In the middle of his third term as a Boardman Township Trustee, Larry Moliterno (D), 55, filed petitions with the Mahoning County Board of Elections last week to run for a seat in the Ohio House of Representative for the 59th District.
      The seat is being vacated by John Boccieri, who has announced plans to run for the state senate.
      Others interested in the seat include Democrat Eric Ungaro, a Poland Township trustee; and Republican John Manning.
      Moliterno was first elected as a Boardman Trustee in 2007, and has won re-election twice since that time. Since 2006, he had served as CEO of Meridian HealthCare, the largest provided of substance abuse treatment programs in the Mahoning Valley.
      Moliterno holds a bachelors degree in communication and a masters degree in business administration from Youngstown State University.
      A graduate of Leadership Mahoning valley, Moliterno has served as executive director of Catholic Charities, director of planning for the Youngstown/Mahoning Valley United Way, a member of the board of the Boardman Civic Association, a vice-president of Boardman Community Baseball, as a member of the board of directors for the Mahoning County Landbank and the advisory board of the Boardman Schools Television Network. He is also a member of the Boardman Booster Club.
      In 2016, Moliterno was tapped to serve on the 15-member Ohio Medical Marijuana task Force, representing the Ohio Alliance of Recovery Providers.
      He supported legislation approved by the United States Senate that was introduced by Republican Senator Rob Portman, called the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA).
      “We protect our children from auto accidents with seatbelts, from sunburn with sunblock and from biking injuries with safety helmets. We need to do something to protect them from addiction. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act would expand prevention and education efforts while also promoting treatment and recovery. This is a truly innovative and ground-breaking piece of legislation that will make a substantial difference in this battle against addiction. It will reduce crime and increase productivity. And most importantly, it will reduce the number of families that are torn apart by this epidemic,” Moliterno said in support of the measure.
      His tenure as Boardman Trustee began as a minority-member of a chaotic, three-person board, where he brought some semblance of civility through the creation of The Boardman Plan, that was designed to focus on the future needs and goals of Boardman Township government.
      Upon the election of Thomas Costello and Brad Calhoun to the township’s board of trustees, the three-member board has made good on their pledge to act in the best interests of Boardman Township, and in more than eight years, they have never had a public disagreement on policy.
      Moliterno is the second, local man to seek election to a state office, as Democrat Ohio Sen. Joe Schiavoni is running for the governor of Ohio. Moliterno’s current term as a Boardman Trustee expires Dec. 31, 2019.
      He is the second Boardman Township Trustee to run for a seat in the Ohio Legislature. In 1972, Trustee Thomas J. Carney won election to the Ohio Senate.