NPR hit the nail on the head when they stated if one looks at the current events and go backwards in time it appears to be a fall from grace; however, when examined as the events played out, it is nothing short of pure corruption and the ugliest form of greed and public manipulation. The facts and opinions speak volumes of why this country is in dire need of an attitude adjustment.

Probe Sparked by Tragedy

The investigation into corruption in Ryan's office began with a horrendous tragedy, while Ryan was still Illinois' secretary of state. On Election Day 1994, a piece of a tail-light assembly fell off a semi-trailer on a Milwaukee expressway and bounced beneath a minivan, rupturing its gas tank and exploding the van into flames. Six children from the Willis family of Chicago, en route to a little getaway, were killed; their parents were severely burned.
Other motorists told police they tried to warn the driver of the truck that the piece was dangling dangerously, but he didn't understand English. Federal law requires truckers to know and read English to get a license, (I have to wonder if that is STILL the law considering all the translators this country feels it necessary to provide rather than require people who want to live in this country to speak OUR LANGUAGE!!!) and investigators were alarmed that this driver — who was from Chicago — didn't. Wisconsin authorities notified the Illinois secretary of state's office, which licenses drivers and was then headed by the freshly re-elected Ryan.

An internal investigation found the driver may have paid a bribe to get his license. Ryan's response was to squash the probe and fire the investigators. Four years later, with Ryan campaigning for governor, federal prosecutors picked up the case. They began indicting employees in Ryan's office for selling licenses for bribes and then funneling the cash into Ryan's campaign fund. Ryan repeatedly denied he knew anything about the corruption. Illinois voters elected Ryan governor by a narrow margin over a squeaky-clean Democrat, then-Rep. Glenn Poshard.

Though Ryan began his one term as governor triumphantly, with Ray Charles playing at his inaugural bash, he remained under a cloud of suspicion. The federal probe into Ryan's former office widened, with investigators finding a wide-ranging scheme to use employees of the secretary of state's office to raise cash for his campaign coffers. The probe culminated with Ryan's indictment in 2004. In all, 79 people have been indicted in what the U. S. attorney's office dubbed "Operation Safe Roads." At least 75 people have been convicted, with no acquittals.

At this point I should point out all his positive attributes and all that he accomplished… including, of all things, being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in prison reform… but my point is this… THE MAN COMMITTED A CRIME !!! END OF STORY !!!

"Why would anybody take any great satisfaction that this man is going to prison?" longtime GOP state Rep. Bill Black told the Associated Press. "He had decades of, I think, noble service." This is what I’m talking about people, what is wrong with people that ANYONE can think themselves above the law? I guess if we carry a donor card that entitles us to commit other crimes before we croak? I mean, hey… isn’t saving another a pretty high form of nobleness???