Apr 18, 2006 7:00 pm US/Central
Guilty Verdict Could Cloud George Ryan's Legacy
Many Feel History Will Be The Judge
by Sylvia Gomez
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The guilty verdict in the George Ryan trial could forever cloud the legacy of the former governor with decades of public service quickly forgotten.
Or, as CBS 2's Sylvia Gomez reports, his tough anti-death penalty stance could prevail.
"I think history will be the judge," Rob Warden said.
From his downtown office, dyed-in-the-wool death penalty abolitionist Rob Warden firmly stands alongside George Ryan. He charges Ryan will be remembered for commuting the doomed sentences of 167 men on death row, freeing four of them.
"George Ryan will be remembered for the stand he took on the death penalty, the stand he took on justice, ironically, rather than the justice that was visited upon him," Warden said.
Look at Ulysses S. Grant. He was hailed for winning the Civil War. Long forgotten is the corruption and alcoholism.
John Peter Altgeld, who was governor of Illinois in 1893, left office in disgrace, but is now praised for pardoning three Haymarket Riot suspects.
At the end of the day, Warden believes history will be kind.
"I think at the end of the day, he's going to be remembered as a convicted felon and a pretty remorseless one at that," said consultant Dan Proft.
Equally passionate is Proft. A conservative Republican loyalist, he claims Ryan's misdeeds and the federal investigation that brought him down also tanked the Republican Party.
Calling the former pharmacist from Kankakee arrogant, Proft boldly argues the death penalty moratorium will be an asterisk in an otherwise corrupt career. Ryan's legacy is the decimated family van in which six children were killed in 1994.
"There's a human toll, human cost to the culture of corruption that Gov. George Ryan allowed to pervade his administration," Proft said. "You had six kids who died on a Wisconsin highway because of Licenses for Bribes.
Proft goes on to say that part of Ryan's legacy may be the disgust of the voters, that people will see Illinois is ethically bankrupt and that will keep them from bothering to go to the polls.
Both men have strong opinions, although both agree history will indeed have the final word.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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