Armond D. Budish (D-Beachwood) is the Minority Leader for the 129th Ohio General Assembly and was Speaker of the House for the 128th Ohio General Assembly. He represents the 8th House District, which includes parts of the city of Cleveland and its eastern suburbs.
Leader Budish obtained his Bachelor’s Degree with honors from Swarthmore College, and then earned a Juris Doctorate, Order of the Coif, from New York University Law School. After clerking for a federal judge in Washington, D.C., he joined the law firm Hahn Loeser and Parks in Cleveland.
In 1993, he founded the law firm Budish, Solomon, Steiner, & Peck in Beachwood, OH, where he is currently a partner. Leader Budish is also host of the television show “Golden Opportunities,” an informational program for seniors and their families, which can be seen Sundays on WKYC Channel 3 in Northeast Ohio. He has written several books, including most recently Why Wills Won’t Work. He has written articles for many national publications and for a span of almost 25 years penned a column entitled “You and the Law,” which was published by The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Columbus Dispatch.
In 2006, after both his sons had left for college, Leader Budish made the decision to run for public office. He was elected that year to the Ohio House of Representatives from the 8th District. His appointment as Ranking Minority Member of the Financial Institutions, Real Estate & Securities Committee enabled his extensive involvement in a number of important legislative issues, including Payday Lending reform. Having worked extensively with families struggling with health care and long-term care issues, he also took the lead on health care-related initiatives and served as a member of the Unified Long-Term Care Budget workgroup.
After successfully steering the Ohio House Democratic Caucus to take the majority in the 2008 election year, Armond Budish was elected to be Speaker of the House by his peers in January 2009. Job creation was his first priorities, as well as education reform. He also helped reform House practices by instituting a new rule aimed at removing partisanship from the Clerk’s Office: requiring that the Clerk and Deputy Clerk be members of different political parties. In the 129th General Assembly, Leader Budish and his caucus aim to help create jobs and protect Ohio’s middle class.
Leader Budish lives in Beachwood with his wife Amy. They have two sons: Ryan, who is an attorney in Washington, D.C., and Daniel, who is earning his Master’s degree in urban planning.