Meet the candidates for State Rep. First Franklin District

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HILLTOWNS – One of the races that will be decided in the primary on Tuesday, September 4 is the race for the First Franklin District, which includes Chester and Huntington in our coverage area among the nineteen towns represented. Seven Democrats are competing for the seat held by State Representative Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington) since 1993. No Republicans are in the race.
The Westfield News asked the candidates for the First Franklin District to submit profiles/statements about themselves to introduce them to our readership. The candidates offer a wide range in background, age and experience. Following the results of Tuesday’s election, one of these candidates will join the ranks of the Western Mass delegation in 2019.

KATE ALBRIGHT-HANNA, Huntington

I’m a bold progressive Democrat who has the experience, integrity and energy to finally tackle the big issues that have been simmering on the back burner for too long. We know that our public schools have been underfunded by the state for decades, and that our towns have had to make up the difference. We know that one of the reasons the cost of our public schools has risen so dramatically is because health care costs are out of control. And we know that climate change is already impacting our region.
As state representative, I won’t kick any of these issues down the road to the next generation. As part of a new, united Western Massachusetts delegation, (State Senator Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow has endorsed me and I’ve talked to other elected officials and candidates about a unified strategy for our region), I will fight with every tool in my arsenal for fully funded public education, for single payer health care, and for an aggressive plan to reverse climate change.
I have a proven track record for getting big things done on the local, state and national level. I’ve served three presidents – Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter – and documented the major turning points of the 21st century as a journalist at CNN and MSNBC (including the 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the rise of the netroots in the Howard Dean campaign, the Tea Party and the Occupy movement).
As a member of Huntington’s Planning Board, I wrote and passed a site plan review bylaw that protects our town from future corporate development that would suck wealth out of local communities and send it overseas. The bylaw is one piece of my broader vision of a strong local economy that supports workers, freelancers, entrepreneurs and small business owners who build our towns’ character and vitality.
Today Western Massachusetts is at a crossroads. We will either continue to watch our schools deteriorate and our towns empty out – or we can choose a future where a new wave of young people seek to put roots down here because it’s simply the best place in the country to raise a family. As someone who moved here for that reason, I am excited for the opportunity to build a bold new future with my neighbors.

NATALIE BLAIS, Sunderland

As Economic Development Director for Congressman John Olver; constituent services and special projects manager for Congressman Jim McGovern; Chief of Staff for the Chancellor of UMass Amherst; and Executive Director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, I have a proven track record of advancing the priorities of the region.
For the last decade, I have listened closely to the voices of our communities and have established relationships with local, state and federal officials; community leaders; nonprofits and businesses.
I will hit the ground running as your State Representative at a time when the region needs experience on Beacon Hill. I believe that my public service across all three levels of government – local, state and federal – will allow me to effectively advocate for residents of the First Franklin District.
Working for U.S. Representatives John Olver and Jim McGovern, I collaborated with municipalities, businesses, non-profits, and individuals to advance community-driven projects. Some of these projects included:
• The $72 million Knowledge Corridor rail project that brought Amtrak service back to Greenfield and Northampton
• Roadway and safety improvements across the region
• The expansion of community health centers
• Broadband expansion; including the installation of middle mile network along I-91
• The cleanup of the Connecticut River and protection of local land
• Installation of energy efficiency and renewable energy technology
• The expansion of a regional network of bike paths
• Construction of affordable and senior housing
In 2015, I became the first Chief of Staff to UMass Amherst Chancellor Subbaswamy. Last fall, I took on the role of Executive Director for the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, and I have enjoyed identifying ways to improve the economy of Franklin County.
It is clear from speaking with residents in their driveways and on their doorsteps that public infrastructure (broadband, roadways, and bridges), healthcare, funding for public education, economic development and environmental protection are top of mind. The breadth of experience that I have gained over the last decade will help me to effectively represent the people of the First Franklin District on a wide variety of issues at a time when we need experience on Beacon Hill.
I am proud to have received endorsements from former U.S. Representative John Olver, State Representatives Steve Kulik and John Scibak, former State Representative Ellen Story, New England Regional Council of Carpenters Local 336 and the Massachusetts Womens Political Caucus.
I currently live in Sunderland where I have served as an elected member of the Board of Library Trustees since 2011.

