Sykes and Toledo politics - May 2014

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Larry Sykes said a couple days ago: "There’s no story."

Obviously, that's incorrect.

Here's the May 23, 2014 Toledo Blade story :

The Toledo Federation of Teachers got behind the city’s safety forces on Thursday calling for the resignation of Toledo Councilman Larry Sykes.

“I think the voters of Toledo deserve better and if Mr. Sykes does not resign, I will be calling upon the council members for censure as well,” said Kevin Dalton, president of the educators’ union, which represents more than 2,000. “He has created a hostile environment, which flies directly in the face of what this community has been trying to do for the past 18 months.”

Mr. Dalton was referring to the Changing Minds, Changing Lives forums hosted by various organizations, including The Blade, to discuss race and community relations.

But this may be plain old politics:

There is no love lost between Mr. Sykes and the teachers’ union. In October, the union, along with dozens of other union leaders, rallied against Mr. Sykes and Adam Martinez who were seeking election and re-election to council respectively. The unions were upset at Mr. Sykes for, in part, his push to privatize food services in the schools.

Dalton said: "I think the voters of Toledo deserve better."

That could be incorrect, since Sykes has been elected/re-elected multiple times.

And Sykes's behavior is nothing new.

Sykes got elected to the TPS board. Then he lost re-election. Then he won election back to the TPS board. Then he won election to Toledo city council.

If the voters deserved better, then they would have never re-elected Sykes.

In November 2013, Sykes won election to Toledo city council at-large, which means every registered voter in Toledo had a chance to vote FOR or AGAINST Sykes.

But voter turnout in Toledo last November was only about 25 percent.

And Sykes won the 6th and final council at-large seat by defeating incumbent Adam Martinez by six votes.

The local unions campaigned against Martinez and Bell because of their support for SB5.

Six votes separated Martinez and Sykes for the final council at-large seat. The local unions may have enabled Sykes to defeat Martinez. And now some local unions want Sykes to resign.

This story reaches jocularity level.

I hope Sykes does NOT resign. Sykes can be removed in the 2017 election by a 20-percent voter turnout.

Stay strong Larry. Keep being an asshole, but do not step aside.

Now I don't believe the unions are sincere in their calls for Sykes to resign. I think the unions see this as an opportunity to get another one of their "guys" on council.

It's just politics.

#todo