CUMMINGTON — Farmer and lawyer Christine Doktor announced her intent to run for state representative of the 1st Franklin District Friday evening, becoming the sixth candidate seeking to fill the seat soon to be vacated by Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington.
Her priorities include the sustainability of small communities, funding schools, health care and infrastructure.
“There’s a need for a strong voice from our rural district, someone who has the skills to do the job,” said Doktor, of Cummington. “I’m working with a lot of these issues in my own personal life.”
Kulik said last month that he won’t seek re-election after 25 years in the Legislature. Doktor decided to run as a Democrat when she didn’t see what she was looking for in any of the other candidates.
“I wanted someone who was really living these issues and was really deeply connected here. This is our community where we both grew up and we both plan to spend the rest of our lives here,” said Doktor, referring to her husband, Frank Philbrick.
A western Massachusetts native, and mother of two, Doktor spent five years in New York practicing law before moving back to Cummington in 2012. Today she works pro bono as a special counsel for the town of Cummington and its Education Committee, while managing the 100-acre family farm she inherited from the family of her husband.
“Something that I’ve seen that has been really difficult for farmers here is balancing viability and sustainability,” Doktor said.
Doktor founded two pro bono legal services, Hilltown Legal Services for general legal advice and the 1st Families Advocacy Project for divorced women, after finding that friends and neighbors often approached her for legal advice. Helping them figure out veteran’s insurance, teachers’ union contracts, divorces, wills and custody issues, she developed an understanding of the specific issues plaguing small communities.
“They would just show up at our door with a bushel of squash and say ‘Hey, can you help me with a legal question?’” Doktor said. “It became clear to me that there was a huge need for legal services.”
Too often she has seen rural school districts in her area consolidate and close their doors to the detriment of the surrounding community and economy. Keeping schools open, investing in infrastructure like bridges and broadband access, and supporting small businesses and farmers are all ways Doktor hopes to keep the community spirit alive.
“We need small schools in rural areas and we need them to be excellent schools,” Doktor said.
But first, she said, filling the Pioneer Valley’s “power vacuum,” left by the pending departures of Kulik, Rep. John Scibak, D-South Hadley, and the death of Rep. Peter Kocot, D-Northampton, is vital. She plans to do this by making connections quickly in the Statehouse to make sure state money continues to make its way to western Massachusetts municipalities.
Working with organizations like the Hilltown Community Development Corporation has helped Doktor learn more about the interests of small businesses.
“I’m very concerned with how you grow older in a small town,” Doktor said. “Comprehensive programs that help seniors with transport and health care are needed to make sure they stay connected with community.”
She commends Kulik’s work on economic development, conservation issues and infrastructure investment. If elected, Doktor believes she would be the first-ever woman to hold the 1st Franklin District seat.
She said the late nights and long meetings required of the campaign are sacrifices she has considered at length with her family. She plans to focus on issues facing rural communities, making sure to continue Kulik’s legacy of representing the specific interests of her friends and neighbors.
“I don’t want to spend a lot of money on this campaign because big campaign expenditures are unconscionable in this district,” Doktor said.
Doktor will make an official announcement of her candidacy at the Berkshire Trail School building on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
Five other candidates have announced their intent to run for the 1st Franklin District seat. They include Natalie Blais, executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce; 20-year-old Casey Pease, chairman of the Worthington Democratic Town Committee; Kate Albright-Hanna, an Emmy-award winning journalist from Huntington; Francia Wisnewski, chairwoman of the Hampshire and Franklin Commission on the Status of Women and Girls; and Elizabeth Swihart, an assistant district attorney specializing in domestic violence prosecutions at the Orange District Court.
The Massachusetts 1st Franklin District comprises Ashfield, Buckland, Chester, Chesterfield, Conway, Cummington, Deerfield, Goshen, Huntington, Leverett, Middlefield, Montague, Plainfield, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Whately, Williamsburg and Worthington. Primaries are scheduled for Sept. 4.
Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@gazettenet.com.