Norwood Bulletin: "A Candidate Comes Calling..."
Another Spin, by Debbie Springarn
Opinion Section (August 10, 2006, Page 8)
A few weeks ago, I noticed a stranger across the street, engaged in a long conversation. What product or religion was she selling? I wondered. It appeared my house was next on the target list.
Though a few minutes to dinnertime, I chanced the fact that my food would burn and answered my door when the expected ring of the front bell shattered the humid midsummer air.
A friendly middle-aged woman introduced herself as a neighbor. Why was a neighbor walking door-to-door in late July heat, at dinnertime no less, interupting my air-conditioned repast just to welcome herself to Westover?
It turns out that the stranger at my door was long-time Norwood resident Leah O'Leary, knocking on doors to meet the voters in her quest to unseat longtime incumbent John Rogers in the upcoming race for State Representative on Beacon Hill.
Hanging out on my doorstep, learning about her challenging run against Rogers in the upcoming September 19th Primary, and several informative telephone conversations, and deciding not to leave any more voting decisions until the last second, I've come to appreciate the thoughtful comments and aspirations of this interesting woman.
I share many of the same priorities O'Leary is passionate about: education, heath care (including help for seniors with rising precription medication costs), work and family issues, and giving these concerns a voice and priority on Beacon Hill.
As a parent whose children have used the public education system, I agree with O'Leary's support for more aid to public school systems, for basic services like recruitment of good teachers, reduction and stabilization of user fees and higher pay for early childhood teachers.
While supporting what she calls a "healthy corporate sector," O'Leary also speaks to a fresh, new re-examination of the currently hard-to-understand formula for state aid to local cities and towns.
One doorstep at a time, O'Leary relates stories of hardship she is hearing for which she strives to be a voice. From her work experience in the field of social service and adoption (she owns and runs A Red Thread Adoption Agency in Norwood Center), O'Leary has been fighting for and working ith families for more than 35 years, she says. This includes creating more public policy supporting Family Leave programs, state subsidies for day care, better transitional programs to help individuals moving off welfare toward job opportunities, yet still maintaining adequate safety nets, as well as sufficient health care coverage for all.
Though she's never run for any public office, O'Leary clearly has a political knack for talking with people and hearing about their lives, problems and concerns. As a woman, parent, member of the Baby Boom generation with my own concerns about the cost of health care, and two daughters who will need a strong political voice for them as they grow up and who can relate to their needs as women, I believe O'Leary is their voice.
O'Leary herself feels strongly that "this voice needed to be spoken."
A week or so after our first doorstep meeting, I received a hand written postcard in the mail, addressed to me from Leah O'Leary. It thanked me for taking the time to chat with her that hot afternoon, and for considering to vote for her in the September Primary. All my dinnertime interruptions should be so pleasant.
(The columnist does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the paper.)
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