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Toledo’s leadership faces
current and future challenges that are much more complex,
perhaps, than any time in history. Certainly, then, voters
in Toledo’s 2017 local elections will do well to choose
those leaders with “adaptability, flexibility, and the
ability to change.”
Leading in a complex world
also requires diverse perspectives and experiences. Yet,
from a generational standpoint, local city leadership has
remained consistently similar – baby boomer and older - for
far too long.
Nick Komives, endorsed
candidate for an at-large seat on City Council, is a
millennial who is seeking to bring just the diverse thinking
and creativity needed for the complex issues faced by our
municipal government. Recently, Komives talked with me about
his thinking, experience and vision.
Perryman:
While you represent a fresh political face to many voters,
you have an extensive background in political activism and
campaigns. Please tell our readers about your experience.
Komives:
So I grew up nearby in Genoa, Ohio. After high school I
moved immediately to Columbus, and started volunteering on
campaigns and attending protests at the height of the Iraq
happening and when the nation was about to go into
Afghanistan. And I also had my start with Senator Sherrod
Brown’s campaign. And while volunteering in those efforts,
I met some people that worked for an organization called
America Votes and I started out in voter registration and
working to ensure that everybody has access to the polls. So
I was registering voters in Columbus and being shipped all
around the state of Ohio at first, and then I would go to
places like Louisiana and North Carolina and I met tons of
people from all walks of life. I was in rural communities
and urban communities and got to hear some pretty
interesting stories.
Once, I met a woman who
was 92 years old and had never voted, but I got to know her
because I drove her from her home for over one hour so she
could get her state issued ID so she would be able to vote.
But that’s where I really got my start by trying to get
people involved in the process and what’s happening in their
government.
I did a pretty good job
and America Votes started to send me to work on specific
campaigns. I started by working first on school levies and
would build field plans and make sure they were being
executed properly and looking at the numbers and data and
that kind of thing. And then I started working specifically
with labor unions and fighting back on right to work
statutes and ensuring that people have the right to
organize. And then I finally got the opportunity to start
working on LGBT issues, which was always my passion. I
launched campaigns in several states across the country, and
when they asked me where would you like to go next, I said
home.
And so I came back to
Toledo and worked on marriage equality and I was in charge
of 44 counties in northern Ohio, essentially the upper half
of the state, and then there was an opening with Equality
Toledo and I was asked to become the executive director and
I did. So now I have been working on various legislative
efforts and also educating our community, and that includes
LGBT people and allies and other community members as well.
So I have always thought
running for office was something that I wanted to do because
I had been so intimately tied to the political process for
so long. I’ve met so many people and heard their stories and
I always wanted to do something about it, to try to make
people’s lives better.
Perryman:
What do you perceive to be our city’s strengths?
Komives:
I’ve watched what happens in Cleveland, Cincinnati and
Columbus for a long time. Politically, economically, people
care about those places and forget that Toledo exists, but
the people here fight back at every instance, no matter
what, and they work together in a unique way that I’ve not
seen elsewhere, and I love that about Toledo.
I also think that there’s
movement, there’s energy, there’s action. People are hungry
for change at this critical moment where Toledo is either
going to thrive soon or it’s going to fail, and that comes
down to decisions that are being made now that are going to
impact us over the course of the next 20-30 years. And as a
younger person, I am concerned and think that younger people
need to have a voice in what that future looks like.
Also, I think the people
of Toledo are ready for change to happen and when it does
happen, I think that everybody agrees that they want it to
be fair and equitable. I’m concerned about what
gentrification is going to look like in this process. I
want to make sure that people, who have devoted their lives
to these really strong neighborhoods that already exist,
aren’t displaced or impacted negatively throughout the
process.
I think it’s important
that we have a strong and vital core. There’s so much energy
and momentum happening downtown and it’s good for Toledo,
but we need to make sure that the other neighborhoods are
being lifted at the same time and that investments and jobs
are coming to the city as a whole and opportunity is
available for everybody.
