Springfield Mayor Charles Ryan welcomed the press at his home in Forest Park early this afternoon. He looked well and was in good spirits, first sharing the story of what happened on Friday that brought him into a long weekend of hospital overnight stays, including a description of the angiogram he received on Monday at Baystate. He denied the rumor that he had experienced a heart attack, and said that he will work from home for the rest of the week in order to let the angiogram incision heal.
Now that he has learned that his health is excellent, the mayor says he is "back to square one" about whether he may run again this coming fall. He indicated that he may make a decision about that "in the next month or so."
Mayor Ryan then displayed his inner spitfire, or perhaps gumption is the right word, on the subject of local casino gambling—which he opposes—and the talk about the status of the Finance Control Board. He says he is looking forward to "a complete talk" with the governor about the control board "and many other subjects."
Following is a transcript of the press conference.
Q: Can you first take us through what happened Friday?
Mayor Charles Ryan: A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. I felt great, left the house, I was heading to AIC to be a part of a program with the new lieutenant governor. I got halfway across the city, and felt a sensation in my left arm that was not a natural sensation. It was one of those things; you kind of hope you can shrug it off. And because it stayed for a little while, I said well, that’s not a smart thing to do, and so I decided to continue driving to where my doctor’s office was, [in] one of the office buildings next to Mercy Hospital. [My doctor] gave me a quick examination. He really couldn’t tell a lot, but he said to me, I think I’m going to have you go to the emergency room.
So I said, okay, fine, so you do what you’re told. I went to the emergency room, where I got excellent attention, care, etc, couldn’t ask for anything more. Finally, about two hours later, the emergency room doctors said that they’d like to hold me overnight for further observation. So Friday now has gone into Saturday, and I think doctors from the Pioneer Valley vascular firm, who really were the doctors that treated Joan a couple years ago, they were there. So they said that they’d like to have a stress test. I took a stress test, I think Saturday, and did well, so you’ll be happy to hear that they did the whole thing, and no problems. They, however, said that they really weren’t content: they were very prudent, very conservative—they weren’t content to let me go.
They wanted me to have an angiogram, which is a wire that they put in your body up through your groin, and it comes up and examines your heart with photographs, and it’s on a video screen. And they wanted to do that, but mentioned the fact that if there were complications, I’d have to have another procedure, which Mercy did not provide for, that they suggested Baystate, and I said that was fine with me. So Sunday morning I was transferred over to Baystate.
Monday afternoon, I had the angiogram process, and it came out with a clean bill of health. I was delighted with it. I saw myself in living color on a TV screen right next to the cot or the bed that I was on, and I was delighted when the doctor said that there was no blockage, that there was no damage, there was no disease, and I was a free man and ready to go about my business. So here I am.
Q: Did the doctors tell you or did they find out what might have been the problem with the arm in the first place?
Ryan: No, they really didn’t, and that’s one of these things—they’ve got such tremendous technology on the one hand, and yet they’ll be the first to tell you that they don’t have all of the answers, and that’s why they do these tests. I don’t think for the last four days anybody came to see me unless they had a needle or some sort of a monitor. And it was continual taking of blood and measuring this, and measuring that, as they continued to get as many facts as they can to finally make their judgment. The ultimate judgment, of course, is when they put that camera inside your body, and then photograph the entire heart, the arteries, to see if there’s blockage; the chamber, to see if everything’s pumping alright, and that’s what they were able to do, and that really gave them all the answers that they needed to have.
Q: The word was that at some point you had a heart attack.
Ryan: I did not. I did not. You know, this is human nature; people say things. I’m aware of the fact that when a public figure disappears for a few days, and has to go—everybody has to go to the hospital, sometimes for treatment, sometimes for precaution, and I had to do that. And I’m aware of that, and the fact that you might have heard that, I can understand it, but it just isn’t true. I had no heart attack, I didn’t come close to a heart attack, and the best thing about it is that at my age, they have now gone to the inside, they’ve examined this thing, and I kind of guess I walk away with an A on my report card as far as my heart is concerned. I’m happy about that.
Q: Were you aware at any time that this was becoming a media circus?
Ryan: No, I was not. I did see Dan a couple of times on TV, but I didn’t spend a lot of time—I watched the Patriots. And if you can sit through the Patriots game without a heart attack, I guess you’re alright. I think New England had a heart attack on that one.
But it was great—you know, I was really comfortable at all times. I would say the initial sensation was over probably by the time I walked from [my doctor’s] office into the emergency room. But, again, they’re very cautious people, they’re trained to be cautious, and I appreciate that.
I would also say that the personnel at both of these hospitals were outstanding, sterling. We’re a lucky community to have these two institutions. It’s one thing to see these places from the outside. It’s another to be a patient, even for something as minor as this, for a few days, and you get a tremendous appreciation of the quality that’s consistent. People come and go—nurses, doctors, interns, supporting personnel—every single one of them on the ball, knowing exactly what he or she should do. It’s a great thing, and we’re very lucky in this city to be the host to those two institutions.
