Allegations overshadow achievements

Even to an electorate as jaded to political graft as the citizens of
Illinois, the breadth and number of allegations against former Gov. George
Ryan in Wednesday’s indictment are staggering.
If U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s 22-count indictment is to be believed
- and so far Fitzgerald has an extremely good track record in these kinds of
things - Ryan and his cronies saw no state contract too big or too small to
squeeze for personal gain.
Whether it was a multimillion-dollar computer contract, a lucrative real
estate lease deal or a few thousand dollars in free vacation lodging in
Jamaica, there was always something to be gained with the right
behind-the-scenes manipulation.
Faced with a similarly voluminous list of corruption charges last spring,
former Ryan chief of staff Scott Fawell attempted a defense based on the
"that’s the way it’s always been done" theory. He now is in a federal prison
in South Dakota. As the Operation Safe Road indictments and convictions
piled up, Ryan has had the benefit of being able to deny knowledge of the
actions of his underlings.
So egregious are the offenses listed in the latest indictment and so
specific are those actions to Ryan himself that both those defenses seem
unavailable to the former governor.
We won’t be surprised if some Ryan loyalists try to minimize the indictments
by pointing out how effective Ryan was as a leader.
Actually, we’ve heard it all before. During the recent unveiling of his
portrait in the Statehouse, several state politicians uttered kind words
about the now-humiliated former governor. They noted that his word could be
trusted - unless, apparently, you were an FBI agent. They said he was prompt
to return phone calls. And, of course, Ryan was a great back-slapper and
knew how to work the legislators on the floor of the House and Senate to get
the votes he needed.
We admit he did back some important initiatives. Illinois FIRST helped
rebuild the state’s infrastructure - though it came with the downside of
Ryan’s style as well: huge side dishes of political pork. He helped lead the
battle to improve Illinois’ death penalty system. And though many in his own
Republican Party strongly oppose it, Ryan was a champion for the human
rights legislation that would prohibit housing, lending and other
discrimination against people based solely on their sexual orientation.
Yes, he knew how to make a deal. Yes, he was on the right side of a lot of
issues. And while he was never too fond about yakking on the phone with us,
we trust he was good about returning phone calls to his colleagues.
But you know what? The same can be said about a lot of public servants who
would never think about bilking the state, or helping their friends bilk the
state, out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Plenty of public servants
keep their word with their colleagues and never allow their offices to
become so corrupt that the lives of Illinois motorists are jeopardized.
We urge anyone who chooses to minimize what Ryan is accused of doing, anyone
who wants to utter the tired phrase, "That’s just how it is in Illinois," to
remember the six children who died in their minivan in part because an
unqualified truck driver was able to get his commercial driver’s license
through bribery.
Nothing can minimize that. No contortion of logic can offer a legitimate
defense of what Ryan is accused of doing.