Big Jim

 

I was at the antique shop in Burnt Prairie Saturday and spotted a hand fan priced at a dime. It was the kind you used at the funeral parlor back in the day. It said, “George Ryan For Governor.” The irony was thick because I had just learned of the death of former four-term Illinois Governor Big Jim Thompson.

Thompson and Ryan had a history together.

Thompson made his name as a federal prosecutor who pursued, among others, former Democratic Governor Otto Kerner. Kerner was convicted of mail fraud. That conviction and other high profile cases gave Thompson what he needed to become governor.

After four terms, Thompson left public life and took control of a prestigious Chicago law firm. In that role, he decided to defend Governor George Ryan against corruption charges…free of charge. It cost his law firm upwards of $20-million dollars.

Locally we remember that Ryan secretly decided to build a multi-million dollar prison off I-64 in Grayville. The town paid $50,000 to a friend of Ryan to help “lobby” the governor. That was just one piece of a wide ranging puzzle of corruption instigated by Ryan. Ultimately the prison stopped construction, Ryan went to a federal pen and Thompson’s legacy and pocketbook were damaged.

…which brings me back to that George Ryan hand fan down in Burnt Prairie.

I’m surprised someone from Grayville hasn’t bought it just for the satisfaction of burning it. A lotta satisfaction for only a dime.