Gov. Ryan stories just keep coming

By Mike Fak

[MARCH 1, 2001]  I wrote an article last year that stated I believed a person could make a career out of following Gov. Ryan and his escapades in the state's highest office. I was probably only half right. I was only half right, because the continual stories of questionable actions while Ryan was secretary of state are just too juicy for even a novice inscriber to pass up.

There is a definite drawback to covering Gov. Ryan and the stories that seem to have an association with him. The drawback is that in the event you submit an article, which I did last week, and it isn’t run for a few days, a columnist finds himself having to rework the piece to include another new and questionable situation while Gov. Ryan was our secretary of state. This has happened to me before. It seems it has happened again. I do hope LDN decides to run this soon before I have to update my words again.

 

So let’s see what has transpired in the continuing investigations of then-SOS George Ryan. It seems Ryan as secretary of state received moneys from Anthony DeSantis, a land developer, to the tune of $2,500. Our governor finds no problem with the fact he and his wife put the funds in the family checking account and considered those remunerations as just another group of Christmas presents from admirers. DeSantis, it seems, wanted the just-available Illinois vanity plate "217" for the family station wagon and, amazingly, was able to pull off this request. For any of you vanity plate aficionados out there, I’m sure you will agree with me that getting a three-digit plate in Illinois is harder to do than finding Bigfoot in your basement. But maybe we just don’t understand the process. Perhaps it really isn’t that hard. All one needs to do is ignore the $50 request for a vanity plate on the license application and mail the Ryans $2,500 instead.

The governor also is having trouble with those darn campaign spending reports again. You know, the ones that Ryan is constantly updating to include items that his lawyers and accountants forgot to include the first time around. Well, according to the last CSR, Ryan paid Nancy J. Smith, his mother-in-law’s longtime caregiver, $6,000 from his campaign fund for services rendered. The governor says he pays a lot of people for campaign work and leaves the task of who gets what up to his accountants and lawyers. So we are left to believe that Ryan doesn’t know what Smith did for him nor how much she received until reporters reading that doggone campaign spending report brought it to light. The fact that the Ryan family considers Smith like a member of the family after so many years of personal service but is not involved in the doling out of campaign funds to her is just too long a stretch of the imagination for even a dreamer like myself.

 

[to top of second column in this commentary]

The Associated Press has broken a story about a ghost payroller by the name of Philip LaPuma. LaPuma, it seems, has been on the state dole ever since Ryan became secretary of state but has done no work except to raise money for George Ryan’s campaign for governor. LaPuma, while treasurer of the Ryan campaign in a Chicago district, caused area businesses which have to deal with the secretary of state's office on a regular basis to suddenly become enriched with financial enthusiasm toward helping fill Ryan’s gubernatorial coffee can with money. LaPuma, by the admission of several key SOS directors, has never been one to show up for work, fill out reports nor handle any of the backlog of work which, by his hiring, he was supposed to be doing. Ryan, of course, through his damage-control specialist Dennis Culloton, claims never to have heard of the guy, and that is as believable as all four clocks on our county courthouse having the same time showing on them.

Our governor is also miffed with Sen. Peter Fitzgerald for bringing up the reality that a Ryan bid for re-election is so far removed from the realm of possibility that Ryan needs to bow out of the campaign soon to prevent the Republican Party from going down the tubes next gubernatorial election. The governor is grousing that he will decide when and if he will run and doesn’t need an upstart young senator telling him what he should or should not do.

The Democrats in Illinois are delighted with Ryan’s rift with Fitzgerald and half the Republican Party to the point they are already deciding what color the new drapes in the executive mansion should be. A Republican power struggle between an incumbent governor and his party, who wants someone to run who can actually win, will cause a divide in the party that will allow the Democrats to stroll into the executive mansion in 2002.

 

Ryan won’t accept the fact the people of Illinois don’t trust him nor believe him. He refused to notice that President Bush treated him like a typhoid carrier while campaigning in Illinois and that the governor, as head of the Republican effort to elect Bush, delivered the state to Gore. Gov. Ryan does what he wants and doesn’t like anyone to question his decisions, so the likelihood he will run still looks good for those of us seeking an Election Day revenge against him.

