SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson says former Gov. George Ryan should remain behind bars for the duration of his 6 1/2 year prison sentence.

Johnson, a Republican from Urbana, joined at least one other Illinois GOP colleague in Congress Tuesday voicing opposition to attempts by Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin to get Ryan out of a federal lock-up after having served just over a year of his sentence for racketeering and corruption.

Johnson said he's "extraordinarily opposed" to any pardon or shortened sentence for the 74-year-old former chief executive.

"I am 100 percent and strongly opposed to any pardon for George Ryan," added Johnson.

Durbin announced Monday that he'd sent a letter to President Bush asking that Ryan be set free early. Durbin's sentiment was shared by current Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, also a Democrat, who ran and won in 2002 on an anti-corruption, anti-Ryan platform.

Johnson's position mirrors U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, a Northbrook Republican, who sent a letter to Bush Tuesday urging him not to reduce Ryan's prison term.

"His crimes struck at the fabric of our democracy and invited a new wave of public corruption in Illinois," Kirk wrote in the letter.

Johnson said since Durbin first raised the issue in November, he's received calls and emails from constituents urging him to oppose commutation of Ryan's sentence. Johnson hasn't sent a letter to Bush, but said he'd do so if that was the standard protocol.

"Frankly, I hadn't given any thought to it until Durbin raised the issue," he said.

Other members of Congress tried Tuesday to steer clear of the debate.

An aide to retiring U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood of Peoria suggested LaHood probably would not return phone calls because the Ryan-Durbin dust-up isn't a subject he wants to talk about.

Rock Island Democrat Phil Hare also didn't want to get pulled into the matter.

"Congressman Hare believes that it is President Bush's decision whether or not to commute Governor Ryan's sentence and has no further comment," spokesman Tim Schlittner noted in an e-mail message.