Former US Rep. Tim Ryan making money as lobbyist

YOUNGSTOWN — Tim Ryan, a former 20-year congressman, is making more money now than he ever did in his life — including $246,943 to advocate for natural gas last year — but won't dismiss a return to politics."I love politics and public policy so I'm never going to rule it out," Ryan said during a Friday interview. "Money was never a big driver for me. It was always about the service so we'll see what the future holds. But I'm not ruling anything out. People are calling me way more than I want them to about jumping back in whether it's the governor's race (in 2026) or the presidential race in four years."Ryan, a Democrat who briefly ran in 2019 for president before dropping out after low polling numbers and weak fundraising, said of another White House bid, "Oh, I don't know. I'm just saying people are calling me. I am so happy right now. This is the happiest I've been personally and professionally in a long time so it's hard to kind of change course."Heated, an online publication that writes about "climate crisis," reported Ryan's public relations firm, Wuzzy Enterprises LLC, received $246,943 for "public relations services" in 2023 from a part-time job he holds with Natural Allies for Clean Energy Future, a public policy organization funded by several major natural gas companies. Ryan was hired in January 2023 to the organization's leadership council to promote natural gas.Heated, which used Natural Allies' most-recent tax return to connect the payment to Ryan, referred to him as a "paid fossil fuel mouthpiece," summed up his criticisms of the Democratic Party as "they didn't love fossil fuels enough," and criticized MSNBC for a Nov. 30 appearance by the former congressman for not disclosing his "lucrative day job to its viewers" when talking about natural gas.Public Citizen, a progressive consumer advocacy group, also criticized Ryan, quoting Alan Zibel, a researcher for the group, as saying the appearance "was nothing short of an unpaid ad for harmful gas drilling and exports that will raise prices for ordinary Americans."Ryan, who used to represent most of Mahoning and Trumbull counties in the U.S. House during his two decades there, said he's a longtime proponent of natural gas.Ryan said: "Natural gas can displace coal; it already has, which is why I don't understand how these environmentalists are so ... it's just the absolute fringe. These are the groups that want to ban gas stoves. Take it for what it's worth."He added: "They write these dumb articles that have no connection to reality at all."Ryan made $174,000 annually as a House member before losing the 2022 Senate race to Republican J.D. Vance, who is now the vice president-elect.In addition to the natural gas job, Ryan serves as co-chair of the Bitcoin Policy Institute's BPI Action, an organization that lobbies Congress in support of Bitcoin, and is chief global business development officer for Zoetic Global, a technology firm focusing on environmental and economic issues."These are issues I worked on in Congress so it's kind of a natural thing," he said. "I was writing letters of support for the natural gas power plants in Lordstown and other places in eastern Ohio for years and years and years. So it's not like I switched my position on this. It's what we need and I'm happy to advocate and travel and do media."During his Nov. 30 appearance on MSNBC, not only did Ryan speak in favor of natural gas, but questioned why Democrats "are in a big fight with the crypto industry. What are we doing? Why are we fighting with crypto right now?"Ryan said his connections to natural gas helped with the potential Kimberly-Clark project on 560 acres of the former BDM Warren Steel Holdings property in Trumbull County get "a bunch of open (gas) well issues on that property" resolved.Ryan said he's never made more money than since he left politics and he's able to be with his family more working in the private sector."I like it and I can make money off of it, like I'm doing now, great, but if the (political) opportunity presents it, I'm not going to rule it out," Ryan said.Ryan moved from his Howland home in July 2023 and purchased a house two months later in Plain City in Union County for $1.27 million in order to be better located for the Zoetic job.Ryan said his polling showed him up 3% on Vance on Labor Day, two months before the 2022 general election for Senate. Vance won by 6.1%.Ryan's campaign raised $57 million to $16 million for Vance, but Senate Democrats didn't provide funding for Ryan's campaign. Vance's campaign benefited from $55 million in outside spending to $27 million for Ryan, according to OpenSecrets.org, a website that tracks campaign spending."At the end, we hoped we would get a little bit of help, but it was crickets from D.C.," Ryan said. "Again, not to do with me, but where is the strategy in that?"Ryan said Vance is "an articulate guy" and is sure he'll run for president in four years.As vice president, Ryan said Vance "is going to do whatever Trump wants. He's probably going to end up getting squeezed out because Trump is more than likely going to be aligned with the big corporate interests." Democratic criticismRyan has been a vocal critic of the Democratic Party, saying, "It's so screwed up."Ryan said the party let President Joe Biden hold it hostage when there was no way he could beat Republican Donald Trump until he was forced to not seek reelection after a disastrous debate performance."Biden screwed everybody on this," Ryan said. "The original sin is him staying in and all the people around him and all the politicians that were quiet and didn't say anything because they don't have any guts. It was basically me, (James) Carville, (David) Axelrod, (Democratic strategists). There were like three or four of us screaming about it, saying this is insane. I started saying something in like October the year before and people started coming after me. You can say whatever you want, I'm just saying this guy shouldn't have run."After the June 27 debate, Ryan became louder about replacing Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris."There was no other choice, it was either her or him," Ryan said. "We knew what was going to happen with him. It would have been way worse with him than it was. She was our only real option. It made some of the House races close and helped with some of the Senate seats."If Biden didn't attempt to seek reelection and the Democratic Party had an open primary, Ryan said, "Trump obviously has his supporters, but any candidate should've won this race. It just our brand is so bad. You need a Bill Clinton. You need a 1992 campaign that rips the party away from the old establishment and realigns it with normal people. From a straight politics standpoint of putting people first, focusing on economics, it's not about redistribution, it's about growing the pie. It's about working with business, not just bad mouthing business and hating on them when they're the ones that help make stuff happen. It's bringing people together."Part of the reason Democrats lost Pennsylvania, Ryan said, is the party's opposition to natural gas, which helps drive the economy in the western part of the state.Ryan said the primary reason Biden won in 2020 was the COVID-19 pandemic.Ryan said the Democratic Party has lost its way and is greatly out of touch with regular Americans."We're beating our heads against the wall," Ryan said. "I hate to see the Democratic Party be where it is right now: hog-tied by a bunch of fringe interests that have moved them away from Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and into this realm of really extreme politics that don't connect with anybody's day-to-day economic situation."The entire Democratic Party, Ryan said, "is on life support. Many of them just don't know it yet."Ryan said the Democrats "need a whole reboot and rebrand," and the Democratic National Committee should move out of Washington, D.C., to a place like Youngstown, Toledo or Detroit."There's no long-term strategy at all for Democrats," Ryan said.