Through all of this Ryan continues to conduct business with no instinct that voters find his actions self-serving and pompous. It just doesn’t dawn on him that creating a "Friend of Tourism" award and then giving it to his wife, Lura Lynn, is just another example of his disdain for what the voters of Illinois think is honest and fair-minded.

Ryan really does take the cake. Soon, however, the voters in Illinois will blow out the candles on this man’s political career.

[Mike Fak]

This article is re-published courtesy of www.fakmachine.com.

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Theme park is a positive dream

By Mike Fak

[FEB. 24, 2001]  Well, it's the talk of the town. Pastor S.M. Davis' presentation to the Looking For Lincoln board regarding the building of a colossal statue of Abe Lincoln along with a possible theme park is the buzz in Logan County today.

To be honest, my thoughts on creating a 300-foot statue of Honest Abe for all the world to come and see are unbelievably preposterous. The concept of a theme park maintaining the draw of tourists, and thus their dollars, into our area is by far the biggest wild and crazy dream I have ever heard in my 20 years as a Lincoln resident. In short, I absolutely love the idea.

The proposal is to build this huge statue of Abe somewhere out in the sticks convenient to Interstate 55.

 

Studies have shown that attractions that are easy to find by tourists unfamiliar with a region draw better than those that are difficult to find. Right off a major highway sounds like a good place to me ― especially since people will be able to see this thing once they leave their driveway in Idaho.

Davis mentioned such monuments as the Eiffel Tower and Mount Rushmore in his presentation. Those structures, of course, have put those areas in every travel brochure on the planet. Why not Lincoln, Ill., I have to ask.

Now there is a lot to be done before something as monumental as this could become reality. Funding is the No. 1 dark shadow in this dream. A location close to Lincoln but not too close has to be purchased, and the final determination of what this new attraction will become needs to be ironed out.

 

Forgive me, but my juices are flowing, and I have to tell you what I envision. Obviously the behemoth will be the focal point of this park. But a statue will only cause people to stop for the day and then be on their way. We need to have something that will cause people to decide to spend a vacation here in our area.

How about the area surrounding the statue being a replica of what the town looked like when Abe Lincoln christened it? This doesn't have to be anything more than the facades, à la Disney World, but the effect of feeling like you are walking back in time could be remarkable. Anyone who has ever visited Disney's Magic Kingdom knows exactly what I mean. Restaurants, souvenir shops, museums, tourism offices and a world of other income-generating businesses could be placed inside these storefronts. Imagine the potential jobs from such an endeavor. Hotels in the area would become packed, causing more tourism fees to be collected. Lincoln stores and restaurants would be filled, generating sales-tax revenues to help lower our property taxes. And, in the end, these people who just left their hard-earned dollars with us go back home, and Lincoln, Ill., is still Lincoln, Ill. Ask the people in Galena or Lake Geneva or Charleston if their towns aren’t better off from the tourists who visit them each year.

 

[to top of second column in this commentary]

I know this will sound pompous, but so be it. A historical theme park based on heritage and information will be visited by good people ― families just like yours and mine. This isn't the type of attraction that will draw people who have cuss words tattooed all over their bodies. This is the type of entertainment that will bring the best in our area and perhaps even the world to the doorway of Logan County. All of them will be seeking wholesome entertainment and a place to relieve themselves of their cash. What could possibly be wrong with that?

There is another benefit to Pastor Davis' proposal. The idea is a positive dream. In the event nothing comes of it, perhaps just for a while Logan County can debate a terrific positive rather than negative about our community. Perhaps just for a while we can dream that we can live in a good, safe town with wonderful neighbors, all the while having a lower cost of living than that of surrounding communities. Remember towns such as Branson, Mo., and Metropolis, Ill., before you shuck this idea off as impossible. Orlando, Fla., didn't 30 years ago. I wonder if we will.

I hope all of you contact me with your thoughts on what this park should be. I will forward all ideas to Pastor Davis and his group. These dreamers, I am sure, will be delighted to hear your hopes for turning Logan County into the best. There is a delight in a dream when it is shared by others.

[Mike Fak]

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