Thomas C. Sawyer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Thomas C. Sawyer
in 107th Congress
Member of the Ohio Senate
from the 28th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 20, 2007
Preceded by Kimberly Zurz
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio's 14th district
In office
January 3, 1987-January 3, 2003
Preceded by John F. Seiberling
Succeeded by Steve LaTourette
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
from the 44th district
In office
January 3, 1977-December 31, 1984
Preceded by Paul Wingard
Succeeded by Tom Watkins
Personal details
Born August 15, 1945 (1945-08-15) (age 66)
Akron, Ohio
Political party Democratic
Residence Akron, Ohio
Alma mater University of Akron
Profession Educator
Religion Christian

Thomas Charles Sawyer, usually known as Tom Sawyer, is a Democratic member of the Ohio Senate, who has represented the 28th District since his appointment in February 2007. He served as a U.S. representative from Ohio from 1987 to 2003.

Contents

Career

Sawyer was born in Akron, Ohio. After graduating from a local public high school (Sawyer originally had attended the prestigious Western Reserve Academy, but was expelled in his senior year for academic dishonesty), Sawyer received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Akron in 1968, and was a member of the Alpha Phi Chapter of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity. Later, Sawyer earned a master of arts degree from Akron in 1970.

Sawyer worked as an English teacher and then was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, where he served from 1977 to 1983. In late 1983, he was elected Mayor of Akron.

In 1984, he bet mustaches with Akron-area Republican Tom Watkins on the outcome of the Mondale/Reagan presidential election; he has been clean-shaven ever since.

After only one term as mayor, he entered the Democratic primary for Ohio's 14th Congressional District, based in Akron, in 1986. The retiring incumbent, eight-term Democrat John F. Seiberling, endorsed Sawyer as his successor, enabling him to win handily despite being in a crowded seven-way primary. He then faced a credible Republican challenger in Summit County District Attorney John Slaby, and won by seven points. He was reelected seven times, only facing serious opposition once, in 1994. That year, Slaby challenged him again and held him to 52 percent of the vote.

The redistricting following the 2000 census eliminated Sawyer's district. Most of Akron was placed in the 13th District, represented by fellow Democrat Sherrod Brown. However, Sawyer's home was placed in the Youngstown-based 17th District. The district had been held by Democrat Jim Traficant until his expulsion from the House in 2002. Traficant tried to run for his old seat as an independent. Traficant's former protégé Tim Ryan also ran for the seat. The new 17th district was much more heavily pro-labor than Sawyer's old district and Sawyer was seen as being insufficiently pro-labor as a result of his support of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In an upset, Sawyer lost the 2002 Democratic primary to Ryan, who went on to win the seat in the general election.

Sawyer ran in the 2006 primary for Ohio's 13th congressional district. He was the front-runner, and endorsed by the major papers, but lost to Betty Sutton in a six-way race. The Ohio AFL-CIO, pointing to Sawyer's stand on NAFTA, endorsed Sutton.

Main article: Ohio 13th congressional district election, 2006

Ohio Senate

In 2006 Sawyer was elected to the Ohio State Board of Education, District #7. He received 54% of the vote to Republican incumbent Deborah Owens Fink's 29%, green Candidate David Kovacs's 12%, and John Jones's 5%. The race received attention due to Fink's promotion of intelligent design creationism in the classroom. Sawyer campaigned on his experience as an educator and a politician.

In February 2007, Sawyer was elected by members of the Ohio Senate Democratic caucus to fill the Ohio State Senate seat of Kimberly Zurz, who vacated to run the Ohio Department of Commerce. In the November 2008 general election, Sawyer held his senate seat by defeating Republican James Carr.[1]

Sawyer is a member of the standing committees of Education (as ranking member); Energy and Public Utilities; Finance; and Insurance, Commerce and Labor. He is also a member of the Controlling Board; the Legislative Service Commission; the Power Siting Board; the Ohio Accountability Task Force; and the Ohio School Facilities Commission.

Policies, platforms and initiatives

After one of Sawyer's constituents was convicted of felony tampering with records crimes related to the enrolling of her children in a neighboring school district, Sawyer introduced legislation to require a thorough review of Ohio's school open enrollment policy. "The Kelly Williams-Bolar case has raised troubling questions about Ohio's open enrollment policy which has been going on for 22 years with little examination," Sen. Sawyer said in a release. "This is why I plan on introducing legislation soon to call for a comprehensive study of the economic, educational and social effect of open enrollment in our state, and then to modify the program as needed, or end it altogether."[2]

A member of the Ohio House of Representatives when collective bargaining was put into place for public employees in 1983, Sawyer is opposed to S.B. 5, which sets forth to do away with said rights. As a member of the Insurance, Commerce and Labor committee, Sawyer is playing a pivotal role in trying to curb the legislation.[3]

Sawyer is also deeply concerned with John Kasich's budget proposal, calling the cuts throughout government unprecedented, but also has recognized the size and scope of the state deficit. He also would like to take a closer look at efforts of privatization of many state entities.[4]

Alongside Senator Gary Cates, Sawyer introduced bipartisan legislation to commemorate Ohioan John Glenn’s historic space flight on Feb. 20, 1962 aboard Friendship 7.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ohio Senator: November 4, 2008, Ohio Secretary of State
  2. ^ Wanting a better education for yours kids is a crime
  3. ^ Bilickzy, Carol (2011-02-25). "Sawyer says GOP has votes to change unions". Akron Beacon Journal. http://www.ohio.com/news/116901283.html. Retrieved 2011-02-25. 
  4. ^ Warsmith, Stephanie (2011-03-16). "Gov. Kasich's budget cuts deep". Akron Beacon Journal. http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/118063559.html. Retrieved 2011-03-16. 
  5. ^ Hershey, William (2011-05-02). "Sens. Cates, Sawyer propose bill to honor John Glenn’s historic flight". Dayton Daily News. http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/ohiopolitics/entries/2011/04/28/sens_cates_sawyer_propose_bill.html?cxtype=feedbot. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 

External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
John F. Seiberling		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio's 14th congressional district
1987–2003		 Succeeded by
Steve LaTourette
Members of the Ohio State Senate
   
  1.    Cliff Hite (R)
  2.    Mark Wagoner (R)
  3.    Kevin Bacon (R)
  4.    William Coley (R)
  5.    Bill Beagle (R)
  6.    Peggy Lehner (R)
  7.    Shannon Jones (R)
  8.    Bill Seitz (R)
  9.    Eric Kearney (D)
  1.    Chris Widener (R)
  2.    Edna Brown (D)
  3.    Keith Faber (R)
  4.    Gayle Manning (R)
  5.    Tom Niehaus (R)
  6.    Charleta Tavares (D)
  7.    Jim Hughes (R)
  8.    David T. Daniels (R)
  1.    John Eklund (R)
  2.    Kris Jordan (R)
  3.    Troy Balderson (R)
  4.    Shirley Smith (D)
  5.    Larry Obhof (R)
  6.    Mike Skindell (D)
  7.    Tom Patton (R)
  8.    Nina Turner (D)
  1.    David Burke (D)
  2.    Frank LaRose (R)
  3.    Tom Sawyer (D)
  4.    Scott Oelslager (R)
  5.    Lou Gentile (D)
  6.    Tim Schaffer (R)
  7.    Capri Cafaro (D)
  8.    Joe Schiavoni (D)
Seal of the Ohio Senate.svg
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_C._Sawyer&oldid=476534482"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export