Inge Ryan - Political Policy

Political Policy

Since the 1970s, Namsskogan had experienced a rapid decline in the population, from 1,750 to 1,000 in the early 1990s. Among Ryan's political changes as mayor was to encourage people to take their holidays in the winter instead of the summer. He argued that the three main industries in Namsskogan—agriculture, forestry and tourism—all had their peaks during May through October, but that it was difficult to get sufficient work-force during this period because people were on holiday. The municipality offered NOK 4,000 to anyone who took their three-week summer vacation during the winter. Ryan also introduced a public service office, where residents could be served with all necessary public over-the-counter services at one place. For people living outside the community center, a cooperation was made with local stores where people could send in standardized application there. Some simple applications, such as erecting a simple garage, were approved on the stop at the service office. The Socialist Left Party used Namsskogan during the 1995 election as their prime example for how they wanted to modernize the public sector.

Ryan's election as party deputy leader in 1999 was largely due to the party's parliamentary support for the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Ryan represented the branch of the party that was apposed to the Norwegian participation in the war, and was appointed to supplement the Kristin Halvorsen and Øystein Djupedal, who were both in favor of the bombings. In 2001, Ryan proposed allowing local stores to function as branches of Vinmonopolet, the state-run liquer stores, to allow liquer and wine retailing in rural areas.

During the 2001 election, Ryan's main issues were related to regional policy. He wanted to introduce subsidies for local stores in rural areas, and equal price throughout the country for power line component in the electrical prices. Other issues were increased funding for schools, increasing the progressivity of taxation and making a two-tier system for taxes on electricity. After being elected, Ryan worked to try to establish public service offices, and wanted to force state agencies to participate in these. He also called for a separate Minister of Rural Affairs.