Tribute to George Ryan out of place on theater walkway

There is always a festive air outside Chicago's Goodman Theatre as ticketholders arrive for “A Christmas Carol.”

For some theatergoers, though, the holiday spirit sours just a little as they walk across the faux-gold inlaid stars along the sidewalk in front of the Goodman.

There is one star etched with the name George Ryan.

That is the currently-imprisoned former Illinois Gov. George Ryan. The same Ryan whose early release from the Irongate Hotel was denied last week by a federal district judge in Chicago.

The sight of Mr. Ryan's name on the sidewalk draws snarky comments from some theatergoers and passers-by, who marvel that his star has not been removed or defaced.

Seriously, the guy was convicted almost FIVE years ago in a government corruption case that began with a truck-van crash in which six young children were killed.

The truck driver who caused the fiery accident and explosion bribed one of Ryan's workers to get a license. Some of the bribe money went to Ryan's campaign as part of an organized slush fund. Ryan's hand-picked deputies quashed the investigation. Before it was over, Ryan and more than 75 of his employees, friends and cronies pleaded guilty or were convicted.

Worse yet, the only apology Ryan has ever offered for his conduct or to the children's parents, the Rev. Scott Willis, his wife, Janet, and their surviving siblings, has been during his incessant efforts to get out of prison early.

The tragic crash of the Willis family van and its connection to Ryan's corruption paint a much different legacy for the ex-governor, who once was a respected elected leader, than what his earlier political days may have portended.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer recounted Mr. Ryan's ultimate legacy of corruption in her 59-page ruling denying the ex-governor's early release, even into the arms of his ill wife.

Judge Pallmeyer reminded us that while governor, Ryan received a “stream of benefits” intended to “influence his official action” and that Ryan “accepted those benefits with the intent to be influenced.”

The federal jury, she wrote, “must have believed he (Ryan) received a bribe.”

That reasoning doesn't seem strong enough for some people to understand why no mercy was shed on Mr. Ryan. Perhaps the judge went back and reread letters she received from the Willis family before she sentenced Ryan in 2006 to the 6 ½-year prison term he now is trying to shortcut.

Janet Willis wrote of the terrible tragedy when a chunk of metal flew off a semi and into the gas tank of the family minivan.

“I saw my son moments later lying on the street as people tried to help him,” she wrote. “He hardly looked like my Ben. His hair and eyebrows were gone, his burned lips made it hard for him to talk.

“Over a year later, I found out that Ben was very much alert in the emergency room. I had the opportunity to talk to the attendant who was at his side. She told me, ‘I believe he knew he was dying. He asked me to pray with him. He asked if someone would hold his hand; I couldn't because of his burns.'”

The Rev. Scott Willis wrote: “Governor Ryan must have understood as a father what the loss of six young innocent children meant to Janet and me. Yet no personal or written contact concerned the accident was ever made.

“The real tragedy is that no reconciliation has yet been attained between George Ryan and Janet and me,” he wrote. “My wife and I have a strong desire to forgive Gov. Ryan but it must be on an honest basis: sorrow and admission.”

Their adult daughter Amy wrote: “Accidents do happen, but I believe that my siblings each lost their life that day due to a chain of events stemming from dishonesty, corruption, selfishness and greed. Because of George Ryan's choices, they were sentenced to death, and we were sentenced to life here on earth without them.”

I don't mean to be a Scrooge, but perhaps the Goodman Theatre might consider quietly extracting the Ryan star from its walkway as a nice tribute to the Willis family.

I asked Goodman's PR people about this, but never received a response.

An even nicer gift would be if the star were replaced with one named for “The Willis Children.”

They could make it a star with 6 points.

One point each for Joe, Sam, Hank, Elizabeth, Peter and Ben Willis.

• Chuck Goudie, whose column appears each Monday, is the chief investigative reporter at ABC 7 News in Chicago. The views in this column are his own and not those of WLS-TV. He can be reached by e-mail at chuckgoudie@gmail.com and followed at twitter.com/ChuckGoudie