Pete Sheehey was re-elected to the Council for a second term in the November 2016 general election. Pete Sheehey has lived and worked in Los Alamos since 1986. Pete comes from a California working class family that placed great importance on getting a good education. He earned a scholarship to go to college at UC Santa Cruz, served as a computer technician in the US Air Force from 1976 to 1979, worked as a field engineer, and then went back to school to become a scientist. After finishing a PhD in Physics at UCLA, he worked as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory on controlled fusion nuclear energy and nuclear weapons safety and reliability. He retired in April 2012 from the Lab. His interests include renewable energy, preservation of the environment, and music. He is an avid runner, hiker, and a long-time member of the Los Alamos Mountaineers Club (lamountaineers.org).
Pete has been active in political and community affairs. He has worked since the 1990's with the Los Alamos Committee on Arms Control and International Security (www.lacacis.org), a bi-partisan group that studies arms control and advocates for sound treaties and policies that increase our national security. He served on the Los Alamos County Planning and Zoning Commission from 2008 to 2012, also serving for several years on the P&Z Board of Adjustment. At the 2012 Redistricting Special Session of the New Mexico Legislature, Pete worked successfully with Los Alamos County Councilors, State Representatives, and others to keep Los Alamos County in a single legislative district. He has also advocated for other issues at the New Mexico Roundhouse and the US Congress.
The main effort of his campaign for County Council in 2012 was to knock on thousands of people’s doors in Los Alamos and White Rock, introduce himself, and ask what are their concerns about their county government. They told him they are concerned about aggressive spending being done by the county, when the Lab's budget, the main source of the county's income, is being cut. At the same time, they want us to go ahead with needed investments in education, infrastructure, and economic development: things that will help make this town more inviting to everyone, from students and single people, to families with children, to retirees. Having played all of those roles in his time here, Pete aims to help find a balance between these concerns. People are in pretty good agreement on priorities: public safety, infrastructure, education, and economic development, followed by improving our recreational amenities. Pete is focused on communication to build consensus, prioritization, fiscal responsibility, and sustainability. If we focus on these things, we will be able to afford all of the important things for our community, even in challenging times.