Keeping score: How much time past pols got
December 7, 2011 3:18PM
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and wife, Patti, leave home for the Federal Building sentencing, Wednesday, December 7, 2011. | John H. White~Sun-Times
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Updated: January 9, 2012 9:19AM
Three of the longest sentences ever handed down to corrupt Illinois politicians went to judges snared in the Operation Greylord probe of judicial corruption and its successor investigations.
† Judge Reginald J. Holzer: convicted in 1986 of shaking down lawyers and real estate dealers, initially received the longest sentence of any judge — 18 years in prison, but he was later re-sentenced to 13 years. He served four years in Oxford, Wis. † Judge Thomas J. Maloney: convicted in 1993 of fixing murder cases, was sentenced to 15 years and 9 months, and served 13 years, most of them in Lompoc, Calif. † Judge John J. Devine: the first judge convicted in Greylord in 1984 for extorting bribes from lawyers, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He served two years in Lompoc, Calif., and died in prison.
† Former Gov. Dan Walker: sentenced to seven years; served 17 months.
† Former Gov. George Ryan: sentenced to 6 1/2 years; has served more than four years and is still in prison.
† Former City Treasurer Miriam Santos: sentenced to three years and four months; served four months, until her conviction was thrown out. She pleaded guilty to avoid retrial and was sentenced to time served.
† U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds: served five-year sentence in state prison for charges relating to an affair he had with an underage campaign. Reynolds was also sentenced to 6 ½ years in federal prison for corruption. He served more than four years before President Bill Clinton commuted his sentence with a presidential pardon in 2001.
† Former Gov. Otto Kerner: sentenced to three years; served seven months.
† Former City Clerk James Laski: sentenced to two years; served 17 months, the last six months in a halfway house.
† Former U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski: sentenced to 17 months; served 15 months, last two months in a halfway house. He was later pardoned by Clinton.
