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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.
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column in this commentary]
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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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here to comment on this article.
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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]
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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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here to comment on this article.
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