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Another Criminal found Guilty

DaveNay

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SUPER Site Supporter
I know all of you have your own fair share of corrupt politicians, and Illinois and Chicago are right up there at the top of the national list of corrupt regimes...er...parties, but the guilty on all counts decision of former Illinois Governor George Ryan is BIG NEWS around here.
The Governor Goes Down

Once nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, George Ryan of Illinois now stands convicted of corruption while in office. How will it play at the polls?
By ERIC FERKENHOFF/CHICAGO


Posted Monday, Apr. 17, 2006
The state of Illinois, not to mention the city of Chicago, has a long-earned reputation for corruption, and it just got worse.
On Monday, former Governor George Ryan, 72, became the third of the state's last six governors to be convicted of political misdeeds, and the current administration of Democrat Rod Blagojevich is also being investigated. Ryan, who won worldwide acclaim and even a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for clearing out the state’s Death Row and putting a moratorium on executions, was found guilty of running campaigns — and government offices — like a personal piggy bank to enrich himself, family and friends. The verdict, convicting Ryan on 18 counts ranging from racketeering to mail fraud, came after five months of testimony from more than 100 witnesses, including Ryan's previously convicted former chief of staff, some 20 hours of closing arguments and nearly a month of jury deliberations.
You can read the entire article from Time Magazine.

Read that paragraph above very carefully....yes, THREE OF THE LAST SIX Illinois Governors have been convicted! :eek:
 

OkeeDon

New member
Wow. The arrogance. "This decision today is not in accordance with the type of public service that I provided the state of Illinois," Ryan said moments after the verdict was read. In other words, he thinks that he's above the law.

By the way, Dave, thanks for keeping the political parties out of this. This goes beyond politics.
 

Junkman

Extra Super Moderator
The Governor of Connecticut was convicted last year of accepting graft..... Must be part of the job..... The Mayor that brought Providence RI back from the brink of disaster also went to jail for taking kick backs..... Hard for a politician to make a dishonest living now days......
 

AndyM

Charter Member
Junkman said:
The Governor of Connecticut was convicted last year of accepting graft.....

The governor of Ohio was also convicted last year. He failed to report his free golf outings and dinners.

It would be interesting to know how many of the 50 governors have been convicted of a crime.
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
A former governor of WV was found to be pennyless and driving a cab in the Chicago area. Dang if I can remember his name though.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Doc said:
A former governor of WV was found to be pennyless and driving a cab in the Chicago area. Dang if I can remember his name though.

Well considering that he came from West Virginia, at least his standard of living went up when he became a bum in Chicago! :whistle:
 

OkeeDon

New member
The governor of WV from 1977 to 1985 is a Rockefeller. Not exactly a low standard of living...

He's been a U.S. Senator from WV since.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Yes Don, but have you seen the rest of the state? While beautiful, the standard of living in many areas of WV is pretty lousy. Especially the rural ex-coal areas.
 

OkeeDon

New member
B_Skurka said:
Yes Don, but have you seen the rest of the state? While beautiful, the standard of living in many areas of WV is pretty lousy. Especially the rural ex-coal areas.
Yes, I've seen the rest of the state. I have an uncle who lived there his entire adult life. He as a safety equipment salesman to the mines. He was never wealthy, but he enjoyed a decent middle class life style. One of his daughters is a physical therpist; the other is a PhD Professor of chemistry at the U of WV, Blacksburg. Her husband is a forestry professor at the same university. They're doing fine. Much of WV is the same -- decent, hardworking folk who tend not to waste a lot of money.

Sure, there are pockets of poverty -- but nothing like I've seen in the inner cities of our largest metropolitan areas. The stereotype of a WV hillbilly is just that, a stereotype, and I'm a bit surprised you've fallen for it. Even the poorest people in WV tend to be very proud.

I grant you that, for the most part, you'll only find 2 or 3 kinds of salt in WV, and not very many catapults, so their standard of living may not meet with your approval.
 

Melensdad

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Staff member
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Well I don't know that I fell for the stereotype, I've also been there. I have a friend who is still there and I see him often. The only reason the inner city poverty is more visible is because it is concentrated into areas, but in WV the misery is spread out across the rural areas and there is far less ability to get to services that are helpful. At least in the cities there are services, transportation, etc.
 

AndyM

Charter Member
Doc said:
A former governor of WV was found to be pennyless and driving a cab in the Chicago area. Dang if I can remember his name though.

Bill Marland... There was an article about him in the Goldenseal magazine a few years ago. Link to more info. Goldenseal link.
 
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AndyM

Charter Member
The eastern panhandle of West Virginia is nothing but an overpriced suburb of Washington DC. There are jobs EVERYWHERE in that area, and my wife and I have interviewed down there several times, but we don't think there's any way we could afford to live there... It definitely NOT my father's West Virginia.

