Sandy Drabik was behind the scenes, quietly advising and prodding her husband
politically for years.
“He was so into City Council, I finally said, ‘Either run for election or
stop complaining,’ ” Ms. Drabik said. “We didn’t know how to campaign. We did
everything wrong.”
Not long after that advice, she was helping her husband, the late D. Michael
Collins, run a campaign for a district council seat. In 2007, they won the seat,
and eventually the couple ran a successful mayoral campaign in 2013 — handily
beating the incumbent, Mike Bell.
Now, Ms. Drabik is considering following her husband’s path and placing her
name on the ballot in eight months so she can complete the remaining two years
of Mayor Collins’ term.
Like Mayor Collins, Ms. Drabik said she would run as an independent —
forsaking political parties and avoiding the political deal-making she said her
husband warded off and disliked.
“I feel he had the best of both parties,” Ms. Drabik said from the South
Toledo home she and Mayor Collins shared.
“He felt it was important to be an independent,” she said. “When there was a
tough decision he would joke [sarcastically] that he had to check with his party
chairman.”
Ms. Drabik acknowledged she is still learning to cope with the loss of her
husband while trying to decide if she will ask voters to let her carry on his
work running the city.
“The reason to do it would be to carry on what I think is really important to
Toledo, and Mike, as an independent, established that,” she said. “His campaign
message was Collins Cares, and he cared deeply, I think that’s becoming Toledo
cares.”
Campaign funds
At the end of January, Mayor Collins’ campaign war chest contained $45,606 —
less than what normally would be used to run a mayoral campaign. Ms. Drabik was
her husband’s campaign treasurer, and as such, she has the authority to direct
that money to other campaigns or charities.
LaVera Scott, interim deputy director of the Lucas County Board of Elections,
said she was unsure if Ms. Drabik could simply direct that money into a campaign
fund for herself.
“I don’t think that has happened before in Lucas County,” Ms. Scott said. “No
one has died where the treasurer was alive and planned to run for the office.
... She has authorization to issue checks, but can she issue to herself?
Technically the way it’s written, yes, but it’s never happened before.”
The filing deadline to run in the Nov. 3 mayoral election is Sept. 4.
Ms. Drabik said she hasn’t given any thought to fund-raising — which is
something she and the late mayor both admitted to doing poorly.
Losing a spouse
The mayor suffered a cardiac arrest Feb. 1 and died five days later. The city
paused to mourn its leader with a funeral procession that ran through his
beloved District 2.
Pictures of the late mayor — many with accompanying memorials — are scattered
throughout the Collins-Drabik home.
Looking at a poster-sized portrait made by firefighters for the mayor’s
funeral service, Ms. Drabik recalled how vibrant and positive her husband
sounded at breakfast the day of his cardiac arrest.
“We were really excited, talking about how great things were going for
Toledo,” she said. “It was a short breakfast, and I can remember almost every
word. He said in a really happy fashion: ‘Southwyck is going to go, ProMedica is
already going, I feel good [about] Chrysler — the Wrangler. ... People are
talking positively about Toledo and that will make it all happen.”
Later that day, Ms. Drabik spoke to the mayor by cell phone and had offered
to get lunch started.
“He said not to and said, ‘When I get home, I am going to get the snowblower
out,’ ” Ms. Drabik said. “So that shows you how he felt.”
She declined to talk about his health before the cardiac arrest, although it
is known the mayor had high blood pressure.
“He was an organ donor, and that was very important to him,” she said. “He
was able to help 50 people.”
Mayor Collins’ death also sparked a citywide interest in learning
cardiopulmonary resuscitation since the mayor was aided by two Good Samaritans
who were directed by a 911 operator on how to perform it.
“I don’t think our community is as heart-safe as it should be,” she said. “I
am going to be CPR-trained. I think that’s really important.”
She is also on a crusade to get defibrillators placed in more locations at
One Government Center.
Possible candidates
The mayor’s office is currently occupied by Paula Hicks-Hudson, who was
elevated to mayor because she was council president.
Ms. Hicks-Hudson, a Democrat, has said she is considering running in the
November election.
Other Democrats such as Lucas County Treasurer Wade Kapszukiewicz said they
are waiting for Ms. Hicks-Hudson to make up her mind before they decide whether
to run.
When reached for comment, Mayor Hicks-Hudson said Ms. Drabik has a right to
run for mayor this year and declined further comment.
Widows taking office
If Ms. Drabik ultimately wins the mayor’s office, she would join a long list
of widows who succeeded their late husbands in politics.
Forty-seven women have been elected or appointed to fill the vacancies in
Congress created by the death of their spouses, according to the Center for
American Women and Politics.
Eight were to the U.S. Senate and 39 were to the U.S. House of
Representatives.
After the death of her husband in 1982, Jean Ashbrook of Ohio’s 17th
Congressional District won the special election for the seat in Congress her
husband, John Ashbrook, had occupied.
Mary Bono, a former U.S. representative for California’s 45th Congressional
District, was elected to Congress in 1998 to replace her late husband, Sonny
Bono, who had died months before. She served until 2013.
Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics, said
widows sometimes become placeholders while others go on to long successful
political careers.
“It is a very powerful message to say, ‘My husband had work to complete, I
know what his intentions were, and to carry out the legacy, I will run,’ ” Ms.
Walsh said.
“Your mayor’s wife fits this model in that they were really political
partners.”
A solid resume
Ms. Walsh said she was impressed with Ms. Drabik’s resume.
Ms. Drabik, 67, a registered Republican, has held several high-level
government positions. She is a retired lawyer who was the University of Toledo’s
vice president for administrative services and chief general counsel. She
previously held high-ranking government positions for Ohio Republican Govs.
George Voinovich and Bob Taft.
She was appointed director of the Ohio Department of Administrative Services,
a cabinet-level post, by Governor Voinovich in 1995.
Mr. Collins and Ms. Drabik were married in 2005 — about four years after they
met.
Since retiring, Ms. Drabik has rekindled her interest in botany, for which
she has undergraduate and graduate degrees along with her law degree, all from
Ohio State. In August, she began a course to become an Ohio certified volunteer
naturalist.
The Center for American Women and Politics does not track widow success on
the mayoral level.
“The other piece these women bring to the table is that they have so often
been partners with their husbands,” Ms. Walsh said.
“They know this world, they know the players, and the name is the same so the
name recognition is huge.”
Ms. Drabik said she is considering adding Collins to her own name.
“There are people who like the idea that they voted for this man to be the
mayor and they want to make sure someone who is really in line with his
political ideas and his values will be elected to replace him,” Ms. Walsh added.
“The wife could be the person to fill those shoes.”
Read more at
http://www.toledoblade.com/Politics/2015/03/08/Drabik-ponders-spotlight-after-years-as-adviser.html#bVZm6LCLtmdiqk6m.99
