Future of Ryan's senate campaign in question

June 23, 2004 — The future of Jack Ryan's campaign for U.S. senate seems more in doubt. ABC 7 has learned about several signs that the republican's campaign events will be scaled back but publicly Ryan is still saying he's staying in the race. Two days ago the release of his divorce records rocked the Ryan campaign. The documents included allegations about visits to sex clubs.

"If he asked me today, I would say, Jack, you need to assess whether you can wage a reasonable campaign and my view would be you probably can't," said Gary Skoien, Cook County GOP chairman.

The Cook County Republican party is bailing on Jack Ryan. Two major newspapers, including the Sun-Times, want him out of the race. The Tribune is questioning his credibility and the Herald is comparing him to former Governor George Ryan. And one of the Illinois Republican party's key fundraisers is accusing Ryan of a cover-up.

"I was told by Jack that there was nothing in the records that would be of concern. It was solely related to issues surrounding his child. And that turns out not to be the case," said Ron Gidwitz, IL Republican party.

Ryan apparently failed to fully explain the allegation by his ex-wife -- Hollywood actress Jeri Ryan -- in the now unsealed divorce file that he forced her to visit sex clubs in three different cities and tried to pressure her into having sex in front of strangers.

Ryan is apologizing for any misunderstanding but downplaying his ex-wife's allegation.

"The worst that can be said is I propositioned my wife in an inappropriate place. We had people elected to office who have done things that are much worse than that," said Jack Ryan, U.S. senate candidate.

Illinois republican leaders are conducting a poll to assess the political damage. And they're expected to make a final decision on what to recommend in a conference call on Friday.

"I think he can survive. I don't think he can win. I think when you lose the trust of the people you work with and the trust of the public, which I believe has now happened, it's very hard to come back from that," said Gidwitz.

"If former Governor Edgar and speaker Hastert say, Jack, we'd like you to get out of the race, what do you do? I am in the race to win in November and on our issues and theme, we win the race. Once voters know the difference between me and my opponent, we are going to win," said Ryan.

The Bush campaign is watching the controversy on the sidelines. But the most of the republicans in the congressional delegation led by speaker Denny Hastert believe the Ryan candidacy is dead. Senate republicans are a different story. The leaders are still backing Ryan and they're holding a fundraiser for him in Washington D.C. Thursday.

Jack Ryan may be pledging to stay in the race, but some of his supporters say they're being told to begin winding down their campaign efforts.

Even though Labor Day is considered the official kickoff of the fall political campaign season, the fourth of July always attracts candidates to Independence Day parades. Apparently, Jack Ryan will not be among them.

Wednesday, Ryan campaign sources say they were told to halt planning for his appearances in July fourth parades. Ryan precinct workers in republican heavy DuPage County were also told to stop putting up yard signs and posting placards on behalf of the candidate.

That, on the heels of the July fourth pullback, indicates that the campaign is on it's last legs, according to one precinct captain.

The GOP candidate's ex-wife, actress Jeri Lynn Ryan, has not backed off accusations she leveled during their divorce that Mr. Ryan compelled her to visit hard core sex clubs in the U.S. and France.

At the well-fortified Los Angeles mansion where Ms. Ryan lives with the couple's 9-year-old son, she has declined to answer questions from reporters about the case. The Ryan campaign claims she supports his continued candidacy.

In Washington Wednesday, House speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois was not offering such a commitment.

"Had a personal discussion with Mr. Ryan in the last day or so. I intend to do that and then I will make a further statement. I am reserving my comments until I have a personal discussion with him," said Hastert.

DuPage County republican chairman senator Kirk Dillard told the I-Team that he is deeply troubled by the possibility that Mr. Ryan's candidacy could spell doom for other republicans and impact the Bush campaign in Illinois.

Dillard cites Tuesday night's Jay Leno show in which Jack Ryan was the punch line to a joke. Leno said that "See, democrats, they cheat on their wives. Republicans cheat, too, but they bring their wife along. They make it a family event."

What lie?

"there was nothing in the records that would be of concern. It was solely related to issues surrounding his child."

Ad the records are about the battle for custody of the child.... And again, what is there to be concerned about? THe man wanted to have sex with his own WIFE... how dare he! Where is the scandal? I'm just not seeing it.

Accussations made in a divorce, that the person who made them has already backed away from... (false accusations sadly are part of divorce proceedings, and are all too common.)

Calling this a scandal is like calling a splinter a mortal wound.

That he said his records were about the custody battle for his child? Records that a judge agreed were in the best interest to keep sealed for the sake of the child, by both parents... and now suddenly in spite of both parents still arguing to keep them sealed, the judge lifted his own seal?

Please tell me where is the scandal? I'm just not seeing it.

Jack Ryan supports free markets, an individuals right to self defense in his own home with a handgun; notwithstanding any tyrannical local laws to the contrary, lower income taxes, general support for the war on terror to include the Iraq reconstruction, education vouchers, not allowing birthing baby's skulls to be cracked and their brains sucked out, and an end to racial preferences in affirmative action. I will support this man even if he doesn't get out of the race, since Obama is a polar opposite on all of these issues. One of the most important issues confronting the future of (small r) republican government is an increasingly activist and unconstitutional federal judiciary. In an interview with the St. Louis Dispatch on 5 Mar 2004, Obama said that the president has “demanded a rubber stamp for a handful of judicial nominees whose views are extreme and out of touch “and that “I believe a filibuster may be appropriate.” In truth, the president only wants the opportunity for an up or down vote of the full Senate for his candidates, ones that are less likely to see themselves as the sort of supernumerary legislature that Obama undoubtedly wants, and not the extra- constitutional supermajority vote requirement that the Democrats have imposed with their Judiciary Committee shenanigans. It is my hope that this contretemps will lead in a roundabout way to a discussion of the issues, since Obama’s extreme liberalism is DEFINITELY flying under the radar.

True, this development does not help Ryan's campaign, and does reflect poorly on his judgment. If he intended to stay in the race he should have released this material when it first became obvious that its release was inevitable. He could then have better controlled the timing of that release and had more time for its impact to be defused. We should assume that he will not drop out of the race as things stand now. If that is so, then we need to go on the offensive and highlight Obama's extreme liberal beliefs, voting record (particularly Illinois SB 101, which he co-sponsored with Carol Ronen, D-7th District which places Homosexuals, bi-sexuals, lesbians, and trans-gendered people as protected within the rubric of the Illinois Civil Rights Act), and contrast them to Ryan's beliefs. More finger pointing will only get us closer to electing the socialist Obama.

I would like to remind all that Saint Augustine, the greatest of the Latin fathers and one of the most eminent doctors of the Western church was pretty much a libertine until the age of 30. In 372 he fathered an out of wedlock child with a Carthaginian concubine that he named Adeodatus. ("Latin for the Gift of God") While I am by no means suggesting that Jack Ryan be canonized, I am saying that it is possible that the man’s philosophies on life have changed in 6 years, as may be evinced by his teaching in an inner city high school. I am compelled to give the man the benefit of the doubt, particularly when I consider the RADICAL SOCIALISTIC ALTERNATIVE to his candidacy.

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