I’m running for state representative because we need a new way forward to a better future for Lincoln, Sudbury, Wayland, and our Commonwealth. My passion for public service, my background and experience, and my vision for a better future — these are reasons why I can be the new way forward for our towns, and why I am the best candidate for state representative of the 13th Middlesex District. Our political leaders need to be role models again, and I’m ready to be one.

My Passion for Public Service

Serving others with intelligence, enthusiasm, and sound judgment — that’s what I love to do. I was fortunate to attend a high school that had some prominent political alumni, and a former head of school with a flair for speeches. He was well-known for having said, “Ask not what your school can do for you, ask what you can do for your school.” And that line, as we all know, was adjusted slightly by one prominent political alumnus, and it resonates with me to this day. And I reach out for help from the spirit of Adlai Stevenson and John Kennedy as I make this journey toward elective office to serve the common good.

While working in our federal government shortly after college, I received a great education about how our government works, its strengths and its weaknesses. I approached my service in government with a sense of sincerity and enthusiasm for what it can do, rather than cynicism about what it shouldn’t do. And I veered toward practicality and progress, rather than pure hardball politics. I went to Washington DC more than twenty years ago to make a positive difference in the world, and I maintain that drive and passion today.

My focus now is on making our towns stronger and better places to live and work. I relish my almost daily “running for office” door-to-door jogs, because I get a chance to meet with voters, listen to your concerns, and engage you in a civic dialogue. It’s fun for me, and I want to continue to enlist your support, your energy, your ideas and your talents toward building a better future for our towns.

My Background and Experience

I am a New Englander. I spent my youth in central Connecticut, in a suburban community much like Lincoln, Sudbury, and Wayland. Since then, my background has prepared me to be a particularly effective state representative for you and our towns:

• I am well-educated, having received a BA from Yale, a master’s degree in international economics and trade, and an MBA.
• I know how the federal government works, having served on the staff of two US Senators — Gary Hart and Barbara Mikulski — in Washington DC.
• I know how the non-profit arena works, having devoted five years to non-profits helping refugees.
• I know how our state government works, having led teams that helped state agencies improve their finances, generate millions in new revenues, and enhance services to foster children.
• I know how the private sector works, having served as a management consultant for a Fortune 500 firm, helping other companies become more successful, operationally, strategically, and through better risk management.
• I know community service, having served as a volunteer soccer coach and commissioner, having explored ways to find new funding for rebuilding the Wayland high school, and while serving as a youth group volunteer at the church I attend in Lincoln.

My Vision for a Better Future

The new way forward for our towns means more state aid, more jobs, and less divisiveness. Lincoln, Sudbury, and Wayland are wonderful communities, and yet, each town faces significant challenges. These include preserving our great schools, making smart choices about the environment, improving our public works infrastructure, balancing commercial growth with our semi-rural character, and preventing the seemingly unavoidable annual increase in our property taxes. More state aid for our towns can help address these challenges.

At present, we are towns divided into various factions, seemingly pitted against one another — on issues such as cleaning up the Sudbury River, zoning around Route 20, proposition 2 ½ overrides and property taxes, preserving the environment, the Metco program, the Wayland Town Center initiative, affordable housing, the Nike site, health care, and upgrading our schools. The divisiveness is tearing at the fabric of our towns and eroding our sense of community and belief in the common good.

My wife Sarah and I would like to see more vibrant, community-oriented towns in this district. I believe that every resident in our towns finds some aspect of our towns’ public services to be special. We all understand that serving the common good means balancing sacrifice and benefits. Together, I believe that we can find a common ground to support those services that are common to all of us: public safety services, roads and bridges, proper sanitation, the environment, town hall services. With more state aid, we can preserve these services and our schools, and make our communities better places to work, play, and live.

At the state level, we face a growing need to keep companies and jobs in Massachusetts. This means finding the right balance on taxes and regulation for businesses, to preserve fairness and enhance competitiveness. It means having towns where America’s best and brightest want to live, so that our state remains a haven for the best universities, emerging technologies, evolving health care solutions, and unrivaled money managers.

To obtain more state aid for our towns, we need a Democratic state representative who is able to work closely with the Democratic leadership in the State House. To improve our state’s economic strength, we need more state officials who have worked in the private sector, who understand how business decisions are made, and who can work in partnership with the business community .

We don’t have these qualities now in a state representative, but we could if I am elected. With your help, we can open the door to new ideas, new funding, new solutions for our towns, and more jobs for our state. As the only Democrat running for state representative from our district, and as the only candidate with a business background, I am the best candidate for our towns, representing a new way forward toward a better future.

A New Way Forward

Whenever I have worked with elected government officials, I have found that I admired those who made decisions based on commonly-held principles, rather than simply taking positions on issues or being beholden to special interest groups. The following are some of the principles that I believe in which shape my decision-making on public policies:

I strive always for integrity, because it means respecting our public institutions and not littering them with corrupt lobbyists or special interests.

I believe in honesty, which means telling people in a straightforward manner when they are putting self-interest too far ahead of the common good.

I believe in fairness, and creating opportunities for all Americans — the hardworking, those who have become trained and well-educated, and those who through no fault of their own were born into difficult circumstances.

I believe in freedom, and that means not only freedom of speech, but also supporting a woman’s right to choose.

I believe in civil rights, which means supporting marriage equality.

I believe in charity, which means helping the homeless and feeding the hungry.

I admire a sense of humility, which means not making tragic mistakes with the death penalty.

I make decisions with prudence, and that means greatly constricting access to guns in this country.

The American people want and deserve better than the old-style politics of inflexibility, ideology, and special interests. I want to live up to your expectations about elected officials by offering a new way forward: principled and practical leadership that inspires civic engagement at the local, state, and federal levels.

I believe that the people of Lincoln, Sudbury, and Wayland will become less cynical and more enthusiastic about government if they know that their voices matter. That’s why I am committed to listening to you: I will not actively seek endorsements from special interest groups so that I can instead hear your voices and be your advocates.

As your state representative, I will be an engaged listener, an effective leader, a pragmatic problem solver. I will be your voice in the State House for improvement, a voice for a new way forward, and a better future. I believe passionately that we can do better. To do that, we need to work together, and I need your support. Please know that I will give my all and do my best to build upon our towns’ great legacies, ensuring that our communities are vibrant and special within a progressive and just Commonwealth.

Thank you for your support.