Jack Ryan (Senate candidate)

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This page is about the U.S. politician; for other uses, see Jack Ryan.

For other Illinois politicians sharing the same last name, see Jim Ryan (politician) (former state Attorney General) and George H. Ryan (former Governor).

Image:Jackryancampaignphoto.jpg

Jack Ryan (born circa 1960) is Republican from the state of Illinois who was forced to withdraw his Senate candidacy due to an alleged sex scandal involving his ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan.

In 2004, he ran for the United States Senate, hoping to succeed retiring Republican Peter Fitzgerald. On March 16, 2004, he won the Republican primary, thus pairing him against Democrat Barack Obama. However, after reports of embarrassing allegations about Ryan's sexual past, he withdrew his candidacy on June 25, 2004, and officially filed the documentation to withdraw on July 29.

Biography

Ryan spent his childhood in Wilmette, Illinois with his five siblings, and attended New Trier High School, generally recognized as one of the best public high schools in the United States. He graduated high school in 1977 and went on to Dartmouth College, where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, and his JD from Harvard Law School. After this, he worked for Goldman Sachs as an investment banker, first in New York City, and then in the Chicago branch.

In 2000, he left Goldman Sachs and taught at an inner-city Chicago Catholic parochial school, Hales Franciscan High School.

Note that Jack Ryan is not related either to Jim Ryan or to former Governor George Ryan. [1]

Platform and campaign

Ryan is a proponent of across-the-board tax cuts and tort reform, an effort to limit payout in medical malpractice lawsuits. He is a proponent of school choice and an approach that stresses accountability in education, a stance similar to the No Child Left Behind Act signed by President George W. Bush.

In a controversial move, Ryan had Justin Warfel (a campaign worker) follow his opponent, Barack Obama, twenty four hours a day and record everything he did in public on videotape. Warfel did not follow Obama into his office or private residences, he recorded Obama at all other times. Warfel also heckled Obama by yelling questions at him in public. The tactic backfired when many people, including Ryan's supporters, criticized this activity. Ryan eventually withdrew Warfel but did not apologize. [2]

Demise of the campaign

Ryan married actress Jeri Ryan in 1991; together they have a son, Alex Ryan. They divorced in 1999 in California, and the records of the divorce were sealed at their mutual request. Five years later, when Ryan's Senate campaign began, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and WLS-TV, the local ABC affiliate, sought to have the records released. Both Ryan and his wife agreed to make their divorce records public; but not the custody records, claiming that they could be harmful to their son if released.

On June 22, 2004, the California judge in the case agreed to release the custody files. The decision generated much controversy because it went against both parents' direct request and because it generally reversed the early decision to seal the papers in the best interest of the child.

Now public, the court filings by Jeri Ryan revealed that she claimed that her husband had taken her to sex clubs in New Orleans, New York City, and Paris, where he had asked her to perform sexual activities with him in front of other attendees of the clubs. Jeri Ryan described one as "a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling." In opposing court papers, Ryan denied the allegations, calling them "ridiculous" and accusing her of trying to libel him with the accusations, which he labeled "smut," and trying to sabotage a potential political career. After the papers became public, he continued to deny the allegations and vowed to stay in the race. In defense of Ryan, some supporters pointed out that the judge in the custody case ruled in his favor, suggesting the accusations were not viewed as credible by the court. Jeri Ryan refused to comment.

Before the Republican primary election, state party chairwoman Judy Baar Topinka had asked Ryan if there was anything embarrassing in the files; he replied that there was not. Moderate Republican Representative Ray LaHood called on Ryan to drop out of the race. By June 25, Dennis Hastert, another prominent Illinois Republican (and the House Speaker) had "made some calls," according to anonymous sources reported in the Daily Southtown, and the consensus was for Ryan to step aside. The Southtown newspaper also reported that Ryan was expected to step aside. One of the factors—aside from the sex club allegations—was the belief that Ryan had misled the Republican leadership. As support continued to decline, Ryan withdrew from the race on June 25, 2004.