Tom Jordan Jumps In For Run At County Council Seat

[Jim O'Bryan]

A Fresh Start for Cuyahoga County

Tom Jordan filed petitions today to enter the race to represent District 2 on the new County Council.

“We don’t need career politicians. We need jobs,” said Tom, 44, a regional economic development official with extensive experience bringing jobs and development to Cuyahoga County.

Tom plans to make job creation his top priority.

Making his first run for elective office, Tom pledges to bring new ideas and a fresh start to residents of District 2. He believes the county's decades of patronage and corruption must end; To help meet that goal, he will accept no campaign contributions from county employees.

“There is a wealth of talent and resources here in Cuyahoga County," Tom said. "We must stabilize the county’s finances and invest in long-term development projects. We can be vibrant and competitive again.”

To meet those goals, Tom proposes shifting county resources and creating new incentives to attract technology-based jobs to the county.

Tom was born and raised in the Westpark neighborhood of Cleveland where he currently lives with his wife, Mary Ellen, and their four young children. He is the son of Irish immigrants who raised seven children in Westpark, including Tom's sister, Mary Jordan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist for the Washington Post.

Currently Community Development Director of North Royalton, Tom has served as a senior development official for the City of Cleveland. In 2002 he led the effort to attract Sysco Corp. to Cleveland, which resulted in 600 new jobs. Sysco was the largest employer to move back into Cleveland in 30 years. From 2004 to 2008, Tom was Planning and Development Director for the City of Lakewood, where he spearheaded Lakewood’s first new housing development since the development of the Gold Coast condos in the 1970s.

For more information on Tom and his campaign to reform Cuyahoga County government, please visit his website http://tom-jordan.org, e-mail him at tom@tom-jordan.org or call him at 216-326-2583.

.