Free Republic

The last time Jim Ryan ran for governor of Illinois, he offered voters a clear choice between a man who never took a dime in public life and Rod Blagojevich. And though many would like to forget it, they chose Blagojevich. "The infrastructure of the Illinois Republican Party has never really been for me," Ryan said over breakfast the other day as we talked about that 2002 campaign and his current run in the crowded GOP primary for governor. "I'm not a deal-maker. And senior Republicans knew my reputation. They knew I wouldn't be flexible." Seven years ago, Ryan, then...

Guys like Bill Cellini don't get indicted in Illinois. And the puppet masters don't sit at the defense table in federal court, tapping their fingers, waiting for the jury to pronounce judgment. *snip* They're Democrats, they're Republicans. They're the bosses of the Combine. *snip* All involved should know that their ((prosecutors)) work is appreciated, by every taxpayer in this thoroughly corrupt state who've wondered how the puppet masters of the Combine keep getting away with it. On Tuesday, they didn't get away with it. And Bill Cellini went down.

A judge has delayed sentencing for Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a top fundraiser and adviser to disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Rezko, convicted on corruption charges, was scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 21. But prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve to move the sentencing because another corruption trial connected to the Blagojevich administration starts this week – and includes allegations of an extortion plot involving Rezko. Prosecutors most directly involved in the Rezko sentencing are also handling the prosecution of William Cellini, a Springfield powerbroker whose trial on charges including attempted extortion and fraud starts this morning. In...

William Cellini, a power broker and fundraiser for nearly 40 years, has become the 13th person charged in the pay-to-play probe William Cellini has spent four decades as Illinois' ultimate insider, cozying up to Republicans and Democrats alike as he wielded power and influence while trying to stay out of the spotlight. But the spotlight found Cellini on Thursday when a federal grand jury indicted the millionaire Springfield businessman and pulled him into the center of the ongoing probe of corruption in the administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The indictment charging Cellini with extorting a Hollywood producer to make a...