CHRISTINE DOKTOR, Cummington

Born and raised in the Western Mass Hilltowns, I live and work with my family on our 3rd generation sheep farm in Cummington.
I graduated from Columbia Law School with honors and am a civil, constitutional, and women’s rights attorney. I worked in the MA Statehouse for both a governor and a state representative. I attended local public schools, am a parent of kids in public school, and the daughter of parents trying to age in place in rural Western Mass. I serve on the Old Creamery Co-op board, co-founded my town’s Education Committee, and founded two organizations which provide free legal services to the community and advocacy for divorced parents and their children. I run my organizations over a DSL internet connection and understand our need for broadband.
I have international, federal, state, and municipal experience with the law, negotiation, and policy. I’ve represented Holocaust survivors of Nazi labor camps in getting reparations from the German government, served as a public defender with The Legal Aid Society in the Bronx, worked against the Kinder Morgan pipeline in Sandisfield, and served as counsel for the Animal Legal Defense Fund and for the New York Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Rights Project. I’ve stood up in court for Haitian earthquake refugees, women seeking immigration asylum from gender persecution and violence, and for people with disabilities, people of color, children, the elderly, and survivors of domestic violence.
I am in this race because my childhood school and my children’s school were both closed for financial reasons. We are failing our kids on public education and we must reform the school funding formula at the state level.
As a farmer who moved from GMO crops toward organic farming and clean energy — despite state and corporate obstacles — I see how climate change is threatening our food, health, and wallets. I support expanding APR and grants for farms and establishing community slaughterhouses, cold storage, and food processing centers. I also support renewable energy, energy storage and conservation, taxing and cutting carbon emissions, lifting the net-metering caps, and removing barriers to home and community solar.
I support Medicare for all. I lived in France and Denmark under single-payer healthcare and understand that we can live healthier lives at lower costs to families, businesses, municipalities, and school districts with single-payer.
I will lift our voices and advocate for our communities. We need a Doktor in the House!

JONATHAN S. EDWARDS, Whately

I am a Democrat running for State Representative in the 1st Franklin District of Massachusetts because experience matters.
As the current chair of the Whately Selectboard, I am the only candidate in this race with experience on a Selectboard having served the residents of Whately for the past 14 years. I am the only candidate in the race that has directly served our area Seniors, having served for over a decade as the Chair of the South County Senior Center Board of Oversight. My public service background extends to being a 5-year President of the Franklin County Selectboard Association, Chair of the Whately Recreation Committee, leading the first regional Solarize Massachusetts Campaign in collaboration with Whately, Williamsburg and Chesterfield, and a leader in the creation of the South County (Franklin) Emergency Management Service.
Professionally, my background includes helping lead the nationally recognized, SmartPower to increase the use of clean energy and energy efficiency, battling climate change and helping lead a team that won the 2010 EPA Clean Air Excellence Award. Currently, I help direct a workforce training organization to fill the Information Technology skills gap.
I have a regional economic vision that fosters growth in our agricultural, manufacturing, clean tech and education industries, while simultaneously making our region a hub for the innovation economy and arts community. The next representative from the 1st Franklin District will need to draw from considerable experience with state/local government, an understanding of public/private collaboration, and a vision for our region. I know my local government experiences are unmatched in this race and give me the tools to succeed in the 1st Franklin District.
These skills will help ensure that we:
• Finish the job of broadband access to every resident and business in our district and other rural communities and districts.
• Provide a 21st Century education to our children and 21st Century job opportunities to our residents.
• Be a leader in the mitigation of the generationally immoral and catastrophic consequences of climate change.
• Create an economic climate that draws individuals and families to our region through capital investment and workforce skills training to rural communities.
• Create the permanent position of Assistant Secretary of Economic Development for Western Massachusetts.
The status quo has not worked for our district. I hope you will join me in a journey of purpose, writing a new political chapter for our region. Please vote for Jonathan Edwards on Tuesday, September 4th.

