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7 years after GOP betrayal, Jim Ryan knows the score
The last time Jim Ryan ran for governor of Illinois, he offered voters a clear choice between a man who never took a dime in public life and Rod Blagojevich.And though many would like to forget it, they chose Blagojevich. "The infrastructure of the Illinois Republican Party has never really been for me," Ryan said over breakfast the other day as we talked about that 2002 campaign and his current run in the crowded GOP primary for governor. "I'm not a deal-maker. And senior Republicans knew my reputation. They knew I wouldn't be flexible." Seven years ago, Ryan, then Illinois attorney general, had the misfortune of having the same last name as George Ryan, the crooked Republican governor who later was indicted and sent to prison in the license-for-bribes scandal. They're not related, but George Ryan's disgrace splashed over the GOP. To make things worse, senior Republican bosses were secretly backing the Democrat Blagojevich and stabbing Ryan in the back -- a clear illustration of the Illinois Combine at work. Springfield Republican boss and state asphalt king William Cellini, now awaiting his own Blagojevich-related corruption trial, held a 2002 fundraiser for Blagojevich, according to federal testimony. Blagojevich's campaign later credited that fundraiser to state Sen. James A. DeLeo (D-How You Doin?), a longtime Cellini and Blago pal. Early in Blagojevich's first term, another Cellini buddy, Robert Kjellander (pronounced $hell-ANDER), received $809,000 in a finder's fee on a state bond deal. According to federal court documents, Kjellander kicked part of the cash back to associates of influence peddler Tony Rezko. Kjellander, a former treasurer of the Republican National Committee, has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. But when it came down to either an inflexible Republican Ryan or a flexible Democrat Blagojevich, boss Republicans wanted the gumby with the hair. "Kjellander ended up getting that $800,000 bond deal about five minutes after the election was over," Ryan said. Why are you running this time? "I'm running because I'm disgusted in what I see," said Ryan, a distinguished fellow at Illinois Benedictine University's Center of Civic Leadership and Public Service. "I teach young people and they're disgusted, and that has to change. "It's very hard to convince young people today about public service. They see it as politics, as a blood sport; they see the corruption, they think politics is dirty work. There's an entire generation of young people who'll be turned off to public service if we don't change that around. I'm in this for two reasons: to help my state and the people of my state." Posted by: Fred 2009-11-30 |
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