Again, Governor George Ryan - The Man I Know is a Very Good Man.

 I wrote this in 2008:

I first met George Ryan, in 1975 when I was a baby teacher/coach at Bishop McNamara in Kankakee - a Chicago 18th Ward Democrat in Republican Land. In Fact Mimi Shapiro asked me to run for City Clerk as a Democrat - I figured what the hell -good way to learn the town. George’s brother Tom was the Mayor. The GOP slated Gene Glenzinski for City Clerk and the Dad of one my wrestlers and a better man never pulled on socks.

The Race was a blast and we had frequent ‘debates’ and run-ins with the Machine. George Ryan was a lovely guy. One day while walking to work, up Brookmont from my apartment in White City near Washington Park. I saw guys replacing Democratic signs that had been knocked down. I asked one of the guys ‘What gives?’ He said, ‘ George said to get them back up. You guys are gonna get waxed anyway.’ Laughed my butt off.

The Democratic slate was slaughtered, in fact I got the most votes -novelty votes for the kid, I imagine.

George Ryan was present wherever anyone from Kankakee, especially his political opponents, were in a jam or suffering. I saw George Ryan at St. Mary's Hospital visiting dying relatives of people who hated him politically. George Ryan had time for everyone. He was the reason why the Kankakee GOP was so successful and it was because he genuinely cared for people. The only person nicer than George Ryan is his bride Lura Lynn. That woman was everywhere! 

I never once voted for George Ryan. Oh Hell, I'm a Party Democrat . . . I was anyway. I backed candidates who wouldn't give a penny to starving blind man . . .they would enact Programs for Hungry Blind and Indigent . . .once elected.

I have met George Ryan at many wakes and weddings, in Kankakee and Joliet. He is a very nice man. I’d buy the man a steak any day, at Ken’s in my neighborhood, or Krapil’s, or Franconello’s or some such homey place reminiscent of Kings Court and Town and Country in Kankakee, if he’d allow me. George Ryan did not seem to match Gibson’s or Tavern on Rush or the other news-ghoul & hustler eateries. These other fore mentioned places are where George Ryan’s people eat.

The type of people who go to Ken’s and other neighborhood dining spots are the people George Ryan connected to - not political allies, hangers-on or opportunists, but people like Ryan himself. I witnessed quite a few of George Ryan’s many acts of kindness to people who could never do any political boon for anyone - let alone George Ryan - too numerous to catalog. He treated Joe Blow from the docks at Tenney Sales on 5th Ave. in Kankakee like he was a Sam Zell with an ink wet contribution check.

Conversely, I have followed the words of many familiar voices in print that have universally called for a mighty punishment on George Ryan - most of the people writing those words seem like people that I can do without. John Kass and Tom Roeser are the only two valid voices of anti-Ryan sentiment in my opinion - there are others to be sure, mostly regular folks and I respect their feelings.

However, there are many more, mostly media creatures. who are stone hypocrites -DuPage GOP ‘almost weres and fatuous Polka Partners like Judy Topinka who could not get snug enough in George’s back pockets when he was flush with clout and now stomp on his crippled limbs.

It seemed to me that Ryan’s Judge and Federal Prosecutors were going to get George Ryan come Hell, Highwater, or the lady with the blindfold. and they did - the voices in print ( paper and electronic) - sock-puppets or anonymous back-shooters for the most part - howl in genuine agony that George Ryan has the same rights as other citizens. ‘The quicker he is in jail the happier I’ll be’ read one such post, or ‘Ryan can rot in Hell’. Must be a lovely people . . . to avoid.

All Carol Marin Needs to Know About "Fair"- Camera One, Carol!

Fair is fair. I don't think government prosecutors are being fair to Rod Blagojevich.. . .No surprise there.But it still doesn't feel fair.

In between there are a couple of hundred words or so that say not much.

C. Marin - See Marin on WTTW and NBC 5.

Carol Marin helped ruin the lives of Chris and Mary Fogarty. Once it seemed clear that George Ryan was going to be hammered by hack Judge Pallmeyer, Carol decided to mock Lura Lynn Ryan. Carol Marin worries about fair.

Fair enough! Tutorial time: Carol, Rod Blagojevich will not spend a day in jail. That might not be fair, but you will be cool with it. Actually, Carol Marin wouldn't know "fair" if it jumped up and bit her on the ass.

George Ryan Should Come Home!

George Ryan has served time in Federal Prisons -in Oxford, Wisconsin and Terra Haute, Indiana -because people wanted him to be guilty and Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was specifically tasked with putting George Ryan in Federal Prison.

It seems to me that that was his job description and mission statement - later nuanced into 'giving the citizens what they were told to want.'

The Media tried Ryan and Judge Pallmayer seemed to follow their script.

I like and admire George Ryan as a man and I love his wife Lura Lynn.

I never voted for George Ryan, as I tend to vote Democrat.

George Ryan served his time - much more than too many much more larcenous villains and sneaks. His Party was defeated by the wildly corrupt Blagojevich who made Illinois the National Poster Child of political corruption. George Ryan, as pointed out in his trial, never took a nickel. He was convicted of being an 'old time politician.'

Dollar for tax-wasted dollar give me that old time corruption, because the Reform Version represented by Blago and his troops is a Tsunami compared to a fart in a bathtub.

Governor Jim Thompson, for whom I never cast a vote, is a good friend to the Ryans and he is hammering at George Ryan's cell door, until a right-minded person swings it open. Godd for you Big Jim!

"Frankly, I think, there's nothing gained by requiring him to stay in jail," said Thompson. "He's been there for almost two years now. He's been punished. He's lost his office. He's lost all his means of support. He's not a completely well man. ... A merciful president would let him come home."

"President Obama knows Governor Ryan, worked with Governor Ryan when the president was in the General Assembly, and my hope is that this fall if we file a petition to ask the president to commute the sentence to time served, that we could get a favorable answer," said Thompson.

1998 - Illinois Governor
George Ryan (R) 51%
Glenn Poshard (D) 47.5%
Lawrence Redmond (Reform) 1.5%
1994 - Illinois Secretary of State
George Ryan (R) 61.5%
Patrick Quinn (D) 38.5%
1990 - Illinois Secretary of State
George Ryan (R) 53.5%
Jerry Cosentino (D) 46.5%