Vernon Sykes
Encyclopedia
Vernon Sykes is a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the Ohio House of Representatives
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate....

 who has represented the 44th District since 2007. He also served in the House from 1983 through 2000. He is the ranking member of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee.

Career

Sykes served two terms on Akron City Council before his appointment to the House of Representatives in 1983. He also was on the faculty at Kent State University
Kent State University
Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...

 as an assistant professor of political science.

Ohio House of Representatives

Sykes first served in the House of Representatives in 1983, and served until 2000, when he faced term limits. He was replaced in 2001 by his wife, Barbara Sykes
Barbara Sykes
Barbara Sykes is a former Democratic member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the 44th District from to 2006.-External links:** profile*Follow the Money - Vernon Sykes** campaign contributions...

.

In 2006, Barbara Sykes decided to run for state auditor, and Vernon sought the seat again. First facing Patrick Bravo in the Democratic primary, he won with 77.64% of the vote. While heavily favored, Sykes faced DUI charges during the primary election campaign, somewhat dampening his chances. He won the general election against Joseph D. Crawford with 80.78% of the vote.

In his first reelection campaign, Sykes ran unopposed. In the 128th General Assembly, Speaker of the House Armond Budish
Armond Budish
Armond D. Budish is the Democratic representative for the 8th district of the Ohio House of Representatives. First elected into service during the 127th General Assembly of 2007, he was re-elected in the 128th, where he served as Speaker of the House...

 appointed Sykes as Chairman of the House Finance Committee.

With the 2010 election, Sykes won a third term over Republican Josh Sines and Libertarian Kurtis Liston by taking 77.66% of the vote. With the Democrats again in the minority, Sykes serves on the committees of Finance and Appropriations (as ranking member), Local Government, and State Government and Elections.

Initiatives and positions

As ranking member of the House Finance Committee, Sykes has been critical of Governor John Kasich
John Kasich
John Richard Kasich is the 69th and current Governor of Ohio. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing from 1983 to 2001...

's privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 measure for the Ohio Department of Development, stating the measure to replace it, JobsOhio, was abdicating too much legislative authority to the executive branch. "This is a new entity and we're trying to make sure we have proper oversight in place."

The former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Sykes has come out against Kasich's biennium budget plan for 2012–2013, stating that he is especially troubled by the cuts proposed to local government
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...

, and plans to privatize several state prisons. He stated that he feels as if he has already been shut out of the budget process. Sykes is a member of the budget conference committee.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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