CASEY PEASE, Worthington

Casey is a local volunteer firefighter, former Bernie Sanders staffer, and proud graduate of Gateway Regional. The son of a union nurse, he grew up in a working-class family here in the Hilltowns and is the only candidate to be a lifelong resident of the district or to have gone through the district’s public schools. Casey’s roots in this area run deep, as does his family’s tradition of service— his father is originally from Huntington, and on his mother’s side, his grandmother was a 25-year select board member and his grandfather was a local school principal. Casey is running because we need someone who gets this place, who has been invested in our communities, and who will make sure our voices are finally heard on Beacon Hill.

With the race really coming down to the wire, there are three front runners—myself, and two candidates from the Valley. The choice for voters could not be more stark.
I’m not the one backed by the old boys club and House leadership—upholders of the “get-along go-along” status quo that killed state education funding reform this summer, weakened a bill on expanding clean energy, slow-walked the roll-out of high-speed broadband internet, and that has kept our needs at the bottom of the state’s list of priorities. In other words, the same status quo that day-in and day-out is not working for Western Mass.
I’ve taught civics in our district, organized on the Save Our Public Schools campaign against charter school expansion, and testified before the state education committee about the need to fix the broken school funding formula and get 100% reimbursement for regional transportation.
As your state representative, I won’t be beholden to House Speaker Robert DeLeo. I’ll be bold enough to stick my neck out and challenge leadership to see to it that the state fully funds public education—a crucial issue that affects the quality of our children’s future prospects, the vitality of our small towns, and pressure to cut town services and raise local taxes.
I humbly ask for your vote because we need a new generation of public servants, not the next generation of old-guard politicians.
It’s our time, not their turn.

NATHANIEL WARING, Sunderland

Nathaniel has lived in the 1st Franklin district for effectively his whole life, first in Shutesbury and then in Sunderland. He’s a Democratic Socialist, a lifelong progressive, and a staunch supporter of LGBTQIA rights. He’s also a poor person. More than anything else about him, this distinction informs his success in life, his health, and his happiness.
Nathaniel is running for office to fight for better protections for workers and to improve access to unions. But he’s also running because representation matters. The poor are without a doubt the largest and least represented group. As Nathaniel says, “It’s time we had a voice in the legislature who has been on section 8, EBT, and MassHealth. Someone who will speak for the poor, not just as a political charity, but as a ferocious advocate for their needs. My opponents like to tout their political pedigree, citing their experience in business. Well, experience does matter. But the experience of the average citizen of the commonwealth doesn’t look like that of the average politician, and it’s time that changed. It’s time for the have-nots to have a say.”

FRANCIA WISNEWSKI, Montague

A 17-year resident of the Pioneer Valley, Francia Wisnewski brings a fresh voice and perspective to the race for 1st Franklin State Representative, as well as years of experience working in public education, social services, and social justice in Western Massachusetts communities. Raised in Colombia, she was a science teacher before obtaining her Master’s in Education from UMass Amherst, and was elected to two terms on the Greenfield School Committee, including one as Vice Chair. She and her husband and two sons live in Montague, where they co-own the Rendezvous restaurant.
Francia has been a tireless advocate for working families, children, and community development, including currently serving as Chair of the Hampshire/Franklin Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, a board member of Leadership Pioneer Valley and the Shea Theater, and an elected member of the Montague Town Meeting. She is the only woman in the race who has been elected to office, and one of the few candidates with a long history of standing with unions, including walking the picket lines with nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center, and fighting for fair wages and contracts for Greenfield school employees.
Francia has been endorsed by the national Working Families Party, Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR), former State Rep Denise Andrews, and Maria’s List, a Boston-based organization focused on candidates who work to close opportunity gaps, and promote equity, accountability, and a robust democracy across Massachusetts and the United States. Learn more at ElectFrancia.com and Facebook.com/ElectFrancia.