Other urban areas in the state are growing, but very slowly, compared to the eastern panhandle. There are scattered jobs if you know where to look... we'd be in the Parkersburg area now if I could talk my wife into it.

Many of the former poorer rural areas of the state are now occupied by people who wanted a lot of land for cheap and don't mind driving an hour or so each way to work to Parkersburg, Clarksburg, Morgantown, Charleston, and Huntington.

However, there are still a couple places that conjure up images of stereotypical West Virginia. They are not easily accessable to highways and people lack the resources to get out, however as Don said, they have very little but are very proud of who they are, where they are, and where they live.
Calhoun County, for example, is probably 90 minutes from a big city (due to the types of roads) does not have a single traffic light in the ENTIRE COUNTY!
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Parkersburg is growing. I know the area well, I work there. You are right about lots of acreridge close by priced right. I know of some within a 1/2 hour or a tad more. There is a new bridge being built which will make my 25 min drive to work in Parkersburg down to 20 mins. Maybe less.
Give me a shout if you have any questions on the area Andy.
 

AndyM

Charter Member
Doc said:
Parkersburg is growing.

It's amazing how much that area is changing. I remember ten years ago, you could buy an old house outside of Harrisville on three acres for under $20,000. I had the opportunity to buy my grandfather's house and 47 acres in Ritchie County for $25,000! I'm still kicking myself for that one! Corridor D is changing Parkersburg a lot, but I can't get my wife to move there... she wants to go to PA. :(
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
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AndyM said:
It's amazing how much that area is changing. I remember ten years ago, you could buy an old house outside of Harrisville on three acres for under $20,000. I had the opportunity to buy my grandfather's house and 47 acres in Ritchie County for $25,000! I'm still kicking myself for that one! Corridor D is changing Parkersburg a lot, but I can't get my wife to move there... she wants to go to PA. :(

Funny you say that. We moved back to this area after 15 yrs in the Columbus area. We were married in Parkersburg and lived in the area for a few years before going to Cols. The only way my wife would agree to move back to the area was if we lived in Ohio. :) That worked for me. We found 50 acres priced right. She is now so happy we made the jump.

Richie county is beautiful. We go to the North Bend / Harrisville area a few times a year. I saw the biggest deer herd I've ever seen out there. 30+ deer. They are plentiful out there.
Andy our neighbor was planning to build a house on the ridge overlooking the Ohio River (way up high on a hill, not possible to flood as it is the highest point around). They own 17 acres. He now has a job in denver and they are looking to sell. They had the septic put in, and the land graded but that's as far as they got with the house. They have a 14 x 70 mobile home and 8 to 10 acres fenced in for horses. A barn and a outbuilding. Asking price is 80k. No realtor involved at this point. They said the price is negotiable.
 

DaveNay

Klaatu barada nikto
SUPER Site Supporter
AndyM said:
TOther urban areas in the state are growing, but very slowly, compared to the eastern panhandle. There are scattered jobs if you know where to look... we'd be in the Parkersburg area now if I could talk my wife into it.

Heh....my family is from Grafton (15 miles east of Bridgeport/Clarksburg). If you're ever over that way, take a drive along 250, headed north from 50 up to Fairmont. The houses along there are phenominal! The FBI built a huge facility in Bridgeport about 12 years ago, and the resulting influx of people has pushed the housing through the roof. In fact, the entire I-79 corridor from Clarksburg north to at least Morgantown or even Wheeling is going crazy with new construction. The saddest part is my dad still can't find a job better than the $14/hr plant electrician that he is now. I think there is a lot of "old" money moving in there. The new residents don't actually work there, they are only semi-retired, or making long commutes.
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
AndyM said:
she wants to go to PA. :(
:puke1: :puke1: :puke1: :puke1: :puke1:

Lives in OH now and wants to move to PA???? WHY?
I'm kicking myself for not moving another 10 miles west and get into OH.
I moved from NY to PA because of the government/regulations/taxes of NY. Well, PA has just about caught up with NY.
 

dzalphakilo

Banned
DaveNay said:
Heh....my family is from Grafton (15 miles east of Bridgeport/Clarksburg).

Grafton, isnt't that "home" of mothers day? (could be wrong).

Used to live in a trailer in W.V, some of the best years of my life.

Wild, wonderful and beautiful. Only other states I fell in love with were Idaho, Western Montana, southeast Utah and upstate N.Y.

Been in some VERY rural areas of W.V where you may wonder where the heck you're at and what or who are some of the locals (great folk once you get to know them), but what I found very surprising is the first time I drove to Kentucky.

Different compared to when you're in Idaho and you know some of the locals are not seeing eye to eye on what you see, you realize you could be 200 miles from the next "town" where as in W.V you can find it "interesting" that your only some hours away from D.C.

Eastern Kentucky SCARES me. You "aint" seen anything unitl you hit some parts of that state!
 
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