Q: So you’ve had a 100 percent clean bill of health, and it’s still a mystery, what happened with that sensation in your arm?
Ryan: That’s right. Well, one the doctors said it could be as transitory as having slept on your arm the previous night. If you’ve ever slept on your arm, and you know that kind of a funny, uncomfortable but not painful tingle. So all I can tell you, Ray, is that they have looked me upside down, inside out, and they have come to the—it was visible there, on the monitor, that there is no blockage, there is no pain, there is no damage.
Q: Any different behavior, any prescription to do anything differently after this?
Ryan: No, no. What they recommended is that I not go to the office ’til Monday. And so my idea of a compromise is that I won’t go to the office ’til Monday, but I will be seeing a lot of people here [at home]. I can talk, I can think, I can walk, and that’s what really most of my work is anyway. So I don’t need to run around to do this job for the next few days.
Q: I just want to clarify the hospital move from Mercy to Baystate. We had heard that that had something to do with a test that couldn’t be performed at Mercy for the holiday weekend?
Ryan: No, well, there were two things. One, the holiday weekend did play a part in all of this, at both hospitals. They were short-staffed because of the long, three-day holiday. But that had nothing to do with the decision to go to Baystate. The decision to go to Baystate was this: that it was conceivable, until they had the angiogram, they didn’t know what they were going to find. They could guess, they could think, they could surmise, but they didn’t know. And if the angiogram showed some damage, showed some blockage, then they’d have to deal with that, and probably put in a balloon, on the end of the catheter, and then a stent after that. That’s a separate procedure, and that procedure is not done at Mercy, so I understand.
So in the eventuality that that might be necessary, it seemed to be the prudent thing to transfer from one hospital to another, because otherwise what it would have meant is to go through part of the process at Mercy, and then go down the street and do the rest of the process. I didn’t really want to do that, and the doctors didn’t recommend it. And that happens all the time—there are hospitals that can do certain procedures, and can’t do others. Our eleventh child is alive today because of the fact she was born at Providence, and they couldn’t save her life, so she was transferred to Baystate in the middle of the night. This is commonplace, that people go from hospital to hospital when the second hospital has the ability to do things the first can’t.
Q: Last question from me; has this health scare, as the state’s most senior mayor, does this health scare have any effect on your interest in continuing to serve, or to possibly run again?
Ryan: No. Well, it has nothing to do with my decision, and obviously if I had had a different outcome, it would have tremendously affected my decision. So I guess we’re back where I was Thursday, you know? Just going along, having a great time, enjoying myself, acting very, very vigorously, assuming I was in good health, and then you get this little cautionary note, and then you have a total, thorough, complete exam; there’s nothing more that they can do in order to come to a conclusion. The conclusion is indeed I am in good health, and so we’re back to square one.
Q: Mr. Mayor, when will you make a decision…?
Ryan: I really don’t know. I think, sometime in the next month or so. Certainly health always has been, and you’ve heard me say before, that health is key for anybody. Joan keeps talking about Michael Downey, who lived right across the street, and she and I were here three years ago when Michael was carried out, at the age of 48, with a fatal heart attack. And so bad health can hit anybody, death can hit anybody, at any age. So I’m a very lucky guy. I’m thrilled with the conclusion, and very grateful to all of the men and women and those fine institutions, for letting me see, in a bird’s eye view, just how good they are.
Q: Mayor, can we ask you an unrelated question about casinos?
Ryan: Sure. What’s your question?
Q: The governor says we should look at it as a way to raise revenue. You’ve had just a little inkling as to what the voters have to say about this; is there any way you’re going to change your mind?
Ryan: Well, I would be very unhappy if the governor goes down that route. We’re a great state, and I don’t think—and I’ve said it many times—I’ve been very extravagant in my praise for the governor, because I see him as a different guy. Someone who really can appeal to the best in us. Because, you know, gambling is not the best in us. Casino gambling, whatever economic spin it might have, is also a one-way ticket to poverty for a lot of people, to shattered lives. I follow closely the effects of casino gambling in Connecticut. You hear about all of the money that some rich guy, who nobody seems to know—casino gambling means they get your money, and they keep your money. But also, we have women walking into the Thames River, and committing suicide, because they have a destroyed life. To really go down that route, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with the assets we have, the strengths we have, I think is a bad trip. And I agree with the morning editorial in the [Republican] that says that so far as anybody in Springfield’s thinking about it, it’s adding gasoline to fire. I mean it’s just crazy.
