There are many cynics out there who strongly believe that the primary reason George H. Ryan emptied out Illinois' death row was to construct a legacy for himself out of his disastrous four years as governor.The more cynical of the cynics believe that the Kankakee (Third Wave Dave's hometown) Republican's move was a shrewd maneuver to influence a potential jury pool--Ryan was indicted on various corruption charges after he left office--but he was under investigation while serving as governor. Or possibly, it was an attempt to make prison-life easier for him, according to that line of thinking.
As regular readers of Marathon Pundit know, George Ryan was found guilty by a federal jury for fraud and racketeering last spring. The 72 year-old is free on appeal, and the bizarre jury deliberations just might keep out of prison--for now.
Back to his legacy. With all the awkwardness of conducting a New Year's Eve countdown at 9:32 PM, on November 18, 2002, Governor Ryan led the "ceremonial opening" of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. The cornerstone from that day is pictured above.
The library didn't open to the public for another 23 months.
Looks like "legacy building" to me.
One more thing: Call me nuts, but if Ryan wins his appeal--one of the post-Saddam-execution paybacks from Oslo just might be an awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Ryan for his work against the death penalty.
Related posts: Julie Cellini and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum
Lincoln Bicentennial Commission playing with Lincoln Logs
Technorati tags: Politics Illinois Corruption Lincoln Springfield George Ryan Abraham Lincoln Republican Death Penalty
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