Cleary running for 16th House seat
By Kevin Kelley
Westshore
Published Jan. 20, 2010

Peggy Cleary

Peggy Cleary is so optimistic, she not only thinks the economy in Northeast Ohio is going to come back, she thinks LeBron is going to stay.

“I’m the biggest cheerleader for this city and this region,” said Cleary, the Fairview Park at-large councilwoman who last week announced her candidacy for the 16th district seat in the Ohio House of Representatives.

The 16th district seat is currently held by another former Westshore councilwoman, Republican Nan Baker of Westlake.

Cleary joins educator and former journalist Rosemary Palmer, a resident of Bay Village, in the race for the Democratic Party nomination for the seat.

Palmer	Baker

The district covers Bay Village, Fairview Park, North Olmsted, Rocky River and Westlake.

Cleary, 54, said she believes Ohio is at a tipping point, and the future is going to tip in favor of the state’s residents.

If the correct decisions are made, Cleary said, Northeast Ohio can take advantage of the technology and transportation infrastructure to build a future of prosperity.

“We have the skilled labor ready to roll,” she said.

A member of the Northeast Ohio City Council Association, Cleary said she’s running to have an impact on a larger area.

More collaboration and better planning can enable government to succeed at spurring economic redevelopment, Cleary said.

“Fairview and this district have really shown the benefits of working collaboratively,” she said.

She points to the regional dispatch center located at St. John West Shore Hospital that handles fire and EMS calls for several communities as an example of collaboration that government needs to implement.

No stranger to elections, Cleary served as campaign manager for former Lakewood Councilman Bob Seelie and as a volunteer for her sister Patricia Cleary, a former Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge.

“I’m really running on my issues and what I have to offer,” Cleary said. “I’ve proven that I’m electable. I have legislative experience. I was elected to council by the voters in 2005, 2007 and 2009.”

Cleary said she will also draw on her experience as a former social worker with the city of Lakewood’s Division of Youth.

“I see what happen to good, hardworking families when the good jobs aren’t available,” Cleary said. She said she has worked with families that have lost their homes to foreclosure or had to make decisions between paying for their mortgage and paying for health insurance.

As a result, Cleary said, she can bring to the statehouse a greater sensitivity to the concerns of working-class and middle class families.