Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Speculations About a Second Grayville Prison Scam – How about Hopkins Park?
How about Kankakee County’s Hopkins Park, where Ryan decided to build a new women’s prison?
Maybe it wasn’t Ron Swanson who got the insider information there. Maybe it was a friend from Kankakee County.
There is little doubt that Governor Ryan did his best to improve things in his home county while and before he lived in the Executive Mansion. One just needs to look at the new roads near the river in Downtown Kankakee to figure out a lot of money was spent there.
It would not be a great leap of logic to understand why Ryan would want to give an economic boost to the downtrodden Kankakee County town of Hopkins Park, home of some of the state’s poorest African-Americans.
And, might he not have let some of his local buddies in on the secret?
What if two months before the official announcement, some folks in the Kankakee area knew about the selection and were using the information to impress outsiders of their influence with the governor?
Lots of the Hopkins Park saga has been reported elsewhere, but what if insiders were trading on the information to try to cook up an illegal deal unrelated to the prison? What if they were trying to “shake down” some businessmen on a side deal?
What if somebody balked at making a payoff and the Kankakee folks used the still-unannounced prison site information in an attempt to impress those seeking favor that they were tight with Governor Ryan?
What if there’s no evidence that Ryan was in any way involved in this spin-off corruption?
After all, if Ryan were connected to the secondary scenario, wouldn't the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago have included it in the indictment for which the former governor is now on trial?
Not if there’s nothing to link Ryan to the spin-off corruption. Ryan's involvement may be limited to sharing the information with Kankakee friends.
Even without a deeper Ryan connection, however, if this speculation is close to accurate, there could be additional Kankakee County resident(s) making the trip to and from the Federal Courthouse in Chicago.
To return to McHenry County Blog, click here.
Maybe it wasn’t Ron Swanson who got the insider information there. Maybe it was a friend from Kankakee County.
There is little doubt that Governor Ryan did his best to improve things in his home county while and before he lived in the Executive Mansion. One just needs to look at the new roads near the river in Downtown Kankakee to figure out a lot of money was spent there.
It would not be a great leap of logic to understand why Ryan would want to give an economic boost to the downtrodden Kankakee County town of Hopkins Park, home of some of the state’s poorest African-Americans.
And, might he not have let some of his local buddies in on the secret?
What if two months before the official announcement, some folks in the Kankakee area knew about the selection and were using the information to impress outsiders of their influence with the governor?
Lots of the Hopkins Park saga has been reported elsewhere, but what if insiders were trading on the information to try to cook up an illegal deal unrelated to the prison? What if they were trying to “shake down” some businessmen on a side deal?
What if somebody balked at making a payoff and the Kankakee folks used the still-unannounced prison site information in an attempt to impress those seeking favor that they were tight with Governor Ryan?
What if there’s no evidence that Ryan was in any way involved in this spin-off corruption?
After all, if Ryan were connected to the secondary scenario, wouldn't the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago have included it in the indictment for which the former governor is now on trial?
Not if there’s nothing to link Ryan to the spin-off corruption. Ryan's involvement may be limited to sharing the information with Kankakee friends.
Even without a deeper Ryan connection, however, if this speculation is close to accurate, there could be additional Kankakee County resident(s) making the trip to and from the Federal Courthouse in Chicago.
To return to McHenry County Blog, click here.
# posted by Cal Skinner : 8:40 AM
