Inge Ryan

Inge Ryan (born 15 August 1956 in Overhalla Municipality) is a Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party. From 2009 to 2017, he was County Governor of Nord-Trøndelag. Ryan was mayor of Namsskogan Municipality from 1991 to 1995, and was a member of the Parliament of Norway from 2001 to 2009, the last four years as his party's parliamentary leader.

Early and personal life Ryan was born 15 August 1956 in Overhalla Municipality. His parents were forester Arvid Ryan and nurse Irene Opdal. He attended Øysletta School from 1963 to 1969. At the age of eight, he started the association Tiger to establish a ski jump. He attended Overhalla Lower Secondary School from 1969 to 1972,

In June 2009, Ryan was admitted to Ullevål University Hospital for treatment. His close friend and Minister of Health and Care Services, Bjarne Håkon Hanssen from the Labour Party, phoned director Tove Strand at Ullevål to inquire why Ryan was not admitted to Rikshospitalet and whether he was receiving the necessary treatment. This spurred a public debate about the incident.

Professional career While attending secondary school, Ryan had several small jobs, including for Øyvind Johansen. When 18, Ryan worked at a fish factory in Sørvær. He quit this job in protest against the state's unemployment policies, because he had been instructed to "depopulate Indre Namdal", because the agency policies required people to be moved if they could not get jobs locally. From 1997 to 2001, he was the director of Indre Namdal Regional Council. From 2001 to 2009, Ryan worked as a full-time member of parliament. On 19 December 2008, Ryan was appointed County Governor of Nord-Trøndelag. In the same election, Ryan was also elected member of Nord-Trøndelag County Council. The following year, Ryan was appointed as board member of the county-owned power company Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk, where he sat until 1999. He was also leader of the Namsskogan chapter of the Socialist Left Party.

Parliament and national politics

Prior to the 1993 parliamentary election, Ryan was one of three nominee candidates for the Socialist Left Party's list in Nord-Trøndelag. Ryan was nominated on third place on the list, after Jorunn Hageler and Inge Staldvik. Hageler was elected to parliament, and Ryan was her second deputy during the term 1993 to 1997. After the nomination, Hageler stated that she regretted having said that Ryan was less suitable to sit in parliament than she was, because of his down-to-earth appeal and informal dress code. The party failed to win a seat from the county in 1997. Ryan was a possible candidate to become deputy party leader of his party in 1997, but was instead appointed as central board member. He became deputy leader in 1999, a position he held until 2001. Ryan became a member of the party's largest parliamentary group ever. During the parliamentary term from 2001 to 2005, Ryan was a member of the Standing Committee on Business and Industry and the Election Committee. He was a member of the parliamentary delegation to the Nordic Council. He also was a deputy member of the European Committee and the delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. Ryan also introduced a public service office, where residents could be served with all necessary public over-the-counter services at one place. For people living outside the community center, a cooperation was made with local stores where people could send in standardized application there. Some simple applications, such as erecting a simple garage, were approved on the spot at the service office. The Socialist Left Party used Namsskogan during the 1995 election as their prime example for how they wanted to modernize the public sector.

Ryan's election as party deputy leader in 1999 was largely due to the party's parliamentary support for the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Ryan represented the branch of the party that was opposed to the Norwegian participation in the war, and was appointed to supplement the Kristin Halvorsen and Øystein Djupedal, who were both in favor of the bombings. In 2001, Ryan proposed allowing local stores to function as branches of Vinmonopolet, the state-run liquor stores, to allow liquor and wine retailing in rural areas.

During the 2001 election, Ryan's main issues were related to regional policy. He wanted to introduce subsidies for local stores in rural areas, and equal price throughout the country for power line component in the electrical prices. Other issues were increased funding for schools, increasing the progressivity of taxation and making a two-tier system for taxes on electricity. After being elected, Ryan worked to establish public service offices, and wanted to force state agencies to participate in these. He also called for a separate Minister of Rural Affairs.

Election results

Municipal elections

Party 1983 1991 1995 1999 Votes % Votes % % Seats Votes % Seats Labour 395 53.8 236 35.7 31.8 5 205 37.2 7 Socialist Left — — 173 26.2 27.5 5 114 20.7 3 Centre 71 9.7 111 16.8 20.9 4 — — — Liberal 36 4.9 — — — — — — — Christian Democratic — — 31 4.7 — — — — — Local list 232 31.6 110 16.6 19.8 3 232 42.1 7 Outcome Not elected Mayor Deputy mayor Elected

County elections Party 1991 1995 1997 2001 2005 % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Labour 38.4 3 29,370 40.1 3 22,703 32.4 2 29,359 40.0 2 Centre 31.1 2 14,003 19.1 1 10,878 15.5 1 11,966 16.3 1 Socialist Left 9.8 1 4,601 6.3 0 9,671 13.8 1 8,399 11.5 1 Progress 2.5 0 6,651 9.1 1 7,445 10.6 1 10,916 14.9 1 Christian Democratic 4.6 0 8,845 12.1 1 7,260 10.4 1 3,439 4.7 0 Conservative 8.1 0 4,981 6.8 0 7,191 10.3 0 5,094 6.9 0 Liberal 4.1 0 3,446 4.7 0 2,408 3.4 0 3,165 4.3 1† Other 1.0 0 1,394 1.8 0 2,550 3.6 0 1,000 1.4 0 Outcome Second deputy Not elected Elected Elected