Saturday, April 22, 2006

Ex-con and ex-Governor Dan Walker talks about George Ryan

Cross-posted on Marathon Pundit.

Earlier this week, as you all know, former Ill. Governor George Ryan was found guilty on various corruption charges.

The Illinois Republican's lawyers are certainly going to appeal, the turmoil within the Ryan jury gives them a little more to meat to chew on than in most cases. As things stand now, Ryan is going to prison. He's likely headed to a so-called "Club Fed" prison, but it will be no vacation. One of Ryan's predecessors, Democrat Dan Walker, spent time in prison as well.

As for what Ryan can expect, Walker knows best. He served his sentence at the Duluth minimum security prison.

From AP:

In prison, Walker scrubbed toilets and picked up cigarette butts, using a wooden rod that had the words "Governor's Stick" burnt into it.

He was also threatened by fellow inmates and forced to stand outside in the cold while waiting for meals, but Walker said the most humiliating part of the ordeal was being subjected to random searches where prison guards would bark out "strip, squat and spread."

Walker, 83, served 17 months in a minimum security prison after pleading guilty in 1987 to bank fraud, perjury and other charges related to his ownership of a suburban Chicago bank. None of the crimes were linked to his term as governor, which he served from 1973 to 1977.

"Having been there -- I repeat, having been there -- I do not wish jail for any person," Walker told the Chicago Sun-Times in a phone interview from his home near San Diego. "I really feel sorry for George and his family. ... I wish no man to have that and no man to have that disgrace that I had."

Not "Club Fed." Walker was a a smug SOB, a lousy governor, but he suffered a lot for his sins.

The full version will be in the Sunday Chicago Sun-Times.

6 comments:

Cal Skinner 11:27 PM  

Today's trivia:

George Ryan was elected state representative the same day Dan Walker was elected governor.

Anonymous,  1:52 PM  

George Ryan will not have a bad time in prison, and I am totally serious about that. He will be the most respected man in the entire prison for what he did with the death penalty and he will be treated with dignity and be given all the help he needs from fellow inmates.

Bill Baar 3:58 PM  

It will break him. Just as it broke Kerner.

Anonymous,  8:08 AM  

George Ryan is arrogant and has an abrasive personality, he did nothing for minorities, he will not be taken care of by the inmates except for maybe some of the other crooks he helped (he got Tony Accardo special plates for example and lots of jobs for people with connections in jails)
he might of bought some help on the inside from drug dealers and hispanic gang members from HDO, or from La Cosa Nostra types through some of his jobs and favors. He did nothing for Blacks. The death penalty thing is much ado about nothing. George Ryan is an abrasive and arrogant jerk, he could have a much harder time than Walker except for the fact of criminal connections and favors to protect him on the inside.

Extreme Wisdom 10:45 AM  

An interesting tidbit in the blog post was that Walker wasn't convicted of anything related to his political career.

This got me thinking...

Leaving aside the fact that Walker was busted and convicted for a moment, one question I have for people who may have more information than I do is "Was he targeted based upon his time in politics?"

Consider how easy it has become to indict and/or convict an increasingly wider set of people (of any political stripe).

Look at the complexity of the Fed Tax Code, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, FCC, and FEC rules, etc etc. Combine all that with the catch-all felony of "lying to a federal officer."

How many people in any high-paying corporate or government job can honestly say they haven't broken or bent any rule out there? (remember that ignorance of the law isn't a defense)

While it is easy to argue that "the system" can't go after everybody for everything, it should be pretty obvious that "the system" can probably target virtually anyone who actively (and effectively) attacks it.

In Walker's case, wasn't he a bit of a maverick? I was 13 when he was elected, so I didn't really follow everything he did.

Enquiring minds want to know

Bill Baar 2:04 PM  

You have a good point EW... longer you stick arount the more vulnerable you become maybe.

You get into the perks thought it's always a bad sign. Watch the person who makes a big stink for their own parking spot. That's usually the first step towards disaster.

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