The money in Paul Powell's shoeboxes turned out to be clean.
Charlie Carpentier (R), Jerry Cosentino (D) and Alan (the pal) Dixon (D) were all dirtier as Secretary of State than Powell or Ryan. Jim Edgar was probably the cleanest of the trash that have been SOS since I came to Illinois in '61. But that's like saying Richard Speck isn't as bad as John Wayne Gacy.
In Illinois, SOS has often been the spot a party has awarded to "up and coming" politician so that the climber can acquire funding for his future big race for Governor, Senator, etc. Dixon, Edgar and Ryan all consciously used it for that purpose.
When Big Jim Thompson (recently famous for coverups on the 911 commission and Sun-Times newspaper) was governor and selecting his successor, George Ryan was Speaker of the Illinois House and next in line. But Big Jim knew that George had often done illegal extortion as Speaker. Big Jim told insiders (my friends) that he thought the MSM would not give George the same pass that the MSM had given himself. Thus Big Jim tapped Little Jim Edgar to be SOS first so Little Jim could acquire the funding to follow Big Jim as Governor, which is precisely what happened.
George Ryan had to then wait in line behind Little Jim. That annoyed not only George Ryan but others in the combine who knew that both Little Jim and George Ryan would deliver pinstripe patronage contracts ... but that George would deliver much bigger ones than Little Jim. Which turned out to be true.
Thanks for the response. Some stuff I didn't know, and some stuff I forgot about. We sure have had a rogue's gallery in Springfield.
I heard them talking on WLS this morning about Jim Thompson riding in with Ryan for the sentencing and, even though Thompson was there as a private citizen and an attorney, it just struck me that there was just something not right in him, as a former governer, giving aid and support to a convicted felon. Of course, the way things are run here, there's really no incongruity in that.