Despite a confessed three-day drinking binge, the mayor of a small Wisconsin town refuses to step down.
Mayor Bob Ryan of Sheboygan, a town of about 51,000 people 50 miles north of Milwaukee, apologized for a wild, boozy weekend in which he passed out in a local tavern. But he said his alcoholism doesn't affect his job performance and said he would not resign, despite a unanimous vote by a city council committee, according to Reuters.
"Did I pass out on a bar? Yes I did. I'll admit that. Was I in a scuffle? Yes. Did I start it? No, I did not," he told a local radio station, WHBL.
Pictures published by The Sheboygan Press show the mayor slumped over a bar, face down on the table.
The Sheboygan City Council, unsurprisingly, will consider a resolution on Monday asking for the mayor's resignation.
Ryan said he is "not proud" of what he did, but insisted, "I've been successful in spite of it, and I will continue to be successful."
Although he's a self-confessed alcoholic, Ryan said he's still a good mayor.
"Alcohol has affected my personal life greatly," Ryan said. "I have never walked into a city meeting or council meeting under the influence of alcohol."
Ryan said he would continue to get treatment, but this isn't the first scandal he's been hit with. A YouTube video showed Ryan making sexual comments about a relative in a phone call and faces sexual harassment accusations from a female employee he fired, according to WTMJ.
Residents aren't all too convinced.
"If [the story is] as it appears on its face, a change needs to be made, because Sheboygan is bigger and better than this story is making us look," resident Scott Kautzer told the TV station.