George Ryan

I remember first meeting John Cass and this was early 2000s, maybe 2001, 2002.

And the occasion was a conversation with Reverend Scott and Janet Willis, of course, the Willis family, who suffered that horrible tragedy thanks to the license for bribe scandal in Illinois under George Ryan, which ultimately led to George Ryan's downfall and those around him, deservedly so, in which they had...

I think it was six.

I'm going on memory here.

I d- I don't think that-

There, there was a former Illinois governor, George Ryan.

I interviewed him once.

He came out with a book basically-

Yeah.

President Clinton took time to point out, and to praise, Governor George Ryan, because he suspended executions in Illinois after several high-profile cases in which convicted murderers awaiting execution were exonerated.

How many of them now?

There were 13 people exonerated off death row in Illinois, uh, as opposed to 12 executed.

Well, I was kind of sort of surprised that, uh, he went public in such a big way and he had such harsh words for Bailey.

But in another sense, it doesn't surprise me because Jim Durkin is the kind of Republican that was a, a typical Republican back in the days when I covered the legislature, and he was of the same mold as people like Dick Ogilvie, or Jim Thompson, or Jim Edgar, even George Ryan, in terms of social issues.

And now, in this MAGA era, all that stuff is, is gone out the window.

And the problem for the, for the Bailey folks is that Illinois has changed in the sense that that kind of socially, I would say socially extreme, uh, just doesn't play anymore in the suburbs.

And, and, and again, I think, I think as you look at Pritzker, I, I think as he, um, is vying for a third term here, I, I've not seen evidence that, that suggests to me that he, that his popularity has, has fallen in any major way during this second term.

I mean, Republicans, it's their job, you know, to be the opposition party and to kind of harangue against him.

But, but I, I just think that, um, you know, it's just such a, a-- The, the Republican Party's infrastructure has pretty much been, with the exception of the Rauner years, at least the first couple of years, where Rauner and Ken Griffin together brought resources into the Republican Party and kind of energized it in a way that it hadn't been since, you know, really pre George Ryan.

You know, that's, that's just the strike here.

And it was a relentless drumbeat of executions at that time.

Then in 2000, Governor George Ryan in Illinois instituted a moratorium on the death penalty, and he did so after an incredible Chicago Tribune investigation really showed just how many problems there were with the cases that were on Illinois' death row, including 13 men who ended up being innocent.

It would take a while for more things like that to happen, but slowly in the years that followed, more states began to follow suit, putting moratoriums in play, or simply just not acting upon the death penalty.

And then in 2003, the federal government started this sort of unofficial moratorium.

You actually are interested in the future of this state and just being a good citizen.

But that is a small percentage of even the Illinois Republican electorate in this state, which is why every time there has been an opportunity to shift the paradigm away from the old Jim Thompson, George R- Jim Edgar, George Ryan spoils of war model, Illinois Republican parties missed it, which is why the Illinois Republican Party missed the Reagan revolution under Jim Thompson, which is why the Illinois Republican Party missed the Gingrich revolution under Jim Edgar, which is why we didn't have a conservative reform governor.

We never have, like a Thompson, Tommy Thompson, or a John Engler in the '90s, or a Mitch Daniels or a Scott Walker in the 2000s, or more recently, a Kim Reynolds in Iowa.

I mean, uh, d- you ...

Do you know that? Do you connect the dots? Has your Republican party locally, any candidates informed you of what's going on? Have you picked up how the combine works yet? How many fracking columns does John Cass have to write about it over the last three decades? Or me scream about it over the last two? Durkin and Dillard and Rauner and Kinzinger, and on and on and on.

Structural tax increases.

Abortion on demand, going all the way back to George Ryan and signing Medicaid-funded abortions.

Marriage redefinition.

He was there for Jim Edgar.

He was there for George Ryan, the first few months of Rod Blagojevich.

And he got accolades for how well he ran the department.

And we've not had the same level of bring about change since then