Tagged: corruption

A federal court in Chicago has denied former Illinois Governor George Ryan's appeal seeking his release from prison.  The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 16-page ruling yesterday denying the 78-year-old Republican's appeal for release from the Indiana prison where he's serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence for corruption.  The appeal was widely seen as Ryan's last chance to get out of prison early.

As is often the case with government reform efforts, the Kentucky General Assembly enacted ethics laws in response to an embarrassing scandal. “BOPTROT” was a federal investigation of the Kentucky legislature in the 1990s, so-named because it involved a powerful legislative committee, Business Organizations and Professions, and horse racing. It exposed 15 state lawmakers who sold their votes, some for as little as $100.