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 With establishment Republicans desperately searching for a way to
stop real estate businessman and former reality TV personality
Donald Trump's march toward the party's nomination for the Nov. 8
presidential election, Ryan's name has been mentioned often as an
alternative. But he has said he does not want to run for president
this year and has disavowed the Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan
group.
The organization has continued attempts to collect 1 million
signatures on an online petition to draft Ryan, arguing that the
very definition of a draft movement is to encourage a reluctant
participant to join.
The Draft Ryan group was another indication of Ryan's rise to the
Republican Party's top ranks since he became speaker of the House of
Representatives last year. Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, was Mitt
Romney's vice-presidential running mate on the Republicans' 2012
ticket.
A spokesman for Draft Ryan, David Catalfamo, said the letter was "a
sad commentary on the state of our politics today," adding, "The
Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan is simply a patriotic effort to save
our party and save our country.”
 The group registered with the U.S. Federal Election Commission as a
Super PAC, an independent political action committee that may raise
unlimited sums of money.
Timothy Kronquist, an attorney for Ryan's political operation,
addressed the letter to the group's treasurer, David Satterfield. It
urged the group to immediately cease and desist from any
representations that it is acting on Ryan's behalf or raising funds
that would assist Ryan's campaign activities.
"We believe the actions of your organization are not in compliance
with federal law and may constitute fraudulent solicitation of
funds," the letter said.
"Speaker Ryan has repeatedly announced publicly that he is not
running for president in 2016. ... It is in the public interest for
your organization to cease potentially confusing and misleading
people into supporting your organization."
A copy of the letter, which was dated Thursday, was seen by Reuters.
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A person close to Draft Ryan said the group had removed the "donate"
button from its website to clarify that the effort is not a
fund-raising exercise, and said the site would be changed so people
can sign the petition without leaving their email addresses.
He said the effort so far had been funded by Earle Mack, a former
U.S. ambassador to Finland. Mack has told The New York Times that he
would spend up to $1 million on the Draft Ryan committee.
Mack showed no sign of backing down on Thursday afternoon in an
interview with Fox Business News, saying Draft Ryan only sought to
propose Ryan as a unifying candidate in the event Republicans
deadlock over who should be their nominee at the party convention in
July.
"Let me tell your viewers to please go to Draft Speaker Ryan.com.
We're collecting a million signatures to raise the awareness that we
love the speaker, and the speaker is the right man for the job,"
Mack said.
Asked whether Ryan might not want the nomination, Mack acknowledged,
"I don't even know the man."
Trump has racked up primary wins and expanded his lead this week
despite attacks from the party's establishment, which is trying to
stop him from claiming the nomination at the Republican convention
in July.
Ryan has abstained from endorsing any presidential candidate in the
2016 race.
(Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Bill Trott, Grant McCool and Leslie
Adler)
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