Age: 62

Running for: House District 128

Party: Democrat

Residence: Scarborough for 34 years

Family: Wife of Robert Pendleton and mother of two grown children

Education: Eastern Maine General Hospital School of Nursing, bachelor’s of science in applied technology education from University of Southern Maine

Occupation: Sewing teacher, retired registered nurse

Peggy Pendleton said working with people is what has kept her in public service, in both the Maine House and Senate, for 16 years.

The Democratic incumbent for the House District 128 seat, Pendleton, 62, is originally from Hamburg, N.Y., and moved to Maine to attend nursing school. She has lived in Scarborough for the past 34 years with her husband Robert, with whom she raised two children. As a nurse, health-care issues are particularly important to Pendleton.

“We’re trying to save Dirigo,” Pendleton said, referring to the Dirigo Health insurance program, adding that she’s particularly invested in the program because Scarborough has the third-highest number of residents enrolled.

Pendleton said she promised her constituents she would not vote in favor of raising the cigarette tax, so she voted in favor of the so-called beverage tax, in order to help fund Dirigo Health. However, she said, she thinks the program “needs some work.”

Pendleton also believes the school consolidation law “needs adjusting.”

“The premise was excellent,” she said about the law that passed last year, but believes that the process moved too quickly and some school districts need more time “to think it through.”

“There are so many unintended consequences that are going on as we speak,” she said, such as the fact that it’s costing some school districts more than anticipated.

Pendleton does not support a casino in Oxford County, because she doesn’t believe it’s legitimate economic development, as it’s been touted as.

“It’s not,” she said. “It’s entertainment.”

Some projects Pendleton has been working on and would like to continue are laws to protect children’s safety. She initiated Jake’s Law, to impose longer sentences on people who are responsible for the deaths of children, and she has submitted a bill to ban the sale of high-energy drinks to children under 18 years old.

Pendleton said she’s also working on an initiative to educate and train Maine residents to work in laboratories, such as the one for blood research in Scarborough, rather than bringing in employees from outside the state.

Solar energy initiatives are also high on Pendleton’s priority list for the coming years. She said she’d like to be able to “capture some federal funds” in order to provide incentives to residents who are interested in switching to solar energy.

As a member of the Government Oversight Committee, Pendleton said she’s currently involved in combing through the state’s departments, looking for ways to save money. She said the committee has already sent reports to the Appropriations

Committee and Department of Health and Human Services. Eventually, she said, she hopes that work will result in lower income taxes.

Peggy Pendleton