Pols, Public Weigh In On Ryan

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Dec 6, 2008 5:30PM

While everyone is getting themselves in a tizzy over this Obama Birth Certificate issue, one of the major local political stories continues to be Sen. Durbin's (pictured right) letter to President Bush asking for a commutation of former Governor George Ryan's sentence. While Gov. Blagojevich has already come out in favor of Durbin's request (no surprise as he will probably be facing a similar fate to Ryan's very soon), earlier this week, U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk (Rep.) sent Pres. Bush a letter disputing Durbin's request and State Attorney General Lisa Madigan also said she was opposed to a commuting of Ryan's sentence.

Over at Division Street, Steve Rhodes has a short list of some other state politicians that have taken a stance on the matter: Jesse Jackson, Jr. (Dem), Judy Biggert (Rep), and Debbie Halvorson (incoming Dem) have all opposed Durbin's request. While that's all well and good, what does the public have to say about the matter? Rhodes also points us to a Rasmussen telephone poll on the issue that shows two-thirds of those polled oppose Durbin's stance of getting Ryan's sentence commuted. So far, the White House has been mum on the issue and President-Elect Obama refuses to comment out of respect to the current President.

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast