Rep. Sykes is a barrel of laughs

COLUMBUS

Politicians sometimes say the craziest things.

I mean really crazy, knee-slapping, roll-around-on-the-ground-until-your-sides-ache things worthy of any comedy club.

These guys and gals would give the best stand up comedians a run for their money.

The latest jokester is Rep. Vernon Sykes, a Democrat from the Akron area.

He was one of the featured speakers during a panel discussion last week on the state budget, part of a day-long conference where political types talked about the implications of the Republican-dominated general election.

With a straight face and impeccable timing, Sykes said there was “something that’s really been bothering me.”

He continued: “The people entrust us to govern, but we shouldn’t misuse that trust by keeping them out of the process.”

Conference committee

Sykes was talking about deliberations on the state budget and the conference committee, where representatives from the House and Senate hash out their differences and compromise on a final product that both sides can live with.

While finance committees from both chambers play host to hours and hours of public testimony on the budget, much of their final decision making is completed behind closed doors, with members showing their faces after they’re come to an agreement.

Most of the lawmakers voting on these bills haven’t had time to read the final versions before they hit the floor. And often times, the authors sneak in a few provisions in the hundreds and hundreds of pages of legislative documents that would not be widely supported by the electorate.

So Sykes makes a good point about the need for more of those activities to be conducted out in the open, where the public can watch what’s really going on. No arguments from me or other media types there.

It’s the timing of Sykes’ comments, however, that is so comedic. During the conference, he deadpanned, “I’m hopeful that in this coming session, we’ll have media advocacy to open up the finance committee and the conference committee again. ... I think it should be done in a transparent and public way.”

That’s side-splitting hilarious when you consider Sykes, as finance chairman in the House, has been in charge of that process for the past two years.

Flashback to last year’s budget and the session where the House signed off on the final version of the spending plan.

“I am extremely proud to present this conference committee report,” Sykes said from the floor. “... We’ve all worked together, and this conference committee process is one that forces us to collaborate and reach across the aisle, across the rotunda, to work together to produce a product for the citizens of this state.”

It was during that same session that Rep. Ron Amstutz, a Republican from Wooster who has been ranking minority member of the House’s finance committee (and who is in line to become chairman next session), criticized the resulting budget bill for the lack of transparency.

He even held up the resulting 1,800-plus page bill, which apparently was handed over to him a few hours before the final vote.

“I asked for an opportunity to understand what this is,” Amstutz said at the time (and not the first occasion he offered criticism from the floor after Democrats dumped legislation in their laps). “I find that a difficult position to be in, because as a member of the conference committee, like members of the House, I like to know what it is that we’re doing.”

Political change

Given the opportunity then, I don’t recall Sykes or any other Democrat standing up and making the kind of statement about the budget and conference committee that he made following the GOP tsunami that crashed into the Statehouse last week.

But now, with Republicans preparing to take control of the House and the governor’s office, he sees the writing on the wall and is making public pleas to keep deliberations open for all to see.

As Sykes put it, “The decisions should be done in an open process.”

Like I said, politicians sometimes say the craziest things.

Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.