Wendy E. N Thomas, Merrimack State Rep. Candidate

Wendy E. N Thomas

Age (as of Election Day)

62

Position Sought

New Hampshire State Representative

Party Affiliation

Democrat

Family

Husband Marc - senior engineer RedHat
Spencer - behavioral therapist working w autistic children
Griffin - computer engineer
Trevor - disabled vet, mountain rescue guide
Logan - computer engineer
Addy - LNA at a local hospital
Emma - studying to be an elementary school teacher

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No.

Education

BA - UCONN - English and Biology
BS - Sacred Heart University - Medical Biology
Masters Work - Fairfield University - Corporate Psychology
Graduate Certificate - San Diego State University - Instructional Design
Graduate courses in Microbiology and Epidemiology

Occupation

Executive Director - The New Hampshire Challenge - 11 years
Freelance writer - 28 years
Adjunct Faculty - Nashua Community College, Rivier University, Middlesex Community College
Clinical Microbiologist

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

NH State Rep - 2018 - 2020, Hillsborough County Executive Committee
UNH Cooperative Extension Advisory Committee
Special Education Advisory Commission
HB 737 - Commission on perfluorinated chemicals in Southern NH
Protecting Unprotected Water Sources in New Hampshire Committee
Saint Gobain - Citizens Advisory Council
NH Lead - Women in Government
NH Lead - National Caucus of Environmental Legislators
NH Justice of the Peace

Campaign website

wendy4nh.us

Why are you seeking elective office?

I have always fought for the underdog, from those needing Special Education Services, to those with disabilities and now to my entire town that is being polluted by a local industry.
When I was a state rep in 2018 - 2020 I was able to work with other legislators to get some important bills passed.
Bills that I wrote that became law included - opening up two more therapeutic cannabis dispensaries in NH and mandating that insurance companies pay for more than 18 rounds of IV therapy for Lyme Disease patients if the doc thought it was needed.
I also worked on bills that capped the price of insulin and epi-pens in NH.
I will always fight for people's health, welfare and for their dignity.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue is our contaminated water. Water is life.
That is at the center of the bullseye and rippling out from there we have healthcare that needs to be affordable and accessible - no one especially during a pandemic should lose their homes in order to afford healthcare, fully funded public education with funded resources to make going back to school safe for our teachers and students, and protections and resources for small businesses to thrive.
I intend to continue my fight (and yes it is a fight) to ensure that polluters are held responsible for the damage they cause to people and the environment. I will also continue my advocacy at the national level to set lower PFAS limits in all of our water, products, and even cosmetics.
When I was a state rep, I along with another rep started a committee that is developing educational material for people on - What PFAS is, Why you should be concerned, and How you can protect yourself.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

My Republican opponent has aligned himself with Trump loyalists and a Koch funded libertarian-conservative political advocacy group that believes in industrial deregulation along with loosening