From the Bloomington Pantagraph (Editorial):

As Ryan goes to prison, ethics measures still stalled
By the Pantagraph Editorial Board

There is no sense of joy in seeing former Gov. George Ryan go into a federal prison. But there is a sense of justice - a sense that a blow has been struck against "politics as usual" in Illinois.

Ryan continues to insist he has done nothing wrong, as he begins serving his 61⁄2-year sentence on tax fraud and racketeering charges in what became known as the licenses-for-bribes scandal.

Although he said at his sentencing hearing in September 2006, "I should have been more vigilant. I obviously failed," before heading to prison he said, "I'm not blind to the sentiment that some hold, but I want you to know that I did my best."

More than 70 people were convicted in the Operations Safe Road investigation. It began as a probe of people paying bribes to obtain drivers licenses and grew to include investigations thwarted by Ryan's inspector general, contracts steered to friends of Ryan and gifts to Ryan from politically connected individuals.

Some say Ryan didn't do anything more than other politicians did before him. If that's true, that's just a stronger reason for sending him to prison. It is important to break any cycle of corruption and show that improperly using one's public position for personal gain carries consequences.

The Ryan case and other investigations - some still continuing - have spurred calls for reforms in Illinois.

Yet Illinois Senate President Emil Jones still refuses to call for a vote two major reform measures, House Bills 1 and 3, which overwhelmingly passed in the House and are co-sponsored by a vast majority of the Senate.

Jones said earlier that the reform measures - dealing with restrictions on campaign donations by state contractors, among other things - are not strong enough. But he hasn't offered any alternatives or even suggested how they could be made stronger.

Some may shrug that off as "politics as usual" in Illinois.

But Illinoisans are tired of "politics as usual," tired of seeing their governors violating the law and tired of the monetary waste and bad government resulting from "politics as usual."

Let the sound of the cell door slamming shut on the former governor wake up present-day politicians to the need to strengthen ethics rules and follow them, both in spirit and by the letter of the law.

If there is nothing to hide, then there should be no fear of reform.

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