How many il governors have gone to jail

George Ryan decided not to seek re-election as federal prosecutors began closing in on him as part of the Operation Safe Roads investigation. About a year later, in December , Ryan was indicted. He was convicted on charges that he steered several state contracts to his friends; spent campaign funds to pay personal expenses and obstructed justice by attempting to end the state investigation of the license-for-bribes scandal.

While he was Secretary of State, state workers accepted cash in return for issuing truck driver licenses. Two other Illinois governors have been sent to jail. Otto Kerner, Jr. A decade after his term ended, Walker copped to bank fraud , misapplication of bank funds and perjury in connection with his savings and loan business.

Why do people often give wrong answers to the straightforward Blagojevich is which federal felon among how many governors? Two guesses:. But who would ignore the obvious — the governor now in office — to frame the statement that way? Because Sam Shapiro deserves to be counted. And because J. Pritzker, too, deserves to be counted. Skip to content. Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich exercises Aug. Convicted on bribery charges in , former Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner, center, was driven from the Federal Building after receiving a three-year sentence.

He would end up serving only about seven months before being paroled. Part of his appeal argument in the meantime was that if he was convicted then so could any other politician who bestowed a favor upon one of his supporters. Ultimately, Siegelman was sentenced to 78 months in prison two charges had been retired by an appeals court in the meantime, diminishing his due time , for which he was released in Feb.

He was refused a pardon by Pres. Barack Obama. Robert J. Bentley R - Alabama Governor, : Resigned in due to two misdemeanor charges specifically failing to file a major contribution report and knowingly converting campaign contributions to personal use and a scandal involving an affair with his senior political advisor. Roger B. He had no jail time. No jail time. Bill Janklow R - South Dakota Governor, , Janklow was convicted of manslaughter in , after his tenure as governor had expired, for crashing into and killing a motorcyclist.

He was sentenced to days in county jail and three-years probation. He was slated to serve prison time, but the conviction was overturned due to jury misconduct issues and before he could be retried Pres. Clinton gave him a pardon in Pardoned by the state in , Hunt died at the age of 75 in Jim Guy Tucker D - Arkansas Governor, Tucker was found guilty in of fraud, conspiracy and of arranging fraudulent federally-backed loans.

Though the charges were grave, he did not serve a prison term due to suffering from a serious liver disease. David L. Walters D - Oklahoma Governor, Plead guilty in to one out of eight felony charges, including alleged campaign contribution violations, perjury and conspiracy to hide donations.

Regardless, he still personally affirms himself to be innocent. Edward D. DiPrete R - Rhode Island Governor, Indicted in under accusations of taking hundreds of dollars in bribes from contractors in exchange for state contracts, DiPrete would only plead guilty to 18 counts of corruption in as part of a deal that would give judicial leniency to his son, who was also implicated.

DiPrete served one year in prison. Evan Mecham R - Arizona Governor, Mecham was ousted from office by the Arizona state legislature in , under suspicion that he had obstructed justice and misused public money.

This happened in tandem with him being prosecuted by federal authorities, who accused him of perjury and filing a fraudulent campaign expense report. However, prosecutors ultimately were not able to build a sufficiently strong case against him.

Mecham was acquitted and went on to unsuccessfully run for office two more times in Arizona. Dan Walker D - Illinois Governor, Walker was convicted in due to his activities as chairman of the board and CEO of First American Savings and Loans, which involved siphoning money off the bank for personal use, which rendered him charges of perjury, bank fraud and misapplication of bank funds.

He started serving a month sentence in July , though Pres. Reagan commuted it to time served in