November 8, 2007

The papers continue to percolate with stories about the legacy of former Governor George Ryan one day after his incarceration for his crimes against the people of Illinois.

The Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn believes that former Governor Jim Thompson's efforts on behalf of Ryan have tarnished the legacy of the four-term governor:

Yes, Thompson was one of Ryan's lawyers, and lawyers should act and speak forcefully on behalf of their clients. There's no shame in that.

And yes, Thompson is a friend and former close professional and political associate of Ryan's, and friends should provide support in times of trouble and need. There's no shame in that, either.

But Thompson is not an ordinary lawyer, nor is he an ordinary friend.

He's an elder statesman. The dignity and respect of the office of governor of Illinois are both his burden and his advantage in life, no matter what positions he goes on to hold.

Thompson owed it to the office he once held to keep the sort of serene distance from Ryan's troubles that has been kept by ex-Gov. Jim Edgar, the fellow Republican who served in the eight years between Thompson and Ryan.

And Thompson owed it to his record as a corruption-buster -- a record that launched his wildly successful political career that, in turn, launched his wildly lucrative legal career -- not to come out so publicly for a politician accused and then convicted of just the sort of official misdeeds he once crusaded against.

"Jim Thompson is a gigantic figure in state history," said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association. "But this full-throated defense of George Ryan and his crimes is tattering his reputation around the edges."

Zorn has a point in that Thompson, like Ryan, was certainly not a change-agent in Illinois politics.  Like Ryan, he was a prolific deal-maker all to willing to play in the swampy morass of Illinois politics without demanding that the cesspool be cleaned out. 

The Daily Southtown expresses a cynical but accurate view of Illinois politics: 

We say: Given Illinois' sorry political history, we have little optimism that Ryan will be the last politician to walk through prison gates.

Ryan still maintains his innocence.

"I got screwed," he told a recent visitor to his home.

He's got it all wrong. It was he who screwed the people of Illinois, the people who entrusted him to be their secretary of state and later their governor. Rather than serve in those posts honorably, Ryan allowed corruption to run rampant with him as a willing participant. Documents and witnesses made that abundantly clear at his trial. And some of the state's top legal minds, who were working for free, couldn't pull enough legal tricks out of their hat to convince the government to cancel Ryan's reservation in Oxford.

As much as we'd like to believe that, and as much as we'd like to hope that Ryan is the last Illinois politician who will end up in prison, we can't be too optimistic given the current climate. We unfortunately don't think all politicians are ready to abandon those good ol' days.

Prosecutors, it appears, are equally suspicious. Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration has caught the eye of investigators, though the governor himself has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Fact is, Illinois has a long way to go before becoming a poster boy for good government.

A political ethics bill has been collecting dust in Springfield for months. The House unanimously approved it, but the Senate president refuses to call a vote on it. The governor isn't pressuring him to do so. Their excuse is that the bill isn't strong enough.

Their concern would overwhelm us if it weren't for things like the $70,000 pay raise the Senate president's wife got for her state job or the real estate commission the governor's wife received for handling the sale of the home of a man who later received $10 million in no-bid state business.

We'd like to think Ryan's entry into prison closes the book on bad government in Illinois. The cynic in us believes it's merely the transition from one sorry chapter to the next. This state is far too corrupt, and until voters demand more from their leaders - and stop accepting political corruption as a way of life - there are bound to be more George Ryans in the future - maintaining their innocence as the bars slam behind them.

Despite all the focus on Ryan's incarceration and the misdeeds that brought it about, the Illinois culture of corruption appears as strong as ever:

The Ryan case and other investigations - some still continuing - have spurred calls for reforms in Illinois.

Yet Illinois Senate President Emil Jones still refuses to call for a vote two major reform measures, House Bills 1 and 3, which overwhelmingly passed in the House and are co-sponsored by a vast majority of the Senate.

Jones said earlier that the reform measures - dealing with restrictions on campaign donations by state contractors, among other things - are not strong enough. But he hasn't offered any alternatives or even suggested how they could be made stronger.

Some may shrug that off as "politics as usual" in Illinois.

But Illinoisans are tired of "politics as usual," tired of seeing their governors violating the law and tired of the monetary waste and bad government resulting from "politics as usual."

Let the sound of the cell door slamming shut on the former governor wake up present-day politicians to the need to strengthen ethics rules and follow them, both in spirit and by the letter of the law.

If there is nothing to hide, then there should be no fear of reform.

Illinois has a rich history, as well as a more contemporaneous experience, with corrupt and arrogant politicians.  Irresponsible backroom deal-making, nepotism, graft, egotism, race-baiting and feather-bedding are part and parcel of political life in Illinois.  Someday, someway, it is my fondest hope and aspiration that these kings and courtiers of corruption will be shown the door.  Louisiana just elected a reformer as governor.  Hopefully Illinois isn't far behind.