Perryman:
What are some of the challenges we have in Toledo, from your
perspective?
Komives:
I think that Toledo could use a little bit of an attitude
adjustment. I constantly have to tell people that Toledo is
a great place to live. But I think that many people feel
negatively because they’ve watched failed promises come from
politicians in Toledo for years and some of that has to do
with we went through a recession, it wasn’t good for Toledo,
it’s been difficult. People have been out of work and we
just need to carry the momentum that’s happening for some
and ensure that it’s spread out so that it’s happening for
all. So I think even many of our residents need to be
committed and change that attitude and we’ll see positivity
as a result.
Perryman:
What differentiates you from the other candidates and why
should voters check the box for Nick Komives?
Komives:
Well I think I represent change in many aspects. Some of the
other candidates that are running have been on city council
for a very long time already and haven’t been effective, and
perhaps could step aside and allow some other folks to have
an opportunity. I think people should pick me because I’ve
proven that I’m a fighter, that I stand up for people and
dignity and respect and that carries through in everything
that I do. Registering voters seems like a trivial thing,
but once everybody’s involved in the process, that’s when we
do best. When everybody shares their ideas and feels
engaged, when we have a diversity of voices, change happens
quicker and change happens more effectively.
Also, unlike the other
candidates, I’ve been on the ground. I’ve been doing the
work within communities where people don’t always have
access. My work with the LGBT community is really about work
that impacts all of us. Similarly, when I worked with
workers on workers’ rights, all of us are workers and we all
deserve dignity and safety and good wages and benefits. On
the income gap, I’ve led the people that are impacted the
most by policies that are bad, and in particular, bad for
minorities. And so, I’ve fought back and pushed back at
every turn of my life and I will continue to fight back for
the rest of my life, and I want to do that in city
government. People should pick me because they will know
that Nick Komives will fight for them always.
Perryman:
Do you have a specific agenda for the African-American
community or communities of color?
Komives:
I think there are a lot of things that need to change. I
was happy to see city council begin to tackle predatory
lending. I had just finished talking about that with the
African American Leadership Caucus. I think that we need to
go after predatory loan companies, other large predatory
businesses like Dollar General that go into areas that have
heavy populations of African Americans, and we need to
promote black-owned business owners. I think these are all
functions that the government should be involved in.
I’ve been involved in
working with Alicia Smith over the course of the last three
years at the Frederick Douglass Center and I just think it’s
important that we continue to invest in places that are
great for our community. My work with the Community
Solidarity Response Network has shed a lot of light, to me,
around the areas of police brutality. We have to do better.
We need more and better comprehensive training for police
officers. We also need to ensure that there is no racial
profiling that’s occurring.
Perryman:
Finally, how do respond to those who may label you as a
liberal or perceive you as being confined to one social
issue?
Komives:
I think it’s pretty simple. I stood up for the rights of
LGBT people because it benefits everybody. When there’s
fairness and equity for one minority, then we have to ensure
that it is for everybody. And so my goal as a human being
is to care for others and to love others no matter what.
So if I’m asked what does
Nick Komives stand for, I care about people. I want to see
everybody thrive, and so that’s the basis of who I am and
how I got my start. I think once people get to know me and
my background, that I’ve been fighting for workers, that
I’ve been fighting for women’s rights, I’ve been fighting
for people’s right to vote, they’re going to see that I
fight for people across the board and I fight for what’s
right, and I fight for justice.
And so justice doesn’t
always come as an immediate response to something negative
that’s happened. Sometimes it can take a longer period of
time. However, I think that I see that pathway to justice in
the larger sense, and I mean environmental justice, economic
justice and racial justice.
So I really want to see
justice come to fruition. And based on the principles that I
live by, we will get there, and that is the vision that
drives me.
Perryman:
Good luck.
Komives:
Yes. Thank you.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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