Perez takes place in O'Malley cabinet
Attorney General candidate puts tainted election behind him

by Allison Baker
April 2007

Fresh to his new job as the secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Tom Perez continues his 20 years of public service.

Perez, 45, now works to implement Gov. O'Malley's vision of one Maryland, which Perez calls "a vision of inclusion and empowerment." The department commits itself to safeguarding and protecting Marylanders while supporting the state's economic stability.

"Tom has had to hit the ground running and he's doing a stellar job," Linda Sherman, spokeswoman for the DLLR, said. "You don't see many people like him."

During the week, Perez is very hands-on in Annapolis. He is also a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law.

On weekends he is busy in Takoma Park, where he lives with his wife Ann Marie and their three children. This spring he is back coaching in the Takoma Soccer league, and over the winter he coached 15 girls in basketball, a sport he plays every change he gets.

Perez, a first-generation Dominican American, has always been driven to be in public service because of his passion for empowering people.

"The most rewarding thing about my job is helping vulnerable people," Perez said. "We deal with people who are in a very unsettling phase of their life — they're people who have lost their jobs, they're victims of scams and people who are working their tails off and not getting paid for it. I have a wonderful opportunity to touch people's lives in so many different ways."

Perez says that the most frustrating thing about public service is that there are too many people suffering and not enough resources. But, the response, he says, is to work every day smarter and more efficiently.

Perez has a long history of working for the common good. After six years at the U.S. Justice Department civil rights division, he spent two years as director of the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He also served on the board of CASA de Maryland, a community group dedicated to helping low-income Latinos, for seven years.

After the November elections he had a choice of going to work for the new O'Malley administration or to take a roving job with a foundation, a job that would have required extensive traveling. Although tempted by the chance to be involved in the philantrophic world, Perez chose to stick with politics and to stay closer to home.

In 2002 Perez was elected to the Montgomery County Council making him the state's top Latino elected official. A few months ago Perez gave up an easy reelection bid to pursue the post of Maryland attorney general. But three weeks before the Democratic primary, the state Court of Appeals ousted Perez from the race for not meeting the constitutional requirement mandating that candidates must have 10 years of experience as a member of the Maryland State Bar. Perez was only admitted to the Maryland Bar in 2001. But Perez' spirit has not been affected by the disappointing setback.

"I'm a big believer that the two most important days in a person's life is the day he's born and the day he figures out why," Perez said. "I've been blessed to have figured that out. It gives me incredible fulfillment."

Perez has put down roots in Takoma Park.

"Takoma Park is a wonderful community," Perez said. "I enjoy the diversity, the sense of community — the sense that we all succeed when we all succeed. And I love that my children are learning the value of inclusion and respect for difference." And that's what this nation needs in a leader, says Perez — someone with a vision of inclusion and someone who will work for the common good.

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