The New York Times today has an update on the feud between Attorney General Jim Ryan and Governor George Ryan over Governor Ryan's planned clemency hearings in Illinois and on the twin lawsuits filed by AG Jim Ryan. Ryan doesn't think that 15 minutes per inmate is enough time for a clemency hearing. His real concern is that Gov. Ryan will grant clemency to all the inmates currently on death row in Illinois.

We reported on the feud at length here last week.

We want to highlight Rob Warden's comments in today's Times article:

"But Rob Warden, director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, said the short hearings should suffice, because the main argument for clemency is that the capital punishment system is flawed and unfair. Since Illinois re-established the death penalty in 1977, 12 people have been executed and 13 have been exonerated; a governor's commission in April said 85 major reforms were essential to make the system just.

"All of these people, 100 percent of them, were convicted and sentenced to death under a system that is generally acknowledged to be grossly dysfunctional," Mr. Warden said. "We know there are some innocent people remaining under death sentence in Illinois; we're just not sure which ones they are. The intelligent thing to do is let's just stop using this broken system."

AG Jim Ryan is far behind his democratic challenger in the race to succeed George Ryan as Governor.

"Confusion over the two Ryans, who are not related and have never been close, along with other internal dysfunctions, leave the Republican Party in danger of losing a governorship it has occupied for 26 years."

"Polls show Jim Ryan trailing the Democratic nominee, Representative Rod R. Blagojevich of Chicago, by at least 11 points, but suggest that lead is cut in half once voters are told candidate Ryan is not incumbent Ryan. The governor's term was tarnished by revelations that contracts and driver's licenses were traded for campaign contributions under his watch as secretary of state. "

"To clarify that the Republican Ryans are not one person, Jim Ryan's campaign has asked newspapers to use first initials in headlines and employ a logo where the candidate's first name is much larger than his last."