We don’t need—we’re making profound progress in the last three years. We’re on the move. I mean, what the heck! We know where we’re going. We can do it without these artificial things, which appeal to the worst. We have a city with a lot of poor people; we’ll end up with more. We have a city with a lot of crime; we’ll end up with more. We have a city where we are coming off corruption, and we’ve locked up most of them. This will bring more corruption. All of the things we don’t want come with casino gambling. And I would hope the governor would decide—it might take a little bit of time, and we’ll give him that time. Because he’s got a tough rebuilding job from a fiscal point of view. But if we can rebuild Springfield financially, he can rebuild the state of Massachusetts, because he’s got a lot more tools going for him that we had three years ago.
Q: Mr. Mayor, just one final question from me, and that is as a result of the hospitalization, any follow-up visits scheduled? Any medication that the doctors might have given you?
Ryan: No, they—well, what they did say is that I’ve added to my lexicon of pills. I’ve been on blood pressure pills for 15 years. I now take, I’m supposed to take a baby aspirin once a day. They say they’re good. Take a baby aspirin once a day. And I’m supposed to go see the doctor in three weeks. [The doctor] indicated he didn’t want me to go to the office, he didn’t want me driving a car. The car thing was because he didn’t want this incision to open up again. That would not be nice. But other than that, he understands—I told him I felt free to meet with people at my house, and he said fine. He understands that I’m meeting you very nice gentlemen and ladies this morning, and that wasn’t vetoed. But I think that primarily, so far as [my] heart’s concerned, that my activities with the heart doctors of this community are pretty much over.
Q: Charlie?
Ryan: Mike?
Q: Lieutenant Governor [Tim] Murray, at that AIC conference, talked about the lack of definition, or a lack of defined role in the future, for the Finance Control Board, as of June 30. Have you had any discussions with the Patrick administration [about that]?
Ryan: No, the only discussion I had since—well, I certainly had discussions with Deval Patrick during the campaign, as he visited with me several times for a prolonged period of time. The day that—and you were there, I think, Mike—that I endorsed him at Court Square. I met with [him] and Murray for half an hour privately. At that meeting I said that I’m very much in favor of the continuation of the control board. I thought it had done a fine job, and its job was not over, and I wanted it to go for another three years. Since that time, I have not had a discussion on really any of the aspects of our government. He’s a busy guy, and I’m very deferential to the fact that he is besieged with all sorts of problems. He’s gotta get his feet on the ground.
But I’m confident that in the next several weeks, that he and I will have a chance to sit down, and as Tim Murray says, to define it. I can define it very, very easily, because of the fact that if any community ought to be ready to continue this for a while longer, it should be Springfield. The memory of where we were is not that far off. It was the old government that got us there; can we go back to the old government? We can go back there in a heartbeat. So I feel very strongly that the control board has done a superior job, and has done some great things for the city, and we can build upon that—we are building upon that. I mean, my golly, we’ve a $53 million bond issue; the bonds will be sold in the next few days. We’ll be doing things that we never thought we’d be able to do for another ten or 15 years.
Q: What would be your fear if the control board left? What do you think might happen?
Ryan: I think it would be very difficult. I don’t even understand the sense of them leaving. I mean, I’m willing to go into hypothetical questions if someone can tell me why it would make any sense. But you’re going from something that failed, with some of the same people who were there when it failed, and then you’re going back to them, and you’re saying, okay, you’re in power now, in spite of the fact that you drove us into the Connecticut River; you did nothing to get us out of the Connecticut River, and for some crazy reason you’re back in charge. That’s not smart.
Q: So you’d like to see the control board extended at least beyond June 2007?
Ryan: Oh, absolutely. Without an extension, it will expire in the summer of this year. And so it has to be an extension. The legislation provides that the control board can extend itself, but obviously it would not do it without the approval of the governor, and so on. So I’m looking forward to a very, very complete talk with the governor about this, and many other subjects.
Q: So you’re saying you want another three years with the control board?
Ryan: I’d say three, that’s what I’d like. You know, what people don’t understand, whether they’re in government, whether they’re laypeople, whether they’re press: this is an extraordinarily complex organism we’ve got, with a lot of moving parts. And the easiest thing to do is to say yes, to everybody, about everything. And that’s exactly what happened. Many of these people, who are in politics, and who kind of love the game, have never yet learned how to say no. And you’ve got to be able to have some—we’ve said no on a series of things, but because of that, we have now begun to establish credibility. We’ve got a bond rating that’s increased. We’re able to go out into the bond market. We’re able to have balanced budgets. These are indescribable things.
If you don’t have any of those things, you collapse to the point—as the city did four years ago, they fired 503 people and turned off the streetlights. Can you have any more evidence than that of the demise of a community? So there’s a tremendous amount of stake, and I’m saying that we’ve got something that’s working, and succeeding, and we should try and continue it for another several years. In that time, hopefully, we can rebuild a new cadre of people in the city council who will understand these things, and who will fight for these things. That has not happened in sufficient numbers yet.
Update: Bonus points to any reader who can identify which reporters asked which questions.
