08/31/2012
Timothy O'Leary campaigns on business, legal experience
By Charliesdad
Created 08/31/12
Timothy O'Leary believes he is well-suited for the position of Hampshire County register of deeds because of his business acumen and his experience as a real estate attorney.
"This is what I do, it's a good fit for me," said O'Leary, who lives in Southampton. "It's also an opportunity to do some good and have a positive impact on the community."
O'Leary, Bonnie MacCracken of Amherst and Mary Olberding of Belchertown are the candidates on the Democratic ballot in the Sept. 6 primary. The winner will face independent candidate George Zimmerman, the Northampton city treasurer, in the Nov. 6 election. There are no Republican candidates.
The job, which pays $90,000 annually, had been held by Marianne L. Donohue for 23 years until she retired in September. The new register will oversee a staff of seven.
O'Leary, 39, is a graduate of Easthampton High School. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in marketing from the University of Rhode Island College of Business Administration and later graduated from Western New England University School of Law in Springfield.
He worked as a field representative for Transamerica Commercial Finance Corp. and as an adviser to corporate clients of MassMutual while taking law classes at night. He has been in private practice as a real estate attorney in Easthampton since 2003.
O'Leary said the register has an important responsibility: safeguarding record-keeping for all land in the county.
Renters as well as homeowners have a stake in making sure the office is well-run, he said, because it maintains records for every piece of property.
O'Leary said the Registry of Deeds is also a valuable resource for research. If elected, he said, he will work to make the registry more visible and to increase community awareness about the services it provides.
He said he joined the Democratic Party at age 18, but switched to unenrolled status after becoming disillusioned with the political process. O'Leary rejoined the party in February.
"I'm typically a Democrat at heart," he said, adding that he wanted to be free to vote for candidates he believed were best-suited for office regardless of their party affiliation. "I want to be able to choose the person, not the party."
O'Leary said he could have remained unenrolled and avoided the primary, instead facing off against the Democratic winner and Zimmerman in the general election. "I decided that if I wanted to run for office, I wanted to run as a Democrat," he said.
If foreclosures approved through so-called "robo-signing" - when bank officials approved documents without being aware of their content - are determined to be fraudulent, O'Leary said, he would make sure the registry could handle the extra work and could also assist homeowners wrongly forced out of their property.
"My view is, these banks were holding homeowners down to the letter of the contracts they signed," he said. "If those banks are trying to take shortcuts, that's wrong."
O'Leary said he will give up his law practice if he is elected register. "I'd miss helping people," he said. "But I'd get to help a whole different set of people in a whole different way."
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