Spring has sprung in the Swamp, and with it the promise of new growth and warmer days ahead.
Songbirds have returned from their winter sojourn, and the Biggest Week of Birding will bring flocks of avid birders our way from all over the world. Incessant April showers have already coaxed the May flowers out of their months-long slumber, bringing a bright tapestry of color to a drab, dreary T-town landscape. Canada goslings amble across city streets with their poop-machine Canada goose parents in the lead.
Hope springs eternal, and in a place like Toodleydoo, we need all the hope we can get.
Abandon hope all ye who enter here
And then there’s City Politics, where hope usually goes to die.
Enter Schuyler Beckwith, Sky for short. A thirty-something fresh off an unsuccessful bid for Oregon City Council. Beckwith has a lifetime of City Politics under her belt, even at so tender an age, and yet inexplicably remains hopeful.
She was born into a political South Toledo family. Her father, Dave Beckwith, was a well known community organizer with work across the globe who passed away in twenty twenty two. Her mother, Lindsay Potts, has a lifetime of public service.
It’s no surprise that daughter Sky landed in her parents’ footsteps in community and political organizing. She graduated from The Ohio State University with a political science degree and has worked in government ever since. Beckwith currently works in Emergency Medical Services for Lucas County.
She’s young, energetic, smart, experienced beyond her years and, most importantly, hopeful about the future.
And now she’s been elected the Chair of the Lucas County Democratic Party. The single most thankless job in City Politics. Oh wait, not really a job. There’s no salary. It’s a volunteer position. Volunteer to be flogged mercilessly.
The Chair has basically two jobs. Raise money, albeit never enough. And give people bad news. Like, no, you can’t get the endorsement, because you’re an idiot and the last Democratic idiots in office got convicted of federal crimes.
Chairs get chewed up and spit out by the Party on the regular. Lucas County is a Democratic stronghold, with every County elected office held by a Democrat. There are no Republicans on Toledo City Council or Toledo School Board.Â
The result is that local Democrats eat their own. Most recently Chair Michael Ashford got into a feud with Commissioner Peter Gerken and quickly lost the support of the bulk of his Party, finally resigning last year. His replacement, PHH, was so ineffective she declined to run for re-election as Chair.
The Sky’s the limit
Now it’s Beckwith’s turn to enter the lion’s den. She has the advantage of having Gerken on her team as Vice Chair. She is also the youngest Chair in recent history, with all the fresh ideas and youthful energy and optimism that brings.
She’ll need it. This is an election year, and voter turnout on the D side will be critical. Perhaps Beckwith can energize younger voters, secure the older Democratic base, and bring solid Democratic values to local, state, and national elections for the benefit of all.
Hope springs eternal.
