AT LEAST 1 POLITICIAN DID THE RIGHT THING

Dear Editor,

I was one those who watched Gov. George Ryan's pre-gubernatorial career with
horror and disgust. I still wonder what is says about the GOP that such an
obvious abuser of power surrounded by such corrupt scoundrels could ascend
to the highest office in the state.

Then something worthy of a Charles Dickens story happened. Somewhere under
that scaly conservative hide, a vestige of humanity was preserved. In the
tempest of his self-inflicted political woes, Gov. Ryan experienced the
worst possible fate that can befall a conservative Republican. He grew a
conscience.

Although I still disagree with Gov. Ryan on a host of issues including his
mindless veto of the industrial hemp bill and his fidelity to the
unaffordable an unfair war on drugs, I hope he wins the Nobel Peace Prize
for his mass commutation of all death sentences in Illinois.

Americans have been led to confuse justice with revenge for so long that a Nobel Prize is about the only incentive left for an American politician to do the right
thing.

Larry A. Stevens

Springfield