“Tim has maintained his innocence and the fact (is) he was not intoxicated,” said Pat Lowry, a Ryan spokesman.
Ryan, 39, was first elected to the House in 2002, replacing Rep. Jim Traficant, D-Poland, who had been expelled from the House that same year following his conviction of federal corruption charges. Ryan had once served on Traficant’s congressional staff before being elected to the Ohio Senate in 2000.
He has since been handily re-elected four times and often has been mentioned as a statewide candidate for the Democratic Party.
Under House rules, Ryan was not required to report the incident to the office of House Speaker John Boehner because the arrest took place on his personal time and was unrelated to his official duties.
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