Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Feeling a Lot Better About Barbara Sykes.

I've been looking for audio of Barbara Sykes' official announcement for Auditor. I heard it on WKSU last night, but they don't have it up. The ABJ carries the money quote:

Sykes struck an unusual tone for someone hoping to win a campaign by first
explaining that she'd still prefer to walk away from elected life.
In a year when most Democrats are pointing fingers at Republicans caught up in the
corruption scandal, Sykes then said Democrats, including herself, were part of
the problem.
"I haven't seen any solutions come from the Republicans nor the Democrats," Sykes said with a few dozen House and Senate Democratic colleagues standing behind her at the Statehouse.
"Since I'm a Democrat, and proud to be one, I'm part of the problem," Sykes said. She added that she would be an independent voice in the auditor's office.
Without blinking, Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern - a prominent critic of Republicans caught up in the scandal - said Sykes has always spoken her mind. "It takes a great deal of political courage to point out that Democrats in the past have made their share of mistakes, and that Republicans today continue to make mistakes," Redfern said.

Time will tell whether this candor will resonate with voters, but it shows a fundamental understanding of the limits of simply running as a Notrepublican. So it resonates with me.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well if she knows she's part of the problem why didn't she do something in her last couple terms in office? Her and her husband have been holding onto that seat for over a dozen years, as far as I'm concerned that's plenty of time to start fixing the problem. Seriously who else waits till after they've announced their retirment to decide to fix a problem?

Anonymous said...

actually, anon, they've collectively spent more than 20 years in the statehouse.

Now Pho, I'll agree that her comments show a willingness to run as more than Notrepublican. But I don't believe that forcefully eviscerating your own party is the best way to talk about that. A candidate should talk about it in terms of reform, what's needed to clean the mess up.

Running for Auditor, there's got to be something to latch onto, some mistaken related to Noe that she can grasp and say "this won't happen in my office and let me tell you why".

Anonymous said...

I agree with the first person who blogged in. B Sykes and her husband has had the 44th Dist. for 24 years. They have done nothing. No meetings, you don't see them at all in public. Her comments is all the reason I'm not supporting her or him if he runs again. It's time for some NEW fresh young person. What the hell have they been doing in Columbus???? I here they brought a new condo and sold their house on diagonal road, the big white house. The county records show AMHA owns it now.

I met last night some guy who's running for the seat. His name was William Green, hos card had all the contact info and blog info. He was very nice and talked about many issues I like and he gave some solutions. B Sykes is speaking for herself.