PROFT: Putting Conservative Principles into Action: My Recusal from the "Leader" for the Senate Race

The Illinois Leader ^ | May 29, 2003 | Daniel K. Proft, President, Illinois Leader

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OPINION -- Since the inception of the Illinois Leader, this outlet has sought to confront the divisions within the conservative movement in Illinois and provide a forum for peaceable resolutions to disagreements between the 80 percenters around the state.

The Leader’s experience establishing credibility both within the movement as well as within journalistic circles has, in many respects, been a case study as to why conservatives have struggled to represent the strength of their numbers and, consequently, why conservatives have achieved limited success in statewide electoral politics.

It’s no secret that the core group who launched the Leader worked together on the Patrick O’Malley for Governor campaign in 2002. At the outset, we were accused of being nothing more than a shill for O’Malley and his future political aspirations.

We understood this was going to be people’s natural cynical reaction to what we were attempting to do. We accepted this perception and took the attitude that, ultimately, people will know and judge us by the fruits of our labor.

It might be self-serving to say, but I believe, after one-year’s worth of production, it would be disingenuous to accuse the Leader of being a tool for O’Malley or anyone else.

Nor have we been a partisan tool.

The Leader has dogged Republicans as much as we have Democrats, which says a lot about the status of our state’s bi-partisan combine, I mean, two-party system.

Rather, what we have been is exactly what we set out to be —- a forum for information, communication, idea exchange, and even a little entertainment for Illinois citizens concerned about the direction of our state and our culture.

Like the conservative movement, we want the Leader to transcend any individual campaign, so it’s important that I announce that I will be recusing myself from any and all editorial decision-making and editorial commenting on the upcoming 2004 United States Senate race.

I have decided to get involved with Jack Ryan’s candidacy for this office. In doing so, I obviously would have a conflict of interest in directing or even attempting to influence the coverage of this race.

The Leader’s credibility as a maturing new kid on the media block is too important to me and to the rest of the Leader’s staff to be less than fully forthright with our readers.

There has been much rumor-mongering about my involvement in Jack Ryan’s campaign, much of it false. I will not be his campaign manager nor will I have any day-to-day role.

The story we ran earlier this week on the position I have chosen to take with the south suburban City of Chicago Heights provides a clear explanation as to why my role will be a limited one. (See Star's story "New chief of staff plans move to East side.")

First, I am now a municipal employee. My understanding is that the new sheriff in town, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, frowns on people doing political work on government time.

Second, even were I not bound by the rules governing municipal employees (which I know I am, Mr. Patrick Fitzgerald, sir), the challenge I have undertaken in Chicago Heights is a significant one, one that will definitely require my focus for 80 hours per week indefinitely.

So why get involved with the Jack Ryan campaign?

I believe Jack Ryan’s candidacy has the potential to be a seminal campaign in Illinois political history. His announcement Wednesday at Hales Franciscan High School on Chicago’s South Side was a campaign kickoff like none I have ever seen (or even heard about) in my lifetime.

Who was the last Republican to have 200 African-American young men cheering at the announcement of his candidacy?

Maybe J.C. Watts in Oklahoma or Brent Schundler in New Jersey, but there has been nary a Republican in Illinois since Abraham Lincoln with that kind of appeal.

I am not comparing Jack Ryan to Lincoln, but his candidacy is cause for erring on the side of such hyperbole.

We, at the Leader, have pounded our fists for most of the last year about the need for the Illinois GOP to field candidates rooted in the party’s ideals with a commitment to outreach to minority communities on the basis of those ideals.

I believe Jack Ryan is such a candidate. Therefore, I further believe that it would be hypocritical of me not to be involved in his campaign in some way.

This is an opportunity, like the opportunity I have been presented with in Chicago Heights, to put conservative principles into action.

The conservative movement in Illinois has a lot of debating societies and a lot of incubators of ideas, which are all important. That’s how we battle-test our philosophy.

However, equally important is seizing opportunities to take conservative ideas and launch them headlong into reality.

This is the way to win converts and alter our state’s course.

We need to demonstrate that the conservative worldview is the most moral, most compassionate, most just, and most efficient way to order our society.

We need to show people that pursuing policies that make our minds and markets freer creates the most amount of wealth, opportunity, and hope for the most amount of people.

In short, we need to produce results to back up the talk.

The other reason I am recusing myself from the Leader with respect to all coverage of this race is that it is likely there will be other good conservative candidates in the race.

For example, if State Senator Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin) gets in, I want him to get fair coverage from the Leader. You would be hard pressed to get me to say a bad word about Rauschenberger.

