Come on! You forgot about Otto Kerner, who governor from 1961 to 1969, and later convicted in 1974 while on the federal court and went to jail.

I've lived in IL since 1974 -- that just about encapsulates the whole experience. Earlier you asked how Blago got two terms. The answer is that the Repubs aren't any better.

Edgar was never indicted. Indeed an indictment is in fact a charge. Edgar was implicated but never charged with anything. The irony of this entire situation is that most Illinoisans would say that this is business as ususl in our State and that the last two Governors were prosecuted for conduct that the others probably engaged in. They were just not as blatant.

Where is Disputo to offer a rebuttal to Agent Grant's allegation?

Thompson does not appear to have run into any legal trouble, but the law firm he heads did represent Ryan against Fitzgerald.

If representing Ryan is the worst thing Stein could come up with, wouldn't it have been fairer to just leave that clause out. It strikes me as a pretty outrageous guilty-by-association claim.

Blagojevich and Walker are Democrats, while Ryan and Edgar are Republicans.

Can't wait for the tie-breaker;>

It actually gets even better. By my count, there are two more ex-governors who ran afoul of the law. Both Stratton (R: 1953-1961) and Walker (D: 1973-1977) were also convicted of crimes. Illinois is quite possibly the only state with a waiting list for the governor's suite at the state prison.

Thompson and his law firm did $20 million worth of prono bono legal defense for Ryan and left no stone unturned or appealed tried in their efforts to keep the crook out of prison. Left to his own devices and finances Ryan's trial probably would have cost the US taxpayers and the people of Illinois much less in dollars and humiliation. Thompson deserves every little bit of guilt by association he gets as does Durbin for calling for Ryan's release.

There is even more here, I just saw this posted on ESPN:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3757399

Blago was trying to leverage the sale of the Chicago Cubs and their stadium (owned by the Tribune Company) in order to get the Trib to stop calling for his impeachment. Wow, this just get curioser and curioser.

Stratton was charged with tax evasion, but was acquitted.

"Blagojevich and Walker are Democrats, while Ryan and Edgar are Republicans.
Can't wait for the tie-breaker."

I don't remember what Kerner was, but I'm sure some do. Just as funny as anything posted here today, which is saying something, Blago was elected in 2002 as a reform candidate. Brings to mind Big Bill Thompson, another Chicago "reform" candidate from the 20s and a wholly owned Capone subsidiary. After making a victory speech promising an end to corruption he was asked who his Police Commissioner was going to be and answered "They haven't told me yet." All of which explains why the best history of Illinois politics is still the original "Front Page" by Hecht and Macarthur. ("His Girl Friday," with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, has most of the original script, but the 1931 movie, filmed from the play, has an inept banjo-playing reporter based on Carl Sandburg.)

There have been a lot of questions as to why the no-longer-functioning Illinois Republican Party doesn't do something. The answer is that there are no real Democratic or Republican parties in Illinois. There's only one party: Corruption. It cost us the presidency in 2000. Let's hope this doesn't do the same.

The previous post is right: Don't forget about Otto Kerner. He resigned as the Democratic governor of Illinois in May 1968 when LBJ nominated him to the federal bench. However, Kerner had falsified tax returns in 1967, when he was governor, and in 1971 he was indicted on multiple charges. In 1973 he became the first sitting federal appeals court judge to be convicted of a felony. Sentenced to three years in prison but was released early in ill health.

I guess this goes to show that being governor of Illinois is not exactly a stepping stone to greater things.

Geez, I go to right-wing blogs to read that effectively defending people charged with crime somehow creates "guilt by association." Damned if I want to see it here. People like markg8 need to read, and understand, the Constitution.

And Thompson, though never considered corrupt while governor, has done a bang-up job of handing out goodies as the chairman of the sports facilities authority -- the folks who own USCellular Field, were talking to the Tribune about buying Wrigley and would have been responsible in part for the Olympics facilities.

I wonder if there's any connection between the timing of the Tribune bankruptcy and Blago's perp walk.

Swell. I feel sullied now. :-(

Oh, yeah...I am so proud of my home state.

first sitting federal appeals court judge to be convicted of a felony

Not sure that's right. Martin Manton of the 2d Circuit was convicted of bribery and sentenced to two years' imprisonment -- maybe he got convicted of misdemeanors and sentenced to a year on two of them to run consecutively, but it sure looks like a felony sentence.

As someone from Louisiana, I don't want anyone - especially if they are from Illinois - to give me grief.....

Not a former guv but another bit of outrageousness nonetheless:

Paul Powell, the Illinois Secretary of State back in the 60s/70s who famously had shoeboxes full of cash stashed at his downstate home which were only found out after he died. Apparently, people would mail in checks to his office for various bits of state business and write out checks payable to "Paul Powell, Sect of State" (as instructed-- but apparently some folks just left off the Sect of State bit) and so he would just cash them for his own use.

Here's what one person found:

http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/IL/trouble.html

Although it's a little old -- no Walker or Ryan

Ilinois - It's Louisiana with out the music and the food.

why don't they just make patrick fitzgerald governor?

Ilinois - It's Louisiana with out the music and the food.

Hey! That's completely unfair!

We have music and food...

Oh, come on. We still have Connecticut, Ohio and most of the Republicans in congress. Our governor just isn't as bright as the other players and got caught. George Ryan's legal bills were in the millions - and I don't believe he ever paid a cent of them. I guess Big Jim Thompson has a really big heart.

Per David in NY - Good question about whether Kerner was actually the first. Difference may be that Manton resigned from the bench before he was convicted while Kerner was convicted before he resigned.

Lest we lose all perspective here, may I mention the names: Abe Lincoln, Everet Dirksen, Paul Simon, and Barack Obama.

And I might add, Jim Edgar was a pretty decent governor.

I'm from New Jersey, and I say we're number one!