A View From the Sears Tower's Ledge
Illinois Is Getting Fatter
Mayor Blames Violent Holiday Weekend On Booze, Heat
Kuma's Pats Itself On Back With Block Party
Chicagoan Involved In Mount Rushmore Ruckus
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin sent a letter to President Bush today asking for Bush to commute former governor George Ryan's sentence. Ryan was convicted in 2006 of fraud, racketeering, and other corruption charges. So far, he has served a little over a year of a 6 and-a-half year sentence. Durbin has expressed concern for the health of the former governor and his wife. While prosecutors have come out against any pardon or commutation, Ryan has allegedly expressed remorse over his actions. In the letter to Bush, Durbin says:
George Ryan is 74 years old. He has lost his state pension benefits and a commutation will not restore them. He would emerge from prison facing economic uncertainty at an advanced stage of his life.Read the entire letter here [PDF].For those who would argue that a commutation makes light of his crimes, it is clear that he has already paid a significant price and will continue to do so as long as he lives. Justice is a sword that should be tempered with compassion. Further imprisonment will not, in my opinion, serve the ends of justice.
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
Ryan has expressed little remorse over his actions.Even if he did express remorse, he should serve the entire sentence.
This is just such bullshit.
Justice is a sword to be tampered with compassion? Is he kidding? Where did he come up with this tripe?
I don't care how old this guy is, or if he is facing health concerns.
He arrogantly broke the law and he should do a lot more than a year of this sentence. He's shown remorse? Oh really? I wonder how much remorse he'd be showing if he never got caught?
If justice is a sword to be tampered with compassion, then every old guy in prison should get the effects of this compassionate sword. Young guys too.
God this makes my blood boil...there are kids sitting in prison for years and years whose only offense was having marijuana. Young men on death row whose never killed anyone, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time...the list of people unfairly imprisoned is 10 miles long and DURBIN is out politicking for this guy's release....uggh! Durbin just lost all of my respect.
Durbin to the state of Illinois: Corruption doesn't matter all that much, not really, especially when the convict has a sick wife, (or whatever bullshit sentimentality is at play here).
Screw you Durbin. The old creep is where he belongs.
Is it too late to take back my vote for Durbin?
How much compassion did Durbin show to the family of 6 that was killed in the crash directly related to Ryan's license for bribes scandal?
Ryan has already been the beneficiary of loads of compassion. He got over TEN MILLION DOLLARS of legal fees pro bono for his defense.
That's enough compassion in my opinion. Oh boo hoo...he won't have his pension when he's released, but if he were anybody else he would also not have any savings because he would have spent it all on lawyers!
This is a fine argument for his release.
It's a better one for the hundreds, if not thousands of elderly inmates (who are all facing "economic uncertainty" upon release) who have expressed remorse and served long sentence. Many of those prisoners are serving mandatory sentences for non-violent crimes involving drugs.
Ah, but they weren't rich and connected. So let them rot in jail till they die.
Dick is really living up to his name.
Let Mr. Durbin know how you feel. Click here to send him a little love note.
Let me help get you started:
Mr. Durbin ~
Let me congratulate you on your recent victory and that of the Democratic party. As a loyal, voting Democrat I would like to feel that I played some small role in your victory and therefore was disheartened to see that you have so quickly turned your back on me and your other constituents by asking for the pardon of former Governor George Ryan.
Mr. Ryan was an unrepentantly corrupt politician, who was found guilty of fraud and racketeering among other offenses. His corruption led to the death of 6 people, the ruin of countless other lives and the expense of unknown taxpayer dollars. While he may not be beneath our sympathy, he is certainly beneath our empathy and deserves to pay his debt to society as any other criminal does. His age and health are of no concern to me, nor should they be to you -- if it were relevant to the case, the sentencing judge would have considered it at that time.
The politics of Illinois will never be free of corruption if crimes such as Governor Ryan's continue to be treated as minor, victimless offenses. For the sake of the families of the 6 dead victims, the residents of Illinois and your own political future, send a message to Governor Ryan and any other corrupt public servants out there that Illinois will NOT stand for corruption any longer.
Mr. Durbin, DO NOT continue in your plea for leniency!
Your constituent,
YOUR NAME HERE
Feel free to add your own little individual flair, but feel just as free to use any or all of my suggested letter.
Oops, the link doesn't seem to be working.
This is the link you want.
Durbin should hold a press conference near the graves of the 6 children that burned to death due to Ryan's corruption.
Thanks for the link, clark9201
(and for doing all the work!!)
So Durbin makes an occasional mistake. Yeah, I did write to him, telling him I disagree with him on this issue. I just wasn't harsh about it.
Durbin is asking for a commutation not a pardon.
Justice is a sword to be tampered with compassion
Ingrid, I love your typo. Was it intentional? If not, it is appropriate, as this certainly qualifies as tampering with justice.
bunnybear,
...yeah...that was a typo, but I guess it really is appropriate as you pointed out :)
Good cyber activism Clark!
p.s
I voted for the Green Candidate
@Spook:
Kathy Cummings spoke at my friends congregation, she's wonderful.
The thing is, I don't think we can say Ryan is actually guilty of anything, because he was given a farce of a trial. If anyone but a rich, powerful, white guy had been tried with the same level of mismanagement as Ryan, the people on this board would be screaming at the injustice ... as well they should. That's the tricky part of blind justice, though, in that it requires we treat all people fairly, no matter how powerful they may or may not be.
I applaud Durbin's efforts and the hard, unpopular choice he's made. He has earned my respect.
Absolutely pathetic.
With all these impending lay-offs with the state and city, how is Durbin going to justify wasting all of those tax dollars on Ryan's trial?
Has anyone contacted the Willis family?