Durbin blasted Libby commutation, says that's 'dramatically different'

Last year, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said commuting the prison sentence of vice presidential aide Scooter Libby would send "a terrible message."

But this week the Springfield Democrat is arguing it would be compassionate to free former Gov. George Ryan from prison.

The difference, Durbin said Thursday, is that Libby didn't go to prison while Ryan has served 16 percent of his 6 1/2-year prison sentence for taking cash and free vacations from insiders who benefited from taxpayer-funded deals he authorized.

When asked how he could blast a commutation for Libby while supporting one for Ryan, Durbin said the cases are "dramatically different."

After Libby's conviction on perjury charges in relation to the outing of a CIA agent, the senator was quoted as saying President George Bush shouldn't give the political insider a break. "It sends a terrible message ... to suggest anyone in our government is above the law," he said.

After Bush granted a commutation of Libby's 30-month prison sentence, Durbin expressed outrage.

"Even Paris Hilton had to go to jail. No one in this administration should be above the law," Durbin was quoted as saying at the time.

Durbin said earlier this week that he was pushed to send a letter to Bush urging a commutation for Ryan by his compassion for the 74-year-old's wife, who he said is in "frail health."

On Thursday, Durbin reiterated that he stands by the letter, and he pointed out that he was upfront about his decision.

"I did not quietly send a letter and slink away in the shadows," Durbin said during a news conference in Chicago on the foreclosure crisis. "I had a news conference and I answered all the questions and explained why I did it."

It's not the first time Durbin has tried to help a politician get out of prison early.

When President Bill Clinton was coming to the end of his term, Durbin was one of several Illinois Democrats to lobby for a commutation of U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds' prison sentence. Clinton granted the commutation.

Reynolds was serving a 4 1/2-year federal sentence on financial fraud charges for falsely obtaining bank loans, laundering union contributions intended for voter registration drives and making political contributions untraceable. The Chicago Democrat was released after serving two years of that sentence. Reynolds had already served a five-year sentence on a sexual-assault conviction stemming from his sexual relationship with a 16-year-old campaign worker.

At about the same time, Durbin praised Clinton's pardon of U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, another Chicago Democrat, who served 15 months of a 17-month sentence on fraud charges stemming from the U.S. House's postal stamp scandal.

Among his other appeals for clemency, Durbin asked Bush in 2004 to pardon six soldiers from the Ohio National Guard who were charged with felonies for failing to properly secure vehicles in Iraq.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, both Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett argued against a commutation for Ryan.

"With former Gov. Ryan the six Willis children died. Thirteen million people in the state of Illinois were harmed," Madigan said, referring to a practice in the secretary of state's office during Ryan's tenure there to sell trucker licenses for bribes. "It is a hardship for all people and all families when somebody goes to prison. That is a consequence of committing a crime and I think the governor should serve his term."

Madigan is mulling a possible run for governor and Birkett is also considering a bid for statewide office.

Birkett said in a letter to Bush, "Freeing a man who cheated the citizens of a state he was elected to lead will only perpetuate this legacy and would be inconsistent with the ends of justice."