Ohio Sen: Fedor (D) and Zurz (D) Vie for Leadership Role
The Toledo Blade has an interesting piece about the tussle between State Sen. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) and State Sen. Kimberly Zurz (D-Uniontown) over the post of Ohio Senate Minority Leader, to be vacated in January by term-limited State Sen. C.J. Prentiss (D-Cleveland). The vote on a replacement will take place in early December.
Fedor claims to have "the ability to unify the caucus immediately," and touts her background as a teacher as relevant to governor-elect Ted Strickland's focus on reforming public school funding. She is running in tandem with State Sen. Tom Roberts (D-Trotwood), who would become Assistant Minority Leader.
Fedor served two years in the Ohio House before her elecction to the Ohio Senate four years ago. She is in the number three leadership position of Minority Whip. Zurz was appointed to the Ohio Senate in September 2003 and was elected the next year. She was in the rank and file until State Sen. Mark Mallory (D-Cincinnati) resigned late last year to become Mayor of Cincinnati. Zurz then replaced Mallory as Assistant Minority Leader, leap-frogging over Fedor to the number two leadership role. She is the president of her family's funeral home business, and had served as president of the Summit County Council and assistant to the Summit County Treasurer before entering the Ohio Senate.
posted by Jeff @ 11:55 AM
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6 Comments:
"the ability to unify the caucus immediately," well I sure hope so, they droped the ball this past Election. Someone needs to tell the Dem caucus and the Ohio Dem party that there is more than one Senate race in the state of Ohio as well as the voting starts 35 days before election day. One can no longer wate till the last week or two to help out the people running for office. Just my rant
PS I am pulling for Fedor.
Fedor spoke during the 40 mins I watched/listened to about SB5 yesterday - she was trying to get an amendment in regarding contraception but it was defeated, of course. She sounded good, from what I could tell. The only other thing I remember reading was something about Zurz and...I'm trying to remember - was she a Cafaro supporter?
::shudder:: Cafaro? Really?
Yup - haven't lost my memory yet! :)
http://www.capri2006.com/zurz.html
"State Senator Kim Zurz
There are a number of great candidates in the race to succeed Congressman Sherrod Brown. But Capri Cafaro is a different kind of candidate. She is tough, charismatic and an innovative thinker – characteristics that this job demands. I am supporting Capri in this race because of her commitment to the ideals of the Democratic Party, and to securing a victory in November. Capri has fresh ideas that are magnified by her focus on our youth and commitment to our future and finding new solutions to the challenges facing our country."
Oy vay.
Good catch, Jill! Not a good reflection on Zurz' judgment, in my view.
Yeah, Jill, that is a good catch indeed. With the D's overall success this year, it sounds like plenty of solid candidates are coming out of the woodwork vying for the two open seats. It just doesn't make sense to go after someone who has so many question marks.
As far as the leadership battle goes:
Fedor definitely appears to have the ability to unify the caucus and the vision to move the caucus forward. The general feeling I get is that she can bring people togehter, and let's face it, Ohio needs this right now more than anything. When was the last time the Democrats in the legislature were relevant? They have their chance to be relevant now, and the last thing they need a caucus in turmoil.
Not to mention, reliable sources on Capitol Square are saying Fedor and Roberts got their votes and sealed it up today. Obviously nothing is set in stone until they actually vote, whenever that is, but it sounds like it is a done deal.
I hope that is the case, because Fedor appears to have a better sense of judgement, and she has been out there on a lot of big issues. I haven't really seen that from Zurz.
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