Posted on 12/21/2004 5:59:52 AM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
Jack Ryan, the U.S. Senate candidate who dropped out of the race after his embarrassing divorce records became public, plans to launch a weekly newspaper in Homer Township, according to his former aides. Ryan could not be reached Monday for comment, but several people who once worked for him said the investment banker-turned-teacher has been interested in publishing a newspaper for some time.
Homer Township is one of the state's fastest-growing areas and an affluent one, dominated by the 3½-year-old village of Homer Glen — making it ripe for a community newspaper, sources said.
Ryan won the March Republican primary election but dropped out in June when California court records detailing a child custody battle with his ex-wife became public. Ryan and his ex-wife, actress Jeri Lynn Ryan, had sealed the records to keep them private.
During a custody fight over their young son, Jeri Ryan accused her husband of taking her to sex clubs while they were on vacation and pressuring her to have sex with him in public. Ryan denied the accusations.
Media outlets fought to open the court file, and a judge agreed to release partial transcripts that revealed the allegations.
The ensuing media frenzy and pressure from high-ranking GOP officials forced Ryan out of the U.S. Senate race. The Republican State Central Committee chose Alan Keyes to replace him on the ballot, and Keyes lost to Democratic U.S. Sen.-elect Barack Obama last month in a landslide.
Ryan decided to launch his own newspaper as an investment, not a political enterprise, according to Brian Timpone, co-founder of www.Illinoisleader.com, a conservative Web site that reported Ryan's plans over the weekend.
Timpone said he has been advising Ryan on the Homer Township venture. Timpone owns several small newspapers downstate and publishes the Madison County Record, which is funded in part by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and focuses on frivolous lawsuits filed in the plaintiff-favored county.
"I'm not advising (Ryan) on how to run a politically-driven newspaper, that's for sure," Timpone said. "That would be a mistake."
Ryan is willing to spend the $250,000 to $300,000 needed to get the paper off the ground, hopefully by early spring, sources said.
"I believe competition is good for every industry," Will County Republican Chairman Jack Partelow said of Ryan's plans. "The fact that it's in Homer Township is immaterial. He probably has a specific reason for choosing Homer, but it could be anywhere, like Naperville or wherever. Anytime you have another voice out there it's a good thing."
Ryan blamed the media for prodding him out of the Senate race by publishing the divorce allegations. But aides said his move to create his own newspaper is not a revenge tool — it's simply a business venture to make money.
Ryan doesn't know much about journalism, or Homer Township, but he will hire an experienced staff, sources said.
Before running for the Senate, Ryan taught at Hales Franciscan High School on Chicago's South Side. He had retired as a multimillionaire from an investment banking career at Goldman Sachs.
Possible employment ping
I wonder if he plans to publish each and every letter to the Editor his paper receives.
You may remember my comments about "displacement" on the CCRM Board.
Best regards,
If you can believe John Grisham, a weekly newspaper is a money machine
I sure hope he can give the (freebie) SUN paper a run for the $$. (I'd like to see more Lockport news) My only "personal downtime" is sitting in the local pub with a cigar and that newspaper sipping a bourbon.
And while he's at it, maybe he can hire delivery persons that deliver instead of walk by and throw the thing in the bottom of my driveway!
I'm from the Palos area orginally, your backyard, Cletus.
Isn't Jack Ryan the man who Juliet Huddy from Fox & Friends Weekend goes with?
Howday Fellas: L2 John,Cletus, Hegwisch Dupa et al Illini,
I hope that this guys hires Mike Cleary, editor of the Will County Farmers Review - it is a great local paper out of Joliet. He needs a genuine Republican to give the paper a core mission. Cleary's the guy - I disagree with Mike 45% of the time - I'm an inner city Daley Demahcrat on Da sou't side.
Go with God my sons!
is Ryan taking Juliet to sex clubs like he did 7 of 9? yikes!
Zorn's blog catches Sun-Times' Sneed selling stale gossip
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
By The Leader-Chicago Bureau
Tribune columnist Eric Zorn caught Sun-Times Michael Sneed red-handed and highlighted it for readers in his blog today.
CHICAGO - IllinoisLeader.com would like to thank Tribune columnist Eric Zorn for blowing the whistle on Sun-Times gossip columnist Michael Sneed who failed to attribute one of her famous "sneedlings" about Jack Ryan starting a newspaper in Will County to the Leader which broke the story five days before she referred to it in her column.
Zorn's blog today [BE LIKE MIKE (SNEED)", January 4] highlights what Sneed wrote and when she wrote it and what the Leader wrote and when we wrote it, with the contributions from both entities hyperlinked.
Zorn terms Sneed's technique as a "lesson from the Michael Sneed Famous Columnists School."
© 2004 IlllinoisLeader.com - all rights reserved
http://www.illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c=21809
Yep, she's done darn well.
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