By David Harry
Staff Writer

Maine Rep. Peggy Pendleton (D-Scarborough) said it is time to spend more time with her husband and grandchildren.
She also said it is time for Board of Education Chairman Brian Dell’Olio to replace her in House District 128.
“I would endorse him because he is strong, honest, compassionate, a good listener and he understands the commitment he is going to make,” Pendleton said after announcing last week she will not seek re-election in the fall.
Pendleton, a Holmes Road resident, has served as a House member and senator for 18 of the last 22 years, both as a Republican and Democrat.
Dell’Olio, 27, who earned a political science degree from Marymount University in Arlington, Va., and has served on the Board of Education since 2007.
 “I am interested in the process in general,” he said of serving in the Legislature. He will run as a Democrat.
First elected to the Maine House in 1988 as a Republican, Pendleton, 63, switched parties in 1994 near the conclusion of her third term as a House member.
After a two-year hiatus, she served the maximum four terms in the Maine Senate. After a two-year break required by Maine’s term-limits law, Pendleton was re-elected to the House in 2006.
Pendleton currently is a member of the Marine Resources, Government Oversight and Engrossed Bills committees. She said solving state budget problems is the biggest challenge Legislature now faces. Confronting the $438 million budget gap will produce bipartisan solutions, she said.
“There is more arguing when we have a surplus,” Pendleton said.
As she steps away from her Legislative career, Pendleton said the state budget, tax reform and health care will be primary topics for the next session and her successor.
“We are starting to come out of this a little, but new ideas are always good,” Pendleton said.
Pendleton’s endorsement of Dell’Olio is based on his work with the Board of Education and help he gave her during her re-election in 2008, she said.
“His experience at the municipal level makes him an ideal candidate,” she said. “When I feel strongly about something, I go with what I am feeling.”
Dell’Olio, who operates an investment firm with his father, said if elected he will emphasize tax reform, business development and a possible restructuring of how education is funded by the state.
The formula requiring the state to pay 55 percent of local education costs may be too high, Dell’Olio said, and funding reductions caused by state budget deficits have meant local districts lose too much money at once.
Dell’Olio said he knew Pendleton was thinking about stepping away but unaware of her final decision until last week.
Pendleton said stepping away was a difficult decision, despite the hard work and commitment required to serve in the Legislature.
 “I will miss the friendships on both sides of the aisle in Augusta and going door to door locally,” she said.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219