Sykes and Toledo politics - May 2014

#todo

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

Obviously, that's incorrect, but not for the reason that you think, which is explained further down this comment.

First, excepts from the May 23, 2014 Toledo Blade story about the alleged reasons why unions want Sykes to resign:

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.

Hold on! This Sykes kerfuffle may be nothing more than Toledo politics.

Connect the dots.

More from the May 23, 2014 Blade story:

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 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.

In the fall of 2013, the local unions campaigned against Bell because of his support for SB5 in 2011. The state Democrat party said defeating Bell was the party's top goal for 2013 because of Bell's support for SB5.

Martinez lost local Democrat support because he endorsed Bell for mayor last fall. Martinez opposed SB5, but his support for Bell displeased many Democrats.

In the late days of the [Nov 2013] campaign, Martínez angered fellow Democrats and union leaders by publicly endorsing Mayor Bell’s candidacy. Union and party leaders denounced the endorsement by Martínez—some even calling for him to return campaign contributions.

Six votes separated Martinez and Sykes for the final council at-large seat. Even though local unions opposed both men, the local unions may have enabled Sykes, who probably had better name recognition, 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.

I don't believe the unions are sincere in their calls for Sykes to resign. Well, they are sincere for political reasons, but they are not sincere for the reasons that they have given this week, in my opinion.

I think the unions see this as an opportunity to get another one of their "guys" on council.

In November 2013, Toledo city councilman Shaun Enright lost his bid to remain an at-large councilman.

• "Shaun Enright, who was the endorsed Democrat to replace Phil Copeland on council ..." - >>
• "Shaun Enright, who was appointed to the council in January [2013]." - >>
• "Shaun Enright is a former union official who was appointed over Ford by the majority of Democrats on council." - >>
• "Shaun Enright, the choice of Toledo union bosses, was appointed to fill a vacant at-large seat on Toledo City Council." - >>

Earlier this month, the local Democrat party was successful in getting their endorsed candidate, Matt Cherry a union official, elected to Toledo's district 2 council seat.

Obviously, Toledo is a union town, so it's understandable that local unions would like to replace Sykes with Enright, assuming that's possible if a councilperson resigns.

Anyway, it's just politics.