Ryan should serve his full sentence

I am incensed that anyone would consider commuting the sentence of or pardoning former governor George Ryan.

In giving consideration to it, Dick Durbin references the price Ryan has paid - his name has been damaged; he has been removed from his family; and he has lost his economic security. His wife is in frail health. Ryan is depressed.

His name has been damaged. It seems to me that George Ryan was the architect of the damage. By being found guilty of fraud, racketeering, lying to investigators and tax charges, being removed from society and thereby separated from his family is the consequence for the choices he made. I am not without empathy for his family, but he alone bears the responsibility for any pain they carry now due to his imprisonment. The loss of his economic security is very difficult but perhaps it is justified when one considers who he was taking advantage of-the people of Illinois and the family who lost their children in securing his own economic future before he was caught and convicted.

It is not about whether he has suffered enough. It is the price he must pay for what he did. It also makes the message clear that the people of Illinois have had enough. This is not Monopoly. There is no "get out of jail free" card. It is time we stop this culture of corruption for which Illinois is well-known.

I would encourage everyone who shares this view to contact your representatives, President Bush and Dick Durbin and make your feelings known.

Karen Goettsche

Inverness