Rauschenberger is one of the biggest assets the Illinois GOP has, both as a legislator and as a spokesman and leader on the issues and principles addressed above.

And there may be others. RTA Chairman Tom McCracken is an attractive candidate who acquired his conservative bona fides in the legislature. Most notably, McCracken led an unsuccessful, yet valiant, effort to overthrow Lee Daniels as House GOP Leader more than a decade ago. Businessman John Cox has run two campaigns rooted in conservative principles.

These represent but three of the potential candidates.

I believe Jack Ryan is the right man in the right place at the right time with the right vision to be Illinois’ next United States Senator. But I don’t believe that needs to be at the expense of tearing down other good conservatives or giving them less than a fair airing on the Leader.

To those who will inevitably scoff and impugn the sincerity of this recusal, let me offer two responses.

First, I would never knowingly attempt to perpetrate a fraud on Leader readers.

Second, for those who doubt my integrity, if you know Fran Eaton and Jill Stanek, the real brains behind this operation, you will understand this is serious.

They will be the decision-makers on coverage of the Senate race, and there are not two people I have ever met with more personal and intellectual honesty and integrity than Fran and Jill.

For those who do not know them, like I said in the beginning, you will come to know them by the fruits of their labor and by the balanced coverage of the Senate race they produce at their discretion for the Leader.

Just one more trial for the Leader.

See you on the campaign trail (figuratively speaking, Mr. Patrick Fitzgerald, sir).

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Do you have thoughts, ideas or comments on this column? Send a letter to the editor at letters@illinoisleader.com. Don't forget to include your full name and town/city where you live!

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President of Illinois Leader and President of Starfish Consulting, a public affairs company specializing in political campaign management, media relations, and strategic planning.

[TheBigB]

Geeze. Can IL Repubs find somebody who doesn't have the last name "Ryan" to run for office?

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What kind of senator would Jack Ryan be? This is what I see as the PROS and CONS at this point:

PROS

1) Says he's pro-life for somewhere over 95% of abortion cases.

2) Pro school vouchers.

3) Against race-based affirmative action. He supports a means-based system.

4) Is for lower taxes across the board.

5) Recently taught for several years at a Catholic school in the ghetto and as a younger man spent a big chunk of a year at a Catholic Worker place serving Mexican immigrants.

6) Stellar success as a partner at Goldman Sachs.

7) Apparently a practicing Catholic.

8) Comes from a strong, Catholic family.

.

CONS

1) Can't care much about abortion if his thinking on the subject is shallow enough to allow him to believe it's okay to murder unborn kids because their fathers are rapists.

2) Couldn't bring himself to say anything negative about homosexuality in the Eric Zorn interview, and in fact implied that homosexual families were likely to be as normal as heterosexual ones.

3) Implied he fell somewhere in the middle on the gun issue (Zorn interview).

4) Jack tends to avoid saying where he stands say a number of conservatives who heard him at the recent Conservative Conference at the Palmer House and on the Don Wade and Roma radio show on Monday (See threads on Free Republic and illinoisleader.com.)

5) Are his former marriage and his childrearing red flags? Jack is divorced and, despite being independently wealthy, decided to live two thousand miles from where his young boy is being raised during the school year (Jack raises his child during the summer.)

6) Why have these liberals given him good press: Eric Zorn, Michael Sneed, and Andy Shaw (Channel 7)?

7) Jack had been rumored to want to bump off Peter Fitzgerald, per a number of media sources. What would it mean if Jack wanted to do this to a principled social conservative with towering integrity?

8) Doesn’t see gambling as a problem in our state.

9) Supports O’Hare expansion.

.

The Eric Zorn interview is at www.ericzorn.com

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THE JACK RYAN INTERVIEW

Supplementary information to the Chicago Tribune columns of ERIC ZORN

On May 19, 2003, Jack Ryan and I sat down for a conversation in a conference room in his campaign headquarters. What follows is an edited transcript of that conversation:

ZORN: Your critics in the Republican establishment used to say that you were a tease. You always flirted wit the idea of running but never had the guts to follow through.

RYAN: Here's the background on that: In 1998, certain people in the Republican party wanted me to run for the 10th US Congressional seat (on the North Shore; now held by Mark Kirk). I said no right away for two reasons.

One was that Goldman Sachs was about to go public. I was a partner, and if I stuck around for another year it was going to mean a huge payday for me.

And two, my wife had just filed for divorce. This was a horrible time for me. I never really considered running in 1998.

Then I tried really hard to mount an effort in 2002 to run in the U.S. Senate primary. But I got no traction. I went to 50 Lincoln Day dinners all over the state and gave speeches and met with people trying to develop some enthusiasm or momentum, and it was like I was on a treadmill. I couldn't get anyone to have a strong interest in my candidacy I couldn't get any warmth, any energy, any feedback that it was a good idea.

