Pre-Primary Profiles: John J. Ryan, Judge of Probate

Tuesday's primary will determine which of three Republicans candidates for Judge of Probate will represent the party in the general election. The winner in November will be the first judge for the combined New Canaan-Darien Probate Court when the state's consolidation plan goes into effect on January 5, 2011. 

Mike Murray, Bill Osterndorf, and John Ryan are the candidates vying to take over a position currently held by Russell Kimes in New Canaan and John Rearden in Darien.

Earlier, Mike Murray and Bill Osterndorf both answered questions for Patch.  Now it's former State Rep. John Ryan's turn.

Born: 1951

Lives in: Darien

Education: J.D., Boston College Law School (1976); B.A., University of Notre Dame (1973)

Current employment: Tibbetts, Keating, & Butler LLC

On consolidating the Darien and New Canaan probate courts:

The court system was hemorrhaging millions and millions of dollars because of .... the inner cities ones—where they have large social needs but they don't generate revenue from big estates, obviously—and the smaller courts. So that was a logistical/financial problem that had to get solved one way or another. They couldn't keep losing all this money. The other part is the logistics of getting everything on one system online, and getting it into a consolidated system. 

But quite frankly it 's not a good thing for lower Fairfield County at all—and I'm not criticizing the people [state legislators]—but lower Fairfield County, every one of the courts has had extremely competent, high-level practitioner judges because you have a high level of practice given the issues and the estates. And the probate courts in lower Fairfield County, I'm sure every one turns money into the state, meaning they were not running financially underwater. So theoretically we could have left all of the ones down here alone, because they aren't a problem. 

The other part that's not a good thing is the customer service part. If you have to go several towns away and the constituency is older people or people who have needs, that's going to be a problem.

On why he's running:

I've been involved in this stuff for a long time, and I have the idea, unfortunately, that if you're qualified to do stuff, and you can handle it, and there are needs in the community ... you've got an obligation to do it if you can.

When this thing came up, a number of people lobbied me and pointed out, so you're going to need somebody that has all of these different skill sets and tools. And there's nobody else, unfortunately, who matches up with all these different things. I can do it, and somebody's got to do it. ... You have to not only know how to do this stuff; you have to know how to handle people and situations, and it's a lot of different component skills and experiences. I can do it, so somebody better do it.

It's not one of these lucrative government positions. It's not cushy, high glamor, or any one of those things. You don't do that stuff for this. It's not a money-making thing at all.

On what he would change:

Your average citizen knows very little about the government in general, especially in lower Fairfield County, where we watch Chuck and Sue on news center 4 in Hartford. Never mind just the state capital and all the state agencies, but especially with something like probate. People have no idea what it does. People get involved only because, unfortunately, of a particular life instance, and you find out there's a huge amount of misinformation or misunderstanding. 

So one obvious thing, which people have pointed out to me, I'm going to try to ratchet up the public awareness of it being a user friendly court, and that there are things you can do or not do to make the process simpler. 

On the entry of Mike Murray into the race:

Primaries, by definition—doesn't matter what it is—are extremely chancy, and especially in Darien and New Canaan Aug. 10. People are in the Vineyard, people are in Maine, and all that other sort of thing. So it's an interesting time to do it. 

Factually, I got every one of the Darien delegates. So Mr. Murray has the right to go ahead and petition if he wants to, and that's not a criticism. ... If you look up the bios of the delegates, they're all people who have been involved in things, and are well-regarded, and on the RTM. And they took it upon themselves to do all kinds of homework, and so we got all 10 of the delegates.

So my only concern is that the public at large do what the delegates did. Unfortunately, this is a job that has requirements and skill sets and experience, and so the mission ... is just to explain and educate the voters on resume experience, job requirements, whether you've done it.