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Date: 7/14/2016
EAST LONGMEADOW – Republican candidate Sid Starks has decided to put his name back in the hat for the race to become state representative of the 2nd Hampden District against incumbent Democrat Brian Ashe.
Starks previously withdrew his candidacy for state representative in order to focus on family issues.
“The reason that I decided to jump back into the race [was because of] a long talk with my father-in-law and my family and they felt that, ‘Why wait two years if the current state representative isn’t going to do anything over the next two years? You might as well run now,’” Starks told Reminder Publications.
Starks said he needs 150 write-in votes during the Sept. 8 primary in order to officially run against Ashe. Both candidates said they would be willing to debate one another.
“I’m confident that I’ll get the goal,” Starks said. “We will use a sticker campaign. The people I’m talking to are doing a lot of networking.”
He described Ashe as a “yes man,” noting, “I’m sure he stands behind his record, but he doesn’t stand behind the people’s record. The people voted to return the state income tax back to 5 percent. He voted against that. So, my feeling is that you can’t be a yes man. You have to vote for what’s best in the 2nd Hampden District and the Springfield area.”
Starks said he believes legislators on Beacon Hill come across as “anti-business” and would advocate for loosening regulations.
“If we’re going to be pro jobs we have to be pro business too because the businesses bring the jobs in,” he explained. “I know in East Longmeadow we have our industrial park – we have some areas there that could bring in development.”
When asked about his opinion on Proposition 2 ½ , Starks called it a “failure of the state in returning taxpayer money to the communities.”
Local communities such as East Longmeadow and Longmeadow are nearing the levy limit under Proposition 2 ½. Longmeadow is anticipated to reach the $25 per $1,000 of assessed value cap in the next three to four years.
Ashe said he would be more than happy to advocate for a change to Proposition 2 ½, but “that means something else has got to get cut” from the state’s budget.
Ashe, who is running for his fifth term in office, said he believes his job as a state representative is “much different” than one’s vision of what they want to do in office.
“There’s being a legislator in Boston; filing bills and voting on various legislation and there’s the bigger part of the job – your constituent services,” he explained. “You realize that that’s the biggest part of your job, making sure that your constituents are taking care of whether somebody has a problem with their oil bill, social security issues, drivers licenses ... Anything you can help them through.”
He said some of the top goals he’s been focusing on while in office are improvements to public safety, education, and the environment.
Ashe said he’s helped secure several public safety grants for local fire departments during the past eight years in office.
“I filed a bill for kindergarten,” he added. “It was for a mandatory age of five years old.”
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