James L. "Jim" Sykes is a radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and producer

Radio producer

A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. There are two main types of producer. An audio or creative producer and a content producer. Audio producers create sounds and audio specifically, content producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature...

, and Green Party

Green Party (United States)

The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...

 politician, in the U.S. state of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

. The founder of the Green Party of Alaska

Green Party of Alaska

The Green Party of Alaska is the state party organization for Alaska of the Green Party of the United States. Alaska was the first state to gain Green Party ballot access, in 1990, when Jim Sykes ran for governor. Sykes had previously filed a ballot access lawsuit, citing an earlier case, Vogler v...

, Sykes initiated a lawsuit, Sykes v. Alaska, relying heavily upon case law

Case law

In law, case law is the set of reported judicial decisions of selected appellate courts and other courts of first instance which make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents in a process known as stare decisis...

 established in the earlier ballot access

Ballot access

Ballot access rules, called nomination rules outside the United States, regulate the conditions under which a candidate or political party is either entitled to stand for election or to appear on voters' ballots...

 lawsuits of Joe Vogler

Joe Vogler

Joseph E. "Joe" Vogler was the founder of the Alaskan Independence Party, and either its chair or gubernatorial nominee for most of its first two decades of existence...

 during the 1970s and 1980s. The lawsuit allowed the Green Party onto the ballot in similar fashion to the original ballot access status of the Alaskan Independence Party

Alaskan Independence Party

The Alaskan Independence Party is a political party in the U.S. state of Alaska that advocates an in-state referendum which includes the option of Alaska becoming an independent country...

 prior to its becoming a recognized political party. This lawsuit also led to the lessening of the threshold needed to become recognized as a political party in Alaska. In the 1990 gubernatorial election

Alaska gubernatorial election, 1990

The 1990 Alaska gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990 for the post of governor of Alaska. In a rare third-party win in American politics, former Republican Governor Walter Hickel, running on the ticket of the Alaskan Independence Party, defeated Democratic candidate Tony Knowles...

, Sykes ran as the Green Party nominee and garnered 3.3% of the vote. This established Alaska as the first state to obtain ballot access for the Green Party in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Sykes continues to be active in Green Party politics, most recently running for U.S. Senate in 2002

United States Senate election in Alaska, 2002

The 2002 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Ted Stevens won re-election to a seventh term.-Republican:*Ted Stevens, incumbent U.S...

 and 2004

United States Senate election in Alaska, 2004

The 2004 United States Senate election in Alaska took place on November 2, 2004 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives, various state and local elections, and the presidential election of that year....

.

Biography

Jim Sykes was born in Rapid City

Rapid City, South Dakota

Rapid City is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota, and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek on which the city is established, it is set against the eastern slope of the Black Hills mountain range. The population was 67,956 as of the 2010 Census. Rapid...

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

 and moved to Alaska ca. 1976. Sykes spent many years living and working in both Anchorage and Talkeetna. Sykes's professional experience includes work for the Alaska Native Review Commission, public radio stations KSKA and KTNA

KTNA

KTNA , is a National Public Radio-affiliated radio station in Talkeetna, Alaska. It primarily features National Public Radio programming.-External links:*...

, and as executive director

Executive director

Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...

 of the Alaska Public Interest Research Group. He homesteaded in the community of Chase

Chase, Alaska

Chase is a census-designated place in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States. It is part of the Anchorage, Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, near Talkeetna, and help to found the Chase Community Council. He and his wife currently live near Palmer

Palmer, Alaska

Palmer is the borough seat of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in the state of Alaska, USA. It is part of the Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city is 5,937....

 in a solar-power

Solar power

Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...

ed straw-bale

Straw-bale construction

Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses bales of straw as structural elements, building insulation, or both...

house.

Electoral history

• 1990 - Governor - (Not Elected) 6,563 votes, for 3.3% of total vote
• 1994 - Governor - (Not Elected) Place: 4 of 5 running 8,727 votes, for 4.1% of total vote
• 2002 - U.S. Senate - (Not Elected) Place: 3 of 5 running 16,608 votes, 7.24% of total vote
• 2004 - U.S. Senate - (Not Elected) Place: 7 of 7 running 3,039 votes, 0.99% of total vote