For the first time since 2007, former Gov. George Ryan’s voice can be heard from beyond prison walls, after the city released an audio interview of the former governor late Monday.
The unprecedented March 2010 deposition, given from a Terre Haute, Ind. federal prison, captures a frustrated, forgetful, but often impassioned Ryan as he fields questions about one of the inmates he pardoned while in office.
- “I mean, I pardoned guys that I knew were guilty or at least thought they were, but I didn’t want any innocent people killed,” Ryan says at one point. “But I don’t have to tell you why I did it, what I thought about it any more than I have to tell you why I thought why he should have it or shouldn’t have it. I just used my judgment like I did on a lot of things I did in the time I spent in government. That’s called leadership.”
Leadership? No it isn't. It's a callous disregard for the victims and it makes everything he said in the past about it being a careful, deliberate process nothing but a bald faced lie. This was a cynical attempt to pollute the jury pool because he knew an investigation was ongoing and he might be facing charges. By his blanket pardons and commutations (and hopes for Nobel Prize consideration), he re-victimized thousands of people while betting that even a single vote might hand a federal jury.
Rot in hell George. Dying behind bars would be too good for you.
Rot in hell George. Dying behind bars would be too good for you.
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