Ryan Trial Rings In The New Year

By Amy Hart in News on Jan 4, 2006 8:22PM

The George Ryan trial resumed yesterday after a holiday break, and the prosecution continued to try to convince the jury that Ryan is a money loving sellout who used the Secretary of State and governor’s office to line his pockets with wads of cash.

Yesterday former state prosecutor and Patrick Quinn testified that when Cook County State's Attorney Jack O'Malley offered suggestions of how Ryan could clean up corruption in the secretary of state’s office in light of exchanging licenses for bribes, Ryan responded with, “F--- you, Jack. These are my guys.”

It was obviously not the response Quinn was expecting:

"I would assume ... that Mr. Ryan would welcome any suggestions and, if nothing else, say: 'That sounds good. We will look into that,' " Quinn said. "That's what I would assume an elected official would say upon being presented with an idea about how to fight corruption -- to at least pay lip service to the idea that he'll cooperate."

When Ryan recoiled, O'Malley said Ryan might want to have a response ready in case reporters asked how he planned to stop bribes for licenses in the future, Quinn said.

"Jack, you're going to go out there and look like a hero for catching those guys and I'll look like a hero for helping you, and that's all anybody's going to ask," Ryan replied, according to Quinn.

Oh, George, we don’t know how to break it to you, but you are so not our hero.

Outside of the jury’s presence, Quinn, now a judge, denigrated Ryan’s decision to commute Death Row sentences to life in prison, calling it “illegal and immoral,” but said that did not lead to him testifying against Ryan.

In other Ryan drama, today former state investigator Russell Sonneveld testified former Inspector General Dean Bauer discouraged Sonneveld from looking too deeply into Ryan’s corruption because, “our job is to protect George Ryan and not embarrass him." Umm, shouldn't your job be to protect the citizens of Illinois? Bauer was sent to prison after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice for covering up corruption in Ryan’s office.

Chicagoist doesn't know if Ryan will be found guilty in a court of law, but the witnesses for the prosecution are definitely making him look like a creep. Where were they years ago when all of this was going down?