ZORN: Did they seem to think Dick Durbin's re-election was inevitable?

RYAN: That was part of it. Look at how seldom an incumbent senator in a state's majority party is defeated for re-election. It happens about once every three election cycles.

But also I was seen as something of an outsider. I've been involved in politics for about 14 years as a precinct captain in New Trier Township and a member of many finance committees, but I've never been part of the Republican establishment in Illinois. So some of the local leaders would say, "Who sent you to see me?" Like, "Who's your godfather?" Well I didn't have any godfather.

ZORN: Were the other candidates getting traction? Durkin? Oberweis? O'Malley?

RYAN: I don' t think I was singled out for abuse, no. But I was delivering an unconventional message, the same message I'm delivering now: My campaign is going to be about making life better for the poorest of the poor. It's going to be about making ours an equal opportunity society and giving everyone a chance at the American dream. Today a student at a public high school on the South Side of the Chicago doesn't have a prayer in the new information economy if he's going up against the student going to New Trier High School or a Barrington High School. And that's not right.

I think most Republicans agree with me, but I think the sense was "Who is this guy, talking about inner city issues?" It was just too much---a new guy with a message that they didn't fully understand.

ZORN: Tell me about the Ryan factor. Twice in the last few weeks (May 12) & (May 16) Steve Neal of the Sun Times has written that your last name dooms you to defeat. He wrote that Jim Ryan's polling showed that 24 percent of the voters confused him with George Ryan, and that you'll never overcome that.

RYAN: This was a big concern, of course. I commissioned a poll in January by Frabizio McLaughlin, who is a tough pollster. I said give me the honest information. If this candidacy isn't going to fly because of my last name, tell me now. No reason to embark on some Quixotic venture that has no chance of getting off the ground.

For the name "Jack Ryan," he got a total unfavorable rating of 3.6 percent, which is about what you'd get with any random name. For the name "George Ryan: he got 76 percent. People understand the difference. There's very little leakage.

But just to be sure I went to Public Opinion Strategies and asked them to measure my unfavorable rating. They put it at 5 percent, which, again, isn't anything to worry about. So I don't know where this "Ryan Factor" worry is coming from. I don't see it. I don't think voters will confuse me with George or Jim by the time the primary election is held (March, 2004) My message is so different, the things I care about are so different.

ZORN: What other polling have you done?

RYAN: We took surveys to identify the issues that are most important to Illinois voters. I have my own idea what' s most important, of course, but if that's totally different than what voters think is important, it would be good to know.

ZORN: What is important to Illinois voters?

RYAN: Right now, No. 1 is national defense-- making sure our families are safe and secure. No. 2. is education. As we move to the information economy, there aren't as many jobs in the steel plants any more, you've got to be smart, quick on your feet, be able to process data.

Numbers three four and five vary with each poll. Crime is still a big concern. On the South Side where I taught, you know, crime is a very big deal. People are getting shot left and right. I was at the Hales Franciscan graduation Sunday, and parents there are really ticked off, the murder rate is so high.

You know what's so interesting about the Glenbrook North story from my point of view? Glenbrook North has this hazing incident and it's on the news for ten days straight. Meanwhile, we're getting two or three people killed a week killed on the South Side and its on page 20 of the newspapers. If I were on the South Side, I'd be screaming my head off. I mean, what happened up in Northbrook was a bad thing, no question. That shouldn't happen anywhere. But it was nothing compared to what's happening on the South Side.

ZORN: One rap on you is that you're a political enigma; no one knows what you stand for.

RYAN: I guess I am an enigma to the general population. But people who are in politics in Illinois for the last 10 years don't think I'm an enigma. I've given 100 speeches around the state.

ZORN: Would you call yourself a movement conservative?

RYAN: I'm trying to start my own movement. It's a movement to empower Americans, turn this into an opportunity society and give everyone person a real, real chance at the American dream. That challenge is different than it was 20 years ago, when there were many more jobs for the uneducated that paid $25,000 or $30,000 a year and came with a pension and job security. We've let those jobs go. They hardly exist in the city anymore. We can't continue to ignore the lack of investment in our schools and the failure to provide equality of opportunity for all people--Latino , white and African American. That's' what I mean when I say I want this to be the empowerment campaign. It's about giving everyone a real shot.

ZORN: You have a short political resume. How will that play in his race?

RYAN: I really don't know, but there's nothing I can do about it. So I'm going to say here's who I am, this is what stand form and if you like it, I need your help, I have to have your vote.

