Posted on 06/12/2003 7:11:30 PM PDT by 7 x 77
The all black, all male students of Hales Franciscan High School on the South Side lined the walls of their gymnasium chanting and stomping their feet. Joining in on this special occasion was a group of outsiders--well dressed men and women who waved flags and politely clapped.
The warm reception Wednesday was for Jack Ryan, who had come to the school to officially announce that he would be a candidate for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. And Ryan was right at home in the inner city school at 4930 S. Cottage Grove Ave. He has taught English and law there for the past several years.
“We have to remind people that a murder on the South Side is just as important as an awful powder puff football game on the North Side,” he said, drawing a comparison between the school and his own Wilmette upbringing. “…I am focusing my campaign on the inner-city issues, in a lot of respects, and the issues that surround our cities. So it is not a typical Republican campaign. It is not even a compassionate conservative campaign. This one is totally different…”
For Ryan, 43, politics and education are second careers. A tall, thin Irish Catholic, still without any gray hair, Ryan retired from his seven-figure job at the prestigious investment banking firm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in 2000, at the peak of the stock market-- and began teaching at Hales, a Catholic prep school near the Robert Taylor housing project.
Interviewing while visiting the school last February, he told a reporter that his goal was to give everyone a decent shot at an education which he admitted, “might sound quixotic.”
Ryan said then that he favors school vouchers, and advocates tax credits or scholarships to help families gain access to a good education for their children. “We have to find some way to get families out of having to send a child to a broken down, failed school,” he said.
Despite his interest in education, it is his career as a Goldman Sachs partner that will fuel his Senate run. Goldman's top bankers earn million-dollar compensation year after year, so early retirement is common. He took a big pay cut to become a teacher. “We get paid in the low $20,000s per year," he admitted.
Ryan recently said that he would spend up to $6 million of his personal fortune on his campaign. While nothing to sneeze at, that hardly compares to the reported $60 million that New Jersey Democratic senator and former Goldman CEO Jon Corzine spent on his race.
In the February interview, Ryan said that he always aimed for a career in public service, be it teaching or politics. “I assiduously avoided material trappings,” he said, “I made sure that I was living very modestly so when I left the transition would not be like ‘Oh my God, I can’t live like I used to at Goldman Sachs.’”
John Gilbertson, Ryan’s old boss, is the head of the Goldman Sachs office in Chicago. He said he would welcome Ryan back in a minute, but laughingly describes him as a kind of “skin-flint,” refusing to drive a new car, despite his success. “I hope he has gotten something {a car}with the modern safety amenities,” he said.
Before he quit to teach and launch his candidacy, Ryan’s career path had been straight as an arrow. He went from New Trier High School in Winnetka to Dartmouth, then immediately to graduate school, earning law and business degrees at Harvard. Ryan spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs before retiring to teach on the South Side.
Hales Franciscan, a four story pile of brick and cinder-block, is nearly visible from the upper stories of the Sears Tower where Goldman Sachs has its downtown office.
The school’s mission is to ensure that every graduate is accepted to college. Its college list begins with Augustana in Rock Island, Ill., and ends with Yale. About 95 percent of graduates enroll, with a handful turning instead to work or the military.
All of the students at Hale Franciscan wear ties and white button-down shirts. Though at Goldman Sachs he dressed business-casual, at Hales Ryan wore a suit.
“Jack wore his business attire everyday, as if he were going before a judge or the board,” said the school’s Principal Bernard Murray. Speaking of Ryan’s intro law class he added, “He played the part, and he could hold the kids attention because he knows his craft well.”
Despite the fact that Hales’ neighborhood is not exactly a Republican electoral stronghold, Ryan teaching credo sounds like rugged individualism.
“One’s expectations of those who work for you, whether they are students or employees, are very, very high. And they will usually—if you set them high—hit those expectations, and you are no friend to an employee or a student to make them happy in the short term by setting the objectives low,” he said.
Every student interviewed said that Ryan was tough, but they seemed enthusiastic anyway.
“He was very strict,” said Dewayne Ward, a graduating senior. “He had a set of rules. If you didn’t follow the rules there would be consequences.”
But Ward added, “He made sure class was fun. It was the way he interacted. He let you goof off a little,” explaining that within the constraints he had set up, Ryan was not above smiling at wisecracks.
And Ward illustrated the balance between high expectations and teasing by recounting the way Ryan addressed the students. He said, “He called everyone men. He would say ‘Good morning, men.’”
When Ryan reappeared in Hales’ gymnasium to make his speech on Wednesday, the Hales’ students chanted, “Jack, Jack, Jack,” competing for the attention of the television cameras.
One of the problems Ryan may face is distinguishing himself from Illinois’ other Republican Ryans: Jim, the former state Attorney General who lost the race for governor in 2002, and George, whose tenure as governor was stained with scandal. For that reason the signs at the rally read only ‘Jack!’
Forging his own identity, Ryan hopes he can appeal beyond his home district in the northern suburbs, selling Republican ideals of small government and low taxes in Chicago.
In the February interview, Ryan said he didn't push a political agenda.“The only time we talked about politics was when we were talking about raising taxes.” Recounting the discussion in class, he added:
“I said, how much do you think it is a reasonable amount to tax a wealthy person?
10 percent?
20 percent?
30 percent?
'No way,' they said.
10, that’s fair.
25, that’s fair.
30?
Oh my god!
How about 40?
Nooo Nooo. That’s outrageous! Not 40 percent.'
"I go, ‘that’s what the marginal rate is right now!'”
He was a delegate for Forbes during his first presidential run.
Got me, but I saw some articles from Rockford, Peoria, and Sauk County, in a google search I did. Maybe he said things in some of those.
Tom Clancy is a champion for the unborn children in his books, so I think he would have mixed emotions about this Jack Ryan who thinks it's okay to kill a child if his father is a rapist.
If anyone could pick up Fitzgerald's seat, this guy just might do it. For those who think he might be a little squishy on the 2nd Amendement, this is Illinois for crying out loud. If you don't have a self-financed telegenic guy to appeal to the soccer mom vote, you might as well award the seat to another sleezebag liberal Dick Durbin clone.
Anyway, the stuff showing up on illinois leader is something I think we should keep track of & be aware of, but it does look like there are induhviduals or a group that is trying to kill Jack Ryans candidacy
I have my concerns about him, since he doesnt seem to want to answer some things directly, and i think some people are supporting him because he is good looking & telegenic, but i think that will come out in the wash by the time the primary is over
It sure does look like there is some character assasination going on though, & I'm wondering who is behind it, especially since the guy running Illinois Leader is supposedly running Ryans campaign
I like the way he addressed them as "men". I read somewhere else that when he would call on them individually he'd say, "Mr. so and so".
Sounds like he wanted these young men from the slums to take responsibility for shaping their fates - to stand and deliver.
Actually, I have concerns about him along this line
A young conservative from out of state, who is attending a local university went to a Topinka fund-raiser last week with the intention of finding some people from the Ryan campaign so he could volunteer his services. He was told by non-Ryan people that Jack might not stay in the race, and so he hasn't volunteered.
I don't know who Judy Biggert is, but I know she can't be good if the pro-choice Topinka wants her.
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