Sheboygan mayor plans to stay on job

SHEBOYGAN - Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan admits to passing out and getting into a scuffle at a bar last weekend. This is not the first time Ryan has publicly admitted to a drinking problem. Some are calling for his resignation, but he says he plans to stay on the job.

"Alcohol will never again play a role in my future," Ryan told the Sheboygan City Council in October, 2009. At the time Ryan apologized for his abuse of alcohol after a video surfaced of him apparently drinking and making inappropriate comments at a local bar.

"I do not blame the council for asking for my resignation. What I did is indefensible....I'm not proud of it," Ryan said Thursday in a radio interview with WHBL in Sheboygan.

Ryan is dealing with public scrutiny again. Thursday he talked about an incident at an Elkhart Lake bar last weekend. He admits to "a three day drinking session."

"I'm not proud of that," said Ryan. "I'm humiliated by that."

A bar tender at the Brown Baer didn't want to talk with FOX 11 on camera but said Mayor Ryan was there last weekend, and passed out at the bar. She says he said inappropriate things to her, things she'd rather not repeat.

"My personal, my medical problem I am taking care of...The distraction of it is what affects my effectiveness," Ryan told the radio station.

The city council met Wednesday and Sheboygan officials decided they will introduce a resolution asking the mayor to step down at a meeting next week.

Ryan says alcohol has not affected the way he does his job, and has no plans to resign. He says he's been successful despite his alcohol problem, and he will do the best he can to stay 100 percent sober for the rest of his term.

"If it happens again, I need to walk away," said Ryan.

The mayor says the "fishbowl" he lives in - to a degree - has kept him sober. He says he's grateful for it in that regard.

Questions have been raised about if Ryan drove while he was intoxicated. He said he drove in the morning, when he was not drinking.