ZORN: How do you avoid being lumped in with Michael Huffington, Jon Corzine, Blair Hull and all the other wealthy people who've tried or are trying to buy themselves an office?

RYAN: As a practical matter I'm not going to self fund the entire campaign. I said I'd kick it off and I'd finish it, but I can't, I won't do it. I don't think it's good for politics for someone to self finance a campaign. When you're the only person investing in your product, it sends the wrong message.

ZORN: How big is you campaign staff now?

RYAN: One full time guy and one part time guy and me. Plus tons of volunteers who've signed on just in the last week.

ZORN: You were married to a TV star. You're divorced from a TV star. (Jeri Ryan's homepage; Jeri Ryan webring; The Jeri Ryan collective; Jeri Ryan celebrity CD site) People are going to ask you to talk about that.

RYAN: I prefer not to talk about it. I know people are going to ask. We have an 8-year-old son, and for his sake I'm going to try to keep that part of my life as private as possible.

ZORN: On "Boston Public," Jeri is playing a former big-shot lawyer who's gone to teach---

RYAN: In the inner city, yes.

ZORN: The announcement you made by email and fax last week that you were running was pretty low key.

RYAN: Well, there will be a formal announcement on May 28 at Hales Franciscan. Have you been there? It's a decrepit, rundown high school in a tough neighborhood. Half to two thirds of the students are on public assistance. all are African American. But this year, for the 6th year in a row, we've had 100 percent of our kids accepted into college. We got one into Stanford, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Georgetown, University of Chicago.

ZORN: How did you get involved at Hales?

RYAN: Three years ago, I said to (Chicago Schools CEO) Arne Duncan, who was then deputy chief of staff for the public schools, that I wanted to leave Goldman Sachs to teach in order to help make the world a better place: Could he please put me into the worst school in the worst neighborhood where I can make real difference?

The answer was that I couldn't do that right away, I needed to get a certificate and spend the first year as a substitute. I didn't want to do that. I went to Dartmouth College where I was Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude; I graduated from Harvard Law School with honors and from Harvard business school--- I'm not trying to brag, I'm just saying these are the facts. I'm good with books. That's what my specialty is. Memorizing stuff, giving it back, putting it into a format people can use. I'm very good at that. And yet they didn't think I was qualified to teach.

So I went to the Catholic school system and they said they'd take me right away.

ZORN: Did you take this current semester off to explore your political options?

RYAN: In part. But also in part to look into going back into business. I'd received a lucrative offer to run a company -really lucrative--- and my thinking was that I'd either pursue that or go back to Hales next fall. It presented an interesting ethnical dilemma, one I think about all the time.

If your objective is to do good in the world, how do you do it? Do you go and do a job where you directly make a difference with 10 or 12 people? Or do you take a job that pays hundreds of thousands of dollars a year plus options and stock, and give that money to institutions that help far more people? In this case, Hales Franciscan needs lots of money. Every year it's hand to mouth. So what's the best way for me to help that school? It's hard to know.

ZORN: Or there's a third way---running for political office and hoping to implement broader changes in policy that helps many more schools that just one. It seems you've picked that third way. Education is really your main issue.

RYAN: Empowerment is my main issue. That's how I'd rather say it.

ZORN: In the time we have left, give me some quick position statements. Abortion?

RYAN: I'm pro life with exceptions in cases of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is threatened.

ZORN: Affirmative action?

RYAN: Not when it's based on race, but I'm for it if it's based on socio-economic status..

ZORN: Gun rights?

RYAN: I'm for the second amendment but I also want to keep people safe in the streets. I understand that there's a balance you have to work out.

ZORN: Vouchers?

RYAN: I'm for school choice.

ZORN: Taxes?

RYAN: The capital gains tax, is not conducive to progress for people on the South Side. I'm for a zero percent capital gains tax and for Bush's plan to reduce all the tax rates. It creates more jobs, higher wages and opportunity.

ZORN Gay rights?

RYAN: If you are taking care of your family, being nice to your neighbors and working hard, I'm for you. Under our constitution, under our God, everybody should be treated the same way.

ZORN: Gambling?

RYAN: I'm torn about gambling. I grew up Irish catholic family.. (laughing) Drinking and gambling is kind of what you're supposed to do I understand people do have their lives ruined because they get addicted to gambling, but it's not something for me is a big issue.

ZORN: Airport expansion?

RYAN: I'm for the expansion of O'Hare. I do think we're going to need a third airport eventually. We're going to need twice the capacity we now have in 15 years, and the expansion for O'Hare won't doubt the capacity there. If we want to keep this area growing, we're going to need a third airport.

