At the beginning of the year former Gov. George Ryan's wife became extremely ill. She was hospitalized and on her deathbed. Former Gov. Ryan petitioned the courts for a temporary release to be allowed to go and visit his wife. There was a big uproar as to whether or not he should be allowed to do this? I am sure that there are many people who are in jail who's loved ones pass away while they are incarcerated. These people never get a chance to say goodbye or visit them one last time so why should George Ryan be allowed to do so?
Personally I don't think that he should be allowed to do so. In the end he was able to sneak in a visit before the public found out. In this situation there are many different types of power that I believe were used. And the one thing that comes to mind is Chapter 13 of our book titles "Power and Politics" because in this scenario it is both.
A former Governor visiting his ailing wife. In my opinion one of the reasons he was released was because he was a former governor. Or a better speculation, because he was a former authority figure. In this instance he was using legitimate and referent power. He used the position that he formerly held and relied on the degree of which the judge preceding over the case admired him for his previous profession.
Do you believe that there were other forms of power used here?
Ex-Governor Ryan also had very strong ties to the people helping him and the people around him to use his referent power in order to get the outcome that he wanted. Was it right? In my opinion no, I do understand that he wanted to see his wife but I also believe that I could almost bet he got a little kick out of being able to seeing his wife outside of jail and knowing that he still had that kind of influence.
Posted By: Amy Beagles
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