Jack Ryan Slams Media for Sex Life Focus
July 2, 2004 -- Jack Ryan, the Illinois Republican who abandoned his Senate bid amid a furor over sex club allegations, says the media's focus on candidates' personal sex lives serves no public purpose and is harmful to democracy.
Watch John Stossel's full interview with Jack Ryan tonight on 20/20 at 10 p.m.
The investment banker-turned-teacher dropped out of the race after a judge unsealed custody records in which his ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan, claimed that he took her to sex clubs and asked her to have sex with him in front of other couples. Ryan disputed the allegations, saying he and his wife went to one "avant-garde" club in Paris and left because they felt uncomfortable.
Ryan's critics said such sexual exhibitionism clashed with the family values message touted by the Republican Party.
Ryan, 44, defended himself, telling ABC News' John Stossel, "I think we need more people going to Washington, D.C., who want to engage in marital relations with their wives. I think that's a good thing for this country, not a bad thing."
The records from the couple's 1999 divorce proceedings were opened after The Chicago Tribune and ABC affiliate WLS-TV filed suit, invoking the public's right to know. In the records, Jeri Ryan — who played the character Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager and later had a role on Boston Public — said her ex-husband took her to sex clubs in Paris, New York and New Orleans and tried to get her to perform sex acts with him while others watched.
Ryan said he and his campaign advisers thought the controversy would die down quickly. "I was told by almost everyone I spoke to this is a two-day story, this is not a crusher for a campaign," he said. "The biggest reaction I got was, 'Is that all there is?' "
But Ryan's campaign collapsed a mere four days after the story broke.
"It turned out that the media in my view was not going to let me talk about the failure of the Great Society, and how do we improve life on the South Side of Chicago," Ryan said. "They wanted to talk about what's now public, these divorce records. And they were not going to let go."
Ryan was a political newcomer. A millionaire investment banker, he had left business four years ago to teach at an all-boys parochial school in Chicago.
Bad for Democracy
He reportedly spent $3 million of his own fortune to win the primary.
While the press, in its request to unseal the Ryans' court records, asserted that the public had a right to know about the candidate's personal life, Ryan said releasing the information serves no good public purpose. "What benefit has the public now derived from knowing this information? There is no allegation, as you know, of breaking any laws, no allegation of infidelity, no allegation of breaking any marriage vows," he said.
He said this sort of intrusion into candidates' personal lives will prevent qualified candidates from entering politics, and said it is "not good for American Democracy."
"I can't tell you how many calls I got in the last two weeks from people who said, 'I always thought about maybe going into public service. But not now, not, not after I've seen what's happened to you.' And so this cannot be the right standard now for entering into American politics," he told Stosssel.
Most observers project his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Barack Obama, who held a wide lead even before the scandal broke, will likely win his bid for the seat left vacant by retiring GOP Sen. Peter Fitzgerald.
Another Run?
While Ryan said he believed his court records should have remained sealed, he said the campaign was enjoyable for the most part. He had no immediate plans to re-enter politics, but told he would not rule out seeking public office again.
"I'd consider it again. I had a good experience for the most part, until the last two weeks," he said.
"Remember the worst that can be said about me is that I propositioned my wife — my wife! — in an inappropriate place," Ryan said. "We've had people elected to office who have done things that are much worse than that."