#

For another interview with Jack Ryan and photos, see this Profile/interview with Jack Ryan as published in the Illinois Leader.


News Release
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 2 p.m.
THE U.S. SENATE RACE IS ON:
Jack Ryan Makes It Official
1st GOP Candidate to Enter the Race to Replace Sen. Fitzgerald

Chicago, IL…Today, Jack Ryan ended weeks of speculation and became the first Illinois Republican to announce his candidacy for the United States Senate in 2004.

Jack Ryan, no relation to either former Governor George Ryan or former Attorney General Jim Ryan, said, "As of today, I am officially a candidate in the race for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate."

Jack Ryan, a former investment banker and high school teacher, said that formal public announcements in Chicago and other locations throughout the state would be made within the next month. He further stated that his candidacy papers would be filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in the next week.

Jack Ryan, 43, has long been seen as a rising star in the GOP ranks. Ryan garnered local acclaim when he left a lucrative position as a partner at Goldman Sachs (Chicago office) in 2000 to teach at Hales Franciscan High School on Chicago's South Side.

Ryan grew up in north suburban Wilmette, in a family of eight, and still resides in that community. He completed his undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Betta Kappa in 1981 and went on to earn his MBA and JD from Harvard University in 1985.

Jack Ryan Biography

Jack Ryan grew up in Wilmette, Illinois in a family of eight. He attended New Trier High School, graduating in 1977 with a letter in basketball and track. Mr. Ryan attended Dartmouth College, from which he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Without interruption, he attended Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, and graduated with his MBA and JD, with honors, in 1985.

After school, Mr. Ryan worked at Casa Juan Diego, a refugee camp in South Texas. He then went to work for Goldman Sachs as an Associate in the investment banking department. He became a partner in the investment banking division in 1996. In 2000, Mr. Ryan left Goldman Sachs as a partner to teach at an all male parochial high school on Chicago's south side, Hales Franciscan High School. Up until the end of the fall semester, he taught classes in U.S. History, English Literature, Law and S.A.T. preparation. For the sixth year in a row, all of Hales' graduates have been accepted to college.

Mr. Ryan has been a Republican precinct captain in New Trier Township for approximately a dozen years. He has served on the finance committee for numerous Illinois Republican candidates, in addition to being a regular contributor to Republican candidates. He serves on the finance committee for the Illinois Republican Party and is finance co-chairman of the Cook County Republican Party.

Mr. Ryan has also been very active in the community, having served on the board of The Nature Conservancy, an environmental organization, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Family Services, a social organization designed to help families, USO of Illinois, and the advisory board of Josephinum High School, a high school for inner city girls on the northwest side of Chicago. He also has served on the advisory board of Turtle Wax, the board of K12.com, a for-profit internet education company, and the board of First Health Corporation, a $3 billion market capitalization health care services company located in Downers Grove, IL.

Mr. Ryan has been the recipient of several honorary awards, including Crain's Chicago Business Top "40 under 40" in 1998, Irish American Magazine selected him as one of the Top 50 Irishman on Wall Street in 1999, was selected as a member of Leadership Greater Chicago in 1997 and in 2001 was awarded the Outstanding Community Commitment Award by Chicago Community Newspapers, and Man of the Year by the Illinois Committee for Honest Government.

[7 x 77]

Chime in on how you feel about Jack Ryan's candidacy for Illinois Senate.

[dts32041]

Ryan, cousin george, not realtion to Calncy's Ryan.

Rino, who belongs to the right side of the Daely MOB.

[JohnnyZ]

Jack Ryan is a conservative Republican JFK. He could lead the Illinois GOP out of the wilderness. He could stand up to the liberal Catholics in the Senate and in Illinois and demonstrate what religious faith is all about.

Or he could be maligned by a bunch of psychos, on one side for being 95% conservative and on the other for ONLY being 95% conservative.

[Pubbie]

He's the best candidate besides Jim Edgar.

Ryan will also be seen as a political outsider, which is good considering Illinois is a corrupt mess right now.

However he's probably too conservative to win in Illinois.

[The Old Hoosier]

Another CON is his last name.

[7 x 77]

Another CON is his last name.

I was trying to answer the question, "Would he would be a good senator?", but it'll be interesting to see how far the "Ryan" shadow reaches.

[Terpfen]

Doesn't affect me: I live in Florida.

[Maximum Leader]

If you're living in the U.S., every U.S. Senate seat affects you.

[Terpfen]

It's my understanding that the issue is a state Senate seat, not a US Senate seat. If it's a US seat, then I take back what I said.

[JohnnyZ]

It's a US Senate seat, the one currently held by much-maligned Republican Peter Fitzgerald.