Hall of Fame boots Ryno
ArchPundit
Steve Chapman takes on the greatest bi-partisan outrage in Illinois currently, Ryno being fumbled by the Hall of Fame.
January 2003
Is Ryan a hero?
No. Ryan is a crook who did the right thing in this case.
Talk Left had this to say:
Governor George Ryan is a courageous hero. Saving the life of an innocent man is far more profound an act of justice than any act of bribery or political misconduct in office can be considered an act of injustice. We don’t care what happened with taxes and driver’s licenses in Illinois. We care about saving the lives of these innocent and wrongfully convicted men.
But what about when that political misconduct is an attack on the integrity of the system itself? Ryan wasn’t just corrupt, he has tried to subvert the legal system. To applaud him as a hero for attempting to fix the legal system while he is systematically abusing it to protect himself is strange to say the least.
Ryan could end the investigation now by coming clean on what happened and what he knew. He refuses to and refuses to accept any responsibility for the scandal. He took action today and should get credit for it. There is nothing heroic in the action though because there is no risk to him. Where he could take on risk to him, he has systematically avoided taking any responsibility. By refusing to obey the law, and using his office for personal political gain, at least nine people lost their lives. When he is on the line, he is not nearly as willing to take responsibility.
The level of cynicism it requires to treat him as a great hero is unhealthy for democracy. To pretend that a man who subverted the normal workings of democracy for personal gain and attempted to subvert the legal system’s investigation has not done great damage to the people of the State of Illinois is misguided.
How to create defections
Via The Political Wire:
In the 1990s we saw the defection of many a conservative Democrats to the Republicans as the South finished realligning. There are a few left, but they will probably survive until retirement and then be replaced by Republicans.
The second part of that process started with Jim Jeffords. Slowly liberal/moderate Northeastern or Midwest Republicans will begin to change party affiliations or when they retire their seats will go Democratic. The challenge for any party is to slow those defections so they occur after they have little impact. A really bad way to stem that sort of thing is to deny moderates important chairmanships. Chris Shays seems like an unlikely defector, but this isn’t a good strategy for the Republicans because it tells other moderates that if they stick to their guns, they won’t get to be Chairs providing little incentive to stick it out.
At least if you are going to piss off the dissidents, do it like Clinton did to Shelby and have fun sticking a shiv in the guys back. Another example of this is Jim Saxton being denied the Chairmanship of House Resources.
Matt Hale’s living situation
Generally it is reported that Matt Hale lived at his father’s home. This is apparently in err, because he recently moved out and lived with an unidentified woman in East Peoria. It is true that until very recently he lived in his father’s home. Matt Hale is 31.
Does it strike anyone else as strange that a terrorist couldn’t move out on his own until he was 30 years old?
"Hey Dad, I’m plotting the second Holocaust in the bedroom, what’s for dinner?"
Mass Commutation Decision Made
Ryan just announced in his DePaul speech that tonight overnight letters will go to victims’ families and once those have been received, he will make his announcement on what that decision is tomorrow.
Rita sworn in as legislator, next as defendant
I’ve been sort of disappointed as of late. Usually, Illinois is a treasure trove of bipartisan corruption. As of late, the Republicans have been getting all of the print and while I’m a loyal Democrat, that just isn’t as fun. Robert Rita, who I thought I’d posted on before, has rectified this for today. Rita (D-Blue Island) has been indicted for beating his girlfriend.
This was known during the election. He is backed by Da Speaker (Madigan) and he knew about the incident. The Speaker refused to distance himself, reportedly because Rita could deliver a lot of votes in the Southwest burbs. The irony of this is Lisa Madigan ran on a platform strong on reducing domestic violence and rightfully criticized Birkett for some dubious deals in a domestic violence case in DuPage.
Democrats have long been stronger on domestic violence issues in the law, it is time to be stronger on it in the legislature. Da Speaker may not care about policy and ethics aren’t at the forefront of his mind. He does care about votes though and the Democrats in Illinois need to let him know how they feel about Robert Rita.
Bierma Story
For those who went to Nathan Bierma’s story, today the Chicago Tribune does report the outcome
Gary Dotson to be pardoned
Gary Dotson was the first wrongfully imprisoned individual to be cleared by DNA evidence. That was in 1989.
4 Pardons–all from the Burge torture era
One of the most horrific stories to come out of Chicago, really in the nation, in the early 1990s was that of Chicago Police Lt. John Burge. Burge worked out of the Austin district in Chicago. Austin has long been one of the most violent and poverty-stricken neighborhoods. It is based on the far west side of the city and borders the suburb of Oak Park. Anyone who has spent some time in Oak Park is familiar with Austin because a line of trees separates that neighborhood from Oak Park, a progressive, but wealthy suburb.
Austin is generally considered the front-line in the drug war and has paid a heavy price for it over the years. In 1993 Lt. Burge and several underlings were fired after the department determined he used excessive force. In this case, excessive force was a euphemism for systematic toture. Suffocation, Russian Roulette, electric shock and traditional beatings were some of the means of getting confessions under Burge. Ten people are on death row that went through Burge’s period, these four are probably the clearest cases.
Burge was acquitted in one specific case back in 1993, however, since a federal judge has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate dozens of claims of torture. In several cases, the evidence disappeared–or more likely never existed given a confession was extracted.
Tomorrow, Ryan will announce what he will do in relation to the larger population of death row inmates.