SOUTH HADLEY — Two new candidates have emerged for the 2nd Hampshire District seat in the Massachusetts House, currently held by Democrat John Scibak.
Scibak announced he would not seek re-election this year after serving in the Statehouse for 16 years. Two of Scibak’s fellow South Hadley residents, Harry Clark Johnson and John R. Hine, have recently announced their Democratic candidacies for the seat.
Johnson, who goes by his middle name Clark, said he went to middle school and high school in South Hadley and his mother has lived in the town for some 50 years.
He has been away from South Hadley for much of his life: earning a doctorate in economics at Yale, working for Chase Manhattan and as vice president at Citibank in treasury and foreign exchange operations and writing on economic and diplomatic issues, including policy in Iraq and Afganistan. He was also a civilian employee in the Middle East and central Asia for the U.S. State and Defense departments.
More recently, Johnson has written on the 2017 Tax Act, “arguing that the conceptual case for the recent GOP tax cut is sloppy to the point of collapse,” according to his new campaign website at clarkjohnsonforstaterep.com, where he lists detailed stances on issues like sanctuary city ordinances, food security and opioids.
“I wanted to become involved and contribute in a different way,” Johnson said. “I was looking for somewhere to run, and there it was, my home district.”
Johnson said his interest in running for political office was “amped up” by the 2016 presidential election won by Donald Trump and said that national issues often tie back into state and local issues.
“To me the real problem right now is that a lot of people, especially non-Hispanic whites, feel that the system is not working for them; they feel alienated from their government,” Johnson said.
If he is elected, Johnson said he would focus on making the 2nd Hampshire District a good place for business. He has a vision for looking at not just how to cover costs for things like medical care, transportation and job training, but on finding “more imaginative, experimental approaches to, well, everything,” in order to lower those costs.
“If we are to make this district a better place to live and work, we can’t do it just by state programs or redistributing state money,” Johnson said. “We have to make this a place where people want to come to do business and open their businesses.”
He said he comes to issues like home leave, raising the minimum wage and raising taxes with “some skepticism,” saying that what is right for Boston is not necessarily what’s right for the 2nd Hampshire District.
Hine, also of South Hadley, has served on the Select Board since 2006 and was its vice chairman until he was unseated by Jeffrey Cyr at the beginning of April. A Town Meeting member for 34 years, Hine has also served on the Personnel Board, School Committee and Planning Board. Hine filed papers with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance stating his intent to run for the 2nd Hampshire seat on Thursday, but was not able to be reached for comment Friday.
Democrat Daniel R. Carey, a city councilor in Easthampton, announced this month that he had submitted his nomination papers with twice the required signatures to secure a place on the Sept. 4 primary ballot. He held an event on April 26 to kick off his campaign.
Marie McCourt, a Democrat from Granby and assistant director of the after school program at the Collaborative for Educational Services, is also running for the seat.
M.J. Tidwell can be reached at mjtidwell@gazettenet.com.