represented on a pro bono basis by the law firm Winston & Strawn, led by nationally-known attorney Dan K. Webb. Winston & Strawn's chairman is former four-time Illinois governor, James R. "Big Jim" Thompson.

On April 17, 2006, the jury found Ryan and Warner guilty on all counts — a total of 18 federal public corruption convictions for Ryan alone.<ref name="ST_guilty>Guilty on all charges Chicago Sun Times, April 18, 2006.</ref> However, when ruling on post-trial motions, the judge dismissed two counts of the convictions against Ryan for failure of proof.<ref name="dismiss">Ryan judge explains why she dismissed 2 charges Chicago Tribune, September 8, 2006, accessed same date.</ref> Ryan said that he would appeal the verdict.

Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor, noted: "Mr. Ryan steered contracts worth millions of dollars to friends and took payments and vacations in return. When he was a sitting governor, he lied to the F.B.I. about this conduct and then he went out and did it again." He charged that one of the most egregious aspects of the corruption was Ryan's action after learning that bribes were being paid for licenses. Instead of ending the practice he tried to end the investigation that had uncovered it, Fitzgerald said, calling the moment "a low-water mark for public service." <ref name="NYT-Apr17-2006">Ex-Governor of Illinois Is Convicted on All Charges New York Times, April 17, 2006, accessed September 6, 2006.</ref>

In a more humorous vein, in his monthly news summary on April 30, 2006, columnist Bill Flick of the Bloomington, Illinois newspaper The Pantagraph remarked, "Instead of selling license plates, [Ryan] gets to make them."

Two of the original jurors were dismissed after it was revealed they had lied on their juror questionnaires. They falsely claimed having never faced criminal charges, causing the jury to be impaneled with alternate jurors who were previously dismissed by the judge. Because of this — regardless of whether Ryan is guilty of the charges — his appeal may lead to having the verdict set aside, resulting in a new trial or a plea bargain.

Ryan becomes the third Illinois governor in recent history to be convicted of white-collar crimes, following Dan Walker and Otto Kerner. Ryan's defense has been provided pro bono by a law firm managed by yet another Illinois governor, James R. Thompson of the law firm Winston & Strawn. The defense cost the firm $10 million through mid-November of 2005 <ref name="CT-Feb3-2006">A Christmas card defense Chicago Tribune, February 3, 2006, accessed September 6, 2006. </ref> Estimates of the cost to the firm as of September, 2006, ranged as high as $20 million. George Ryan served as Jim Thompson's lieutenant governor from 1983 to 1991.

On September 6, 2006, he was sentenced to serve six and a half years in prison.<ref name="CST-Sept6-2006">Ryan gets 6½ years in prison Chicago Sun-Times, September 6, 2006, accessed same date.</ref> Ryan was ordered to go to prison on January 4, 2007, but the appellate court granted an appeal bond, allowing him to remain free pending the outcome of the appeal.<ref name="CST-Nov20-2006">Federal appeals court says Ryan can stay free on bail Chicago Sun-Times, November 29, 2006, accessed same date.</ref>

[edit] Electoral history

1998 Race for Governor
- George Ryan (R), 51%
- Glenn Poshard (D), 47%

[edit] References

[edit] External links

CNN.com: "'Blanket commutation' empties Illinois death row", January 11, 2003.
The Friends of George Ryan Fund
Biography from site supporting his nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize
Chicago Sun-Times archive on The George Ryan Trial

Preceded by: Dave O'Neal	Lieutenant Governor of Illinois 1983–1991	Succeeded by: Bob Kustra
Preceded by: Jim Edgar	Illinois Secretary of State 1991–1999	Succeeded by: Jesse White
Preceded by: Jim Edgar	Governor of Illinois 1999–2003	Succeeded by: Rod Blagojevich