Peabody state rep has tools for public service

PEABODY – Newly re-elected state Rep. Leah Cole said she had the support of the man who is now Massachusetts? top Republican even before she won an April 2013 election to represent Peabody in the state Legislature.?Charlie Baker supported me from the beginning, even before he announced for governor,” Cole said.In an Item interview Tuesday, the 26-year-old nurse and 2007 Lynn Vocational Technical Institute graduate talked about why she is pursuing a nursing degree at Regis College and working flexible hours at a Gloucester nursing home even as she fulfills her legislative obligations.?It kind of grounds you a little. We desperately need people with real-world experience,” she said of the Legislature.Cole beat Beverley Griffin Dunne in the Nov. 4 election to represent Peabody – minus Ward 6 and part of Ward 5. The election was the second contest between Cole and Dunne, a veteran Peabody School Committee member.Cole said she “always paid attention to politics,” but Barack Obama?s 2008 presidential win increased her interest. She considered herself a political independent until Gov. Deval Patrick proposed a tax hike package that prompted her to shift her allegiance to the Republican Party and contemplate a campaign to succeed the late Joyce Spiliotis in the Legislature.?I aligned more fiscally with the Republicans. I saw scandal after scandal – so much waste – it seemed like such a mess,” she said.Cole said she walked into her first debate with Dunne and City Councilor Dave Gravel in 2013 armed with “a few issues” and no debating skills.?It was like the old saying, ?Let people think you are a fool rather than open your mouth and proving it,?” she said.Her family – parents Chuck and Mary Cole; twin brother, Chaz, and sisters, Deena and Chelsea – took a mild, if somewhat perplexed, interest in Cole?s candidacy. Ranging out from their Lynnfield Street home, Cole knocked on doors and worked to convince people why they should go to the polls and vote in an early spring special election – and why they should vote for her.?There were people who said I didn?t have a snowball?s chance in Hell,” she said.She beat Dunne and Gravel and made her first trip to the State House as a newly elected legislator preparing to be sworn in. Cole said the experience she gained in 2013 and earlier this year serving 12th Essex residents proved to voters “I?m committed to the job.”Her position on the state minimum wage drew critics during this year?s election but she said the wage debate reflects a bigger concern legislators must address. “In Massachusetts, we are not very friendly with business,” she said.Cole?s family lived near Wyoma Square when she attended Shoemaker Elementary, Pickering Middle School and Lynn Tech. She went to Tech with an interest in working behind the scenes in the television industry, but health problems faced by her grandfather, Arthur Cole, drew her toward a nursing career.?He was in Massachusetts General Hospital a lot. Seeing the nurses and what they do, I decided that?s what I really wanted,” Cole said.She took college courses after graduating high school and worked for a while before setting her sights on earning a nursing degree. On a typical day, she commutes to Boston?s western suburbs to take a nursing class at Regis and then drives back to Boston for legislative sessions that begin midday and can last into evenings. A typical day also includes working a nursing shift or studying for the next day?s class.Cole estimates she is one among fewer than a dozen members in the 160-member House of Representatives who are in their mid-20s. She said her work on committees specializing in senior care and health care and her goal to increase local aid to communities keep her focused on her legislative priorities.?You get respect from your colleagues when you are willing to work,” she said.