By AP/KWMU
Chicago – Attorneys for former Illinois Governor George Ryan have submitted a request asking President Bush to let Ryan out of federal prison. Ryan is serving a 6-and-a-half year sentence for racketeering and other crimes committed while governor and secretary of state.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin said Tuesday he may send a letter of support to the president asking for a commutation.
Durbin said Ryan has paid a price for his crimes by losing his state pension and being separated from his sick wife.
The Democratic Senator said he has not taken any action yet and does not know whether he will.
Durbin said the question is whether continued imprisonment is appropriate.
Ryan, a one-term Republican governor and Illinois secretary of state steered state leases and contracts to cronies, shut down a bribery investigation and used state resources to run his political campaigns.