Story time: Throwing the book at a dishonorable governor

It was tempting to just leave the miserable old man alone, disgraced and shamed, to suffer all alone for breaking the public trust.

But then George Ryan played the grandchildren card.

In Ryan's pathetic plea to remain free on bond while he makes a last, long-shot appeal of his corruption case to the United State Supreme Court, his attorneys pointed to the former governor's grandchildren.

"He is a 73-year old grandfather whose life revolves around his 17 grandchildren," stated his request to the appellate court.

A lot of people have grandchildren, and some have more than the former governor.

Scott and Janet Willis have 25 of them.

They would probably have more grandchildren, but six of their own children were killed in a car crash back in 1994.

For the Willises, a devout Christian couple (he is a minister), that November day 13 years ago was both tragic and sadly ironic.

"On Nov. 8, 1994, I voted to re-elect George Ryan as secretary of state to be in charge of road safety," wrote Janet Willis in a letter to the court just before Ryan was sentenced to 6½ years for racketeering. "I am a mother. I loved my children, home-schooled them and with God's help, poured my heart into trying to be the best mother I could be. We were very close. A few hours after that vote was cast, I watched as my children were trapped in an inferno. I have had to ask God to help me to forget the sights and thoughts of that day and all that occurred.

That day I thought (death) was instant for the little ones in the back. It wasn't. An accident report delivered to our home some weeks later related that there was some evidence of a struggle. Months later, the fire chief who was at the scene told me as gently as he could, 'In this type of case, it's never really instant.' "

The accident on I-94 occurred when a hunk of metal fell off of a truck driven by Ricardo Guzman, pierced the gas tank of the Willises' minivan and caused a catastrophic explosion. An investigation by ABC7 News and later verified by federal authorities determined that Guzman paid a bribe to get his commercial license from a Ryan employee who needed the cash to buy tickets to Ryan political fundraisers.

"Six children were innocent victims resulting from a political scheme to raise campaign money," wrote Scott Willis to the judge who later sentenced Ryan to 6½ in federal prison.

"It would have been the mark of a compassionate and honest man to admit the truth. But under his watch, the investigation was suppressed to protect him. 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."

And it still hasn't been, to this day.

"This has affected our whole family: a great-grandmother, three grandparents, three older siblings, our grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews," wrote the Rev. Willis.

But as the Willises continue to mourn the children they lost -- Benjamin, Joseph, Samuel, Hank, Elizabeth and Peter -- and the grandchildren they will never have, George Ryan has the audacity to invoke his own grandchildren in an effort to stay out of prison.

If Ryan cares as much about his grandchildren as his lawyers contend, I have a suggestion. When the time finally comes for the former governor to pack his toothbrush for prison, he should gather all 17 of his grandchildren in the living room of the Kankakee home where he and Lura Lynn live.

In his finest, grandfatherly voice, he should read them a story titled "A Dad's Delight."

The book is about a 6-year-old boy who "gets himself in big trouble." Not the kind of trouble that grown-up politicians find themselves in. But 6-year-old boy trouble.

By mistake, the youngster breaks a window with a baseball.

What does he do? He admits it to his dad, a baseball lover himself.

What does his father do? He gives the boy the greatest lesson of all. He forgives him because he admitted wrongdoing. That is the delight in "A Dad's Delight" -- discovering the heart of mercy.

Grandpa George wouldn't even have to explain to the kiddies why he was reading them that book before heading off to prison. I think they'd get it.

You see, as he held up the book to read it, his grandchildren would see what was printed on the cover.

"A Dad's Delight," by Janet Willis.

Chuck Goudie is the chief investigative reporter at ABC7 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.