California Repeats Illinois’ History, PROSECUTE Newsom!

Unbelievably, California may have improperly licensed 62,000 illegal aliens as Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) truck drivers. Sadly, these illegal aliens are driving semi-tractor trailers which have become weapons, killing at least 6 people in Florida and California and possibly more nationwide which have gone unreported.

Some individuals making jokes about this scenario using stereotypes of people from foreign cultures.

For many of us with active memories and an interest in news, this story was not at all funny.

It takes us back to an event in 1994 between Illinois and Wisconsin. The incident involved a foreign truck driver who illegally obtained a commercial driver’s license (CDL) in Illinois. It was acquired through a bribes-for-licenses scheme in Illinois. A truck driver identified as Ricardo Guzman caused a fiery crash that killed six of the Reverend Scott and Janet Willis family children on November 8, 1994. The crash occurred in Wisconsin on Interstate 94 near Fond du Lac. The Christian family had been out fundraising by selling magazine subscriptions when their minivan struck a piece of debris that had fallen off Guzman’s flatbed truck. Their minivan burst into flames and 6 children died.

I had just switched from an Independent voter who voted for candidates from both parties to voting for Republicans only. Some of my Democrat friends and neighbors were quick to pile on me since this seemed to the fault of Republican Illinois Secretary of State George Ryan. A neighbor friend of mine was an Illinois State Trooper. He told me about the story and how several Illinois Troopers were called up to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, to both witness Guzman and ask the logical question, “How in the hell did this guy ever get an Illinois CDL from you guys!?”

When the troopers arrived home and told their story to their superiors, they called in the FBI. What was found was Guzman was a native of Mexico with limited English proficiency. He was not an “illegal alien” (undocumented immigrant) he was a legal resident. But his CDL was obtained through a bribe paid to an employee in the Illinois Secretary of State’s office in exchange for him passing Illinois’ CDL exam orally. The central figure in the subsequent political scandal was George Ryan, in office at the time of the crash.

George Ryan would later become Governor of Illinois. The money from the bribes went into the “Citizens for Ryan” campaign fund. The resultant investigation into the scheme, known as “Operation Safe Roads,” exposed widespread corruption in Ryan’s office. This ultimately led to his conviction on federal corruption charges in 2006. While the crash was not part of the direct charges against Ryan, the public outrage over the Willis children’s deaths and the link to his corrupt administration were a major factor in his political downfall and prosecution. He went to prison in 2007 and was later released in 2013.

CONCLUSION:

They say that those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it. California did not learn from Illinois’ history.

So the logical question comes up, if the FBI and DOJ can prosecute, convict, and imprison an Illinois Governor for having blood on his hands, why aren’t they doing the same for California’s Governor? Don’t the Democrats keep telling the Republicans “Nobody is above the law!”? Are we to believe Newsom licensed 62,000 illegal aliens to drive big rigs without something in it for him?

Reverend Scott and Janet Willis had 9 children so not all of them perished that cold day in November of 1994 when tragedy struck their family. They would even come to write a book about their tragic ordeal as part of their recovery from their grief. “Through the Flames: The Willis Family Story” by Scott Willis.

And as of 2012 Illinois politicians still had not learned their lesson.

“Illinois moves to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants” – Reuters

Make no mistake, this is about overtly rich people paying bribes and kickbacks in the form of “political donations” to political leaders to secure cheap labor in the form of illegal alien truck drivers. And one has to assume the union leaders are also in on this grift since they never seem to stray from having their membership vote for these same candidates in both parties running this grift.

In my 40 years of union membership in the National Education Association (NEA-14) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT-26) I never saw any political advantage in their push to have us all vote for Democrats, none!

When I was a kid growing up, I learned nobody was more powerful as a union than the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (AFL-CIO). I was proud my father a member of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) as a CDL driver himself. Now, I not only question their power but their loyalty. With illegal alien truck drivers coming into this country (Democrats) and autonomous trucks (Tesla) coming to take their jobs, how are they still relevant!?

If Gavin Newsom is not guilty, somebody in California certainly is and to be blunt, what they have done the last 4 years makes what Illinois Secretary of State George Ryan did between 1991-199 look like child’s play!

© 2025 by Mark S. Schwendau

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Thinking Conservative.