Sheboygan mayor advances to runoff in recall

Jan. 17, 2012 |

Embattled Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan survived his first test in an unprecedented local recall election Tuesday, taking nearly 33% of the vote to lead a crowded eight-person field.

The second-place finisher was Terry Van Akkeren, with 26.2% of the vote.

Van Akkeren is a former state representative and mayor whom Ryan defeated in 2009. Ryan, 48, and Van Akkeren, 52, now advance to a recall runoff Feb. 21.

The winner of that round gets the final year of Ryan's four-year term.

Van Akkeren has touted his elective office experience in the race, including three terms as a Democratic Assembly member, 17 years as an alderman and two as a county supervisor.

The seeds of the recall effort against Ryan trace to a weekend of heavy drinking last summer in Elkhart Lake that reportedly included a physical altercation and vulgar comments by Ryan toward women in several bars.

He publicly apologized, admitted he was an alcoholic who had a relapse and sought treatment.

But the incident recalled earlier embarrassments, including a 2009 video on YouTube showing an intoxicated Ryan making sexually explicit comments about his sister-in-law and an accusation by the city's personnel director that Ryan fired her after she accused him of unwanted advances in a Sheboygan tavern.

The recall drive was launched after an effort by some aldermen to force Ryan from office was resisted by Ryan's attorney as a violation of federal law banning job discrimination based on disability.

Reached Tuesday, Ryan said he was moving forward and about to celebrate six months of sobriety.

He said he felt good about drivers who passed by during his seven hours of street side campaigning on election day.

"I got more thumbs up as opposed to any other appendage," Ryan joked.

He's campaigning on a theme of bringing more jobs to Sheboygan, including his support for a tribal casino at Blue Harbor Resort on the city's lakefront.

Ryan, a former Sheboygan alderman and onetime gas station owner, said he was glad to have a recall as a means to get beyond his controversial past.

"It was embarrassing when that happened," he said. "Truthfully, I would like to get this behind me."

Other candidates in the recall were: retired executive Roberta Filicky-Peneski, with 16.3%; local businessman Randy Schwoerer, with 15.4% of the vote; Ald. Jean Kittelson, with 4.9%; musician Erik Neave, with 2.9%; and high school senior Asher Heimermann and restaurant worker Mark Hermann, each with less than 1%.

Kittelson said she's no fan of recalls, but jumped in the race when the Ryan recall was set. She campaigned on other things, such as a neighborhood cleanup program, she said.

"Everything that happened with Bob Ryan was real unfortunate," Kittelson said. "It is what it is."

Source: http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/sheboygan-mayor-survives-first-test-in-recall-move-t43rg52-137543563.html

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