FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 17, 2006

CONTACT:
Jay Stewart, Executive Director (312) 427-8330
Dan Sprehe, Chief Investigator

Reaction to the verdict in U.S. v. George Ryan

Statement from Better Government Association
by BGA Chief Investigator Dan Sprehe

The guilty verdicts in the George Ryan trial tentatively close the book on Mr. Ryan’s long history of misusing his power in government and violating the public trust. Yet, the judgment shines a bright light on the never-ending story of corruption to which many continue to turn a blind eye.

Nearly 25 years ago, the Better Government Association (BGA) uncovered then Illinois House Speaker Ryan’s blocking of an investigation into a nursing home with serious safety and health violations. Shortly after, Ryan’s Kankakee pharmacy regained the $60,000 per year of business it had previously lost to the owner of that nursing home facility.

Since that time, the BGA continued to raise questions and concerns about the way that George Ryan did business. BGA investigations pointed out unethical conduct by Ryan in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 2001, mostly focusing on his coercive fundraising from employees and those he regulated. Further, we sued Ryan twice in 1999 for corruption in his office. All the while, virtually all of Illinois’ elected leaders turned a blind eye. They can do so no longer.

The verdicts show public officials that despite years of obfuscation, lies, and denials, they can and will be held accountable for violating the public trust.

The question now is whether we leave that job in the hands of the United States Attorney and a handful of jurors, or whether we as citizens and taxpayers will accept the challenge of cleaning up the system.

It is up to the public, not simply law enforcement, to address corruption by no longer accepting “politics as usual” as the excuse for felonies committed with our tax dollars. A participatory government allows citizens to correct the flaws within our institutions. Unfortunately, we find again and again that the system only receives attention when it completely breaks down and another person must go to jail.

In the meanwhile, contributions are made, contracts are let, and cronies get rich, while the burden is shouldered by Illinois citizens.

Larger Problem

Corruption as “the way things get done” is a fallacy too often thrown around by political apologists. They use such a phrase to reassure the public that it’s being provided with a service, when in actuality, the public has been robbed of its right to honest service by those it elects.

The numerous guilty pleas in the Hired Truck Scandal do not show a system that gave contracts to those who worked the hardest and provided the best service, while incidentally being connected to someone at the top. Rather, those at the top benefited from cash bribes and political contributions, and returned lucrative do-nothing contracts to those companies filling their pockets.

In our state capitol, the recent plea agreement by Michael Tristano, the aide to former Illinois House Minority Leader Lee Daniels, did not reflect the case of a “system that worked,” merely criminalized by overzealous prosecutors. Rather, Tristano admitted to devising and participating in “a scheme to defraud the State of Illinois and its citizens of money, property and the intangible right to the honest services” incumbent upon him and others in the office to provide.

Responsibility must be taken

George Ryan refuses, even on the day he was convicted, to accept even the slightest shred of responsibility for the years of corruption in his administrations. However, the continued denial may prove fitting, and come to serve a much larger purpose.

Other public servants might now have a clear picture of a legacy’s end they don’t want for themselves: Stepping before a throng of reporters, and refusing to acknowledge a system of corruption highlighted by countless convictions, detailed with an Everest-like mountain of evidence, and recognized so easily by 12 ordinary citizens in a jury room.

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