Durbin just as bad, should resign, too

After three years of investigation, the inevitable happened. Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on charges of conducting Illinois politics as usual! Just one week before Blagojevich's arrest, Sen. Richard Durbin urged President Bush to commute the 6-1/2 year sentence of Blagojevich's predecessor, George Ryan. Ryan was convicted of similar "pay to play" corruption, including the sale of driver's licenses to unqualified persons. As a result of those license sales, nine people, including the six children of Rev. Scott and Janet Willis, lost their lives in traffic incidents. Ironically, Durbin was joined in that effort to commute Ryan's sentence by Blagojevich. Perhaps Blagojevich saw the handwriting on the wall and that as an opportunity to prepare his way for a soft landing in the event that he needed it! At least, Blagojevich's corruption resulted in no known fatalities! Previously, in this cesspool of corruption we know as Illinois, under the 1980s "Greylord" scandal, everything was for sale, including acquittals for DUI's, aggravated battery and even first-degree murder! Now, the Senate seat vacated by President-Elect Obama, positions on state regulatory boards and highway construction contracts are for sale to the highest bidder. Illinois now has the unenviable record of having four Governors arrested and indicted on a charge of corruption in the past four decades; three of those four have been convicted and imprisoned. With the evidence uncovered by the U.S. Attorney's office, it is inevitable that Blagojevich will be the fourth convicted. It is appropriate that in today's editorial, the Daily Herald demands Blagojevich's resignation. But you must go further! Perhaps U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald should inquire into what Sen. Durbin was paid to make that sentence commutation effort for George Ryan. The loss of the lives of six innocent children is too high a price for Durbin to ignore for him to seek a commutation of Ryan's 6 1/2 year sentence to a mere 13 months time served, unless Durbin considers the lives of those children cheap! Recently, Durbin lost a daughter to a congenital heart defect. He should have known better! Perhaps if his daughter had been one of Ryan's victims, he would have taken a different position on Ryan's sentence. It is not enough that the Daily Herald demands Rod Blagojevich's resignation; it must demand Richard Durbin's, as well!

Michael Woloshin

Tower Lakes