A working family lens on every vote.
Will my vote make our towns more affordable, or less? Will my vote protect the most vulnerable groups in our towns — the poor, the elderly, our veterans, and our young people? Will my vote preserve our towns’ character and way of life — and the natural beauty and ecosystem of our towns?
These are the questions I will weigh on every bill put before me. These are the questions that will formulate my own initiatives as a legislator.
Cost of Living
Our young people are moving out. Our seniors wonder if they can stay. You don’t lower the cost of living by piling on more mandates from Boston.
- Support the Nov referendum to reduce state income tax to 4%.
- Defend Proposition 2½. No carve-outs. No workarounds.
- Push back on policies that drive up energy and water bills.
- Reform building codes that price young families out.
Transparency & Independence
More than 72% of Massachusetts voters — from every party — voted to allow our State Auditor to audit the legislature. The leadership refuses. That is not representation. That is a rubber stamp.
- Vote to enforce the State Auditor’s right to audit, on day one.
- Refuse to vote in lockstep. Every bill judged on its merits.
- Publish votes, schedule, and office activity on a regular cadence.
Schools & Infrastructure
Our children deserve safe, welcoming, and well-designed schools so they can thrive and achieve excellence. Our citizens deserve roads and bridges that are open, structurally sound, and allow for movement within our towns. Dan will work every day to ensure the small towns of this district get their fair share of state-allocated funds.
- Fight for a fair Chapter 70 distribution — we are not “rich.”
- Generate state aid for specific projects, by name, in each town.
- Publish a transparent, ranked, district-wide infrastructure list every year.
Working Families First
Our towns are populated with electricians, mechanics, paralegals, nurses, plumbers, contractors, small-business owners, dairy farmers, clammers, fishermen, clam diggers, oystermen, retirees on fixed pensions — and the next generation that cannot afford to stay. The 2nd Essex is not a postcard. It is a working community.
- Tax and regulatory relief targeted at working families.
- An aid formula that stops treating our towns as donors.
- A working family lens on every bill.
Energy & Environment
A clean environment and an affordable life are not a trade-off. We deserve both. Beacon Hill’s “environmental” policy has turned into a cost-driver, not a stewardship plan.
- An all-of-the-above energy strategy that keeps prices down.
- Protect open space, farmland, and shoreline.
- Partner with our farmers, fishermen, clam diggers, oystermen, and conservation groups.
Public Safety
Our police officers and firefighters in all six towns are working with antiquated equipment in dilapidated buildings. Beacon Hill has shrugged. Our public-safety professionals show up for us. I will show up for them.
- Real state aid for local public-safety capital needs.
- Standing meetings with chiefs and union representatives.
- Bring stakeholders together — resources and necessary training for law enforcement to address the mental-health and addiction crises they sadly confront on a regular basis.
Veterans
Our veterans earned their benefits the hard way. Beacon Hill has not made delivering them a priority. That ends with me. If you served this country, this district owes you more than a handshake at a parade.
- Full state-level funding of benefits, healthcare, mental health, and housing assistance.
- Targeted property-tax relief for veterans and surviving spouses.
- Standing meetings with County Veterans Services Departments, Veterans Outreach Programs, and local VFW posts.
Our Elders
Our elders are more than a quarter of every town in this district. Many are disabled, many are facing dementia, and most are struggling to make ends meet. They deserve a State Representative who actually shows up.
- Visit and work closely with the Council on Aging in every one of our six towns.
- Advocate for additional state aid and seek out resources to help our elders stay independent.
- Show up — not one hour a month, but every week — to listen and learn from their wisdom.
Small Business
The businesses in our six towns employ our residents, sponsor our youth sports, donate to our food pantries, and keep our downtowns alive. They have been getting a cold shoulder from Beacon Hill. I will not continue that.
- Tax and regulatory relief targeted at small operators.
- Stand against energy policy that drives up costs.
- Reengage and help organize local business associations, chambers, and downtown groups.
- Establish liaisons between town governments and the business community for regular meetings with associations and large employers.
The Beacon Hill Bypass
Most of the $60+ billion state budget is funneled into large cities and pet projects that do next to nothing for our small towns. Money follows the squeaky wheel. I will be a very squeaky wheel for the 2nd Essex.
- Fight for our fair share of state aid.
- Work cooperatively across the aisle to bring resources home.
- Push fiercely against the leadership culture that treats small towns as donors.
Keep our clam diggers digging.
Our communities are clam-digging towns, and if elected, I intend to keep them that way.
Long before the Pilgrims came north to settle Cape Ann, the people of this area were digging clams. Clam digging is synonymous with the coastal towns in this district; it is the lifeblood of many working men and women, and it attracts tourists and eager commercial buyers, bringing needed revenue.
Right now, that industry is facing one of its gravest threats — not from the dreaded green crab or the vicissitudes of tide, wind, and rain, but from big government. Despite consistent testing by the Ipswich Shellfish Constable showing that the Ipswich River is within acceptable limits for wastewater effluent, the State’s Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have closed the Ipswich River flats indefinitely because of the location of the town’s wastewater treatment outfall pipe.
State and federal regulators seem oblivious to the consistent clean-water findings, the first-class rating of the Ipswich treatment plant, and the fact that there is no record of any illnesses linked to local shellfish. We don’t need another task force or blue-ribbon panel.
As State Representative, I will spend every day working with the DMF and the administration to bring common sense back to shellfish regulation — and keep our clam diggers digging.
The 2nd Essex we are protecting.
Six towns. One seat. Your voice.
A representative who answers the call, returns the email, sits down with the chiefs, the superintendents, the veterans, the small-business owners, and the families. Who reads the bills. Who votes the district. Who restores the Brad Hill standard.
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