Give him a cigar

George Ryan’s ascendancy to the governorship of Illinois was supposed to be the celebrated pinnacle, the culmination of a life steeped in public service, the end of the long march through lesser offices to the top.

It was not without some tongue-in-cheek truth that pundits jibed that the former secretary of state’s for-governor slogan was: “George Ryan: Because it’s MY turn!”

Today, though, things have a somewhat different look. George Ryan is a one-term, lame-duck governor enduring continuing probes into the licenses-for-bribes scandal, watching close political and personal pals tumble and even getting jabs from his own party’s candidates for the post he now owns.

Despite all this, Ryan has found himself to be on the side of the angels—and, by implication I suppose, the U.S. bishops as well—for a couple of other positions he’s taken.

Ryan, though initially not a death-penalty opponent, had the courage to see a justice system in Illinois that was compromised, and ordered a moratorium on executions. In recent years, strenuous probes, often using DNA evidence, into the guilt of persons on Death Row have cleared more previously convicted murderers than have been convicted since the death penalty was restored in 1976.

That was a courageous effort, taken at great political expense, but one which has helped catapult the reformation of the death penalty into a nationwide phenomenon. Americans, including Catholics, had overwhelmingly supported use of the death penalty until recent years. Actions such as Ryan’s, and statements of Pope John Paul II and the bishops of the United States that capital punishment was unnecessary and ought to be avoided have won more and more Americans over to opposing it.

In just the past few weeks, Ryan has tackled the United States’ 40-year-old economic embargo against Cuba, something which the church also has argued against because of human rights implications.

Ryan’s first trip to Cuba a few years ago opened the island nation to sales of Illinois agricultural produce, something permitted under the embargo. His most recent trip in January brought Illinois medical supply executives seeking a market for their wares—also allowed. Upon his return, Ryan challenged the federal government’s ban on other trade and tourism with Cuba. He said the economic doors should be opened wide, despite the history of communism, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuban missile crisis and the staunch opposition of Cuban exiles.

While the death penalty stand gets lots of press, the embargo question is worth a closer look.

Detractors might argue that Ryan’s two celebrated trips to Cuba—which included meeting with the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro—had more to do with publicity and economic gain for Illinois than with human rights.

The truth is that the human rights considerations cannot be avoided.

Castro truly is “the last communist,” the dying scion of a failed system which bankrupted itself. Ryan said the embargo, which virtually only the United States observes, harms not the aging dictator but his island full of hungry, hurting and deprived people.

Economic embargoes have been decried by the Vatican as an ineffectual and harmful effort to “punish” rogue nations, harming not the government but the common people.

The U.S. bishops have long opposed the trade embargo against Cuba, with Boston’s Cardinal John Law one of the most prominent U.S. church figures speaking out against it.

Pope John Paull II visited Cuba in 1998 and was welcomed wildly. Last year, the pope told Cuban bishops in Rome he was pleased they were enjoying greater freedom, but said the government must do more to respect human rights and the U.S embargo against the island should be lifted.

Ryan’s challenge to the embargo is welcome. And, despite his other troubles, legacies have been made of less.

Tom Sheridan
Editor and General Manager