“I’m towards the end of my career, my wife is retired, and I thought it’s just a good time to to step away and make sure what I do next is something I’m passionate about,” he said. “I never say never, but for the immediate future, I’m done with elected office, and now I’m going to focus on helping vets.”
A Republican, Perales served as mayor of Beavercreek from 2002-2003, and as a member of Beavercreek City Council in 2004. Perales served two terms as a Greene County commissioner from 2005 to 2013, and served four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives for the 73rd district, which encompassed the western half of Greene County. He was elected as a Greene County commissioner for a third term in 2020.
One of the highlights of his political career, Perales said, was during the end of his time as mayor and into his first term as a county commissioner. Perales took the lead, he said, on advocating for the Miami Valley during the U.S. military’s 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process, or BRAC.
In BRACs, an independent commission reviews and approves changes in how U.S. military bases are set up, recommending that some be closed and others enlarged. The process is watched carefully by communities where military bases are strong employers and economic drivers.
“It was a big win,” Perales said. “You look at all the stats, we won 1,200 jobs.”
The Dayton contingent accomplished this, Perales said, not only because they met with military leaders, but also with military spouses.
“If they were going to give us these jobs, but we couldn’t fill them because the people in San Antonio that were experts in this said, ‘I’m not moving to Dayton, I want to stay here. My wife doesn’t want to move. My kids are in school here,’ (then) we we had to get them to move here to fill those jobs.”
Perales also cited the passage of licensure reciprocity for military spouses as an accomplishment during his time at the Ohio Statehouse.
Different states have different licensure requirements for many different professions, including education, nursing, real estate, and others. The legislation, passed in 2020, allows military spouses from a wide variety of careers to work in Ohio using certifications and licensures they’ve earned in other states.
“(Spouses) would have to take more training, more classes, whatever. So what you find is, because they have families and because they didn’t have the time or money to do that, many of these people were working as waiters or waitresses or (in) retail.”
Perales’ time in office was not without its controversies. In 2018, Perales filed extortion charges against Jocelyn Smith, his opponent in the Republican primary for the statehouse seat, after she threatened to publicize sexual text messages the pair had exchanged if Perales did not step down from his office.
Perales admitted to sending inappropriate texts during a brief consensual relationship in 2015, but denied that he choked or kissed Smith as she alleged. Smith later took a plea deal in the extortion case, and was ordered probation and a $500 fine.
When asked to reflect on this time in office, Perales said his first priority was to heal the hurt within his family.
“The elected official life isn’t easy. It’s rewarding, but it’s not easy,” Perales said. “I recognize I made some mistakes. Everyone does. I think I tried to learn and grow from those and stay focused on the mission, which I believe I have.”
“I don’t think there’s any value in saying, ‘Well, I would have done something differently.’ Of course you would if you had that chance. You don’t have that chance. So you learn and you grow from it,” he added.
Come January, Perales’ seat will be filled by outgoing Xenia mayor Sarah Mays. As he leaves the current administration, Perales expressed gratitude for his fellow commissioners and the staff that supports their office.
“What I see with this group of commissioners, this administration...is that they are forward thinking, they plan for tomorrow, today,” he said. “The men and women that work for Greene County...they take pride in what they’re doing. They are very customer focused.”
What exactly the future holds for Perales’ work with veterans is unclear as yet, he said.
“There’s a lot to assist the vets out there with, but I want to make sure wherever I go, whatever I do, it has the biggest bang for the buck,” he said.
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