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Lee Selectman Wickham Making Bid For State Senate
By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
01:30AM / Monday, July 23, 2018
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After 11 years in local government, Thomas Wickham seeks a seat in the state house.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Thomas Wickham describes himself as a "realist" and a "moderate" and is looking for a seat in the state Senate.
 
Eleven years ago he received a tax bill that frustrated him. But instead of just getting mad and complaining about it, he got involved. 
 
"After I got my taxes, I was kind of mad. I figured I wanted to get involved and figure out what is going on," Wickham said. "I started on the Planning Board 10, 11 years ago learning how zoning goes and how we zone businesses in town, whether we are friendly or not."
 
That experience led him to get involved with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. The Lee Democrat worked on such committees as regional issues where he spent a great deal of time discussing issues impacting all of the Berkshires and he learned a lot about the role the state plays and state grants.
 
Five years ago he was elected to the Lee Board of Selectmen.
 
And now he has his sights set on the state Senate. Wickham is challenging incumbent Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, for the Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden district seat. 
 
"I've got 10, 11 years in local government. I understand the small towns and the big towns and how grants work, how municipalities work, how much money is involved, unions and labor negotiations, all of that," Wickham said. "I have experience in this and I can do this job and do it well if I get elected."
 
Wickham is bringing a number of his own ideas to the campaign. He was the originator of a local option gas tax proposal which the town of Lee passed but still needs state approval. That would place a local tax on gas for the towns to spend solely on infrastructure repairs. 
 
"Roads are half a million dollars a mile. Lee has 72 miles of roads. All towns have tons of roads. We are barely keeping up with our main roads and our secondary roads are terrible. These are people paying taxes in a nice neighborhood and they have a terrible road. We need to start addressing secondary roads," Wickham said.
 
"Being a town selectman, I understand what needs to be fixed. Just give me the money, I don't have it and I can't keep raising property taxes to do it. A five cent gas tax taxes everybody, poor, rich, it doesn't make a difference and  we all get the improvements."
 
Recently he was walking on the Berkshire Community College campus when he took a peek into a classroom. He saw some 30 seats but only around 20 students. That gave him the idea of an "empty chair" program. 
 
"Those empty chairs could be filled by a certain group of kids out of high school. So what I am thinking is have the guidance councilors choose three kids who don't have the resources to go to BCC but deserve it. They pick the three out of each high school," Wickham said.
 
His concept is to start a state program to provide those students from each school a free ride at the community college while private donors can help with books and other materials. He said as long as the students maintain a B average, they'd be able to retain their seat.
 
That's an example of his more moderate stance than some other Democrats. While there has been talk about free college education for all, Wickham said his program would at least accomplish some of that instead of ending up with nothing. Education has become one of his key points he'd like to focus on if elected, in particular in support of public schools.
 
"I'm a product of public school, so are my kids, so is my family for generations. We all seemed to have done pretty well," Wickham said.
 
Jobs remains another top priority for Wickham. A carpenter of more than 30 years is watching as a large number of carpenters retire and there is a lack of younger people to fill those jobs. He is also seeing a lack of career opportunities in the Berkshires - but instead a large number of service jobs. 
 
"There are a lot of jobs but there are no careers. And a lot of them are seasonal. So that is something I'd want to work on," Wickham said.
 
Wickham said he'd like to chase down businesses that require "a skill" such as those in manufacturing to help provide better work opportunities to the Berkshires. 
 
"The manufacturing base is coming back. There are a few things starting to get back in the Pittsfield area. We are a manufacturing, historically, type place," Wickham said.
 
He said he'd personally reach out to such companies and try to convince them to move here but growing the economy takes efforts on all fronts to improve a community. For example, he said companies are more apt to move to a place if they see such things are roads being repaired and blight being cleaned.
 
He is also suggesting the creation of economic zones in which companies with 100 or more employees that move to those areas receive a lower tax rate.
 
The laws for businesses also have to change. He owns his own business - Wickham and Daughters Construction - and has seen first hand a number of obstacles being placed in front of businesses. He said the sprinkler laws are a good example. Those laws are preventing businesses from moving into old structures because of the costly improvements required.
 
"You are stopping businesses from going into old businesses because of that law," Wickham said.
 
Energy remains another obstacle. He said he'd take some of the similar efforts the town of Lee did to a state level. He helped negotiate an energy rate of 8.2 cents per kilowatt house - a third lower than most right now - for 20 years from solar. That locked-in rate helps moderate fluctuations in price increases. 
 
He said he studies energy closely and has a number of plans for the grid, promoting solar, and wants to bring in Hydro-Canada electricity to prevent the need for gas pipelines. He also wants to address the law which allows a utility company to make 10 percent profit, saying 5 percent is enough. He promised to go after Eversource and Spectrum for rate increases.
 
Wickham will emphasis his local government experience and passion to make things better for the individual towns. 
 
"You've got to have a passion for this. If you don't have the passion, only doing it to get rich and popular, go ahead. I'm done with that. We've got to elect people who actually want to do something. I will do the best I can in two years and if I don't do good enough and everyone wants to kick me out, then they kick me out. But I can sleep at night because I am going to work my butt off and do exactly what I said I was going to do," Wickham said.
 
Wickham is taking on incumbent Adam Hinds in the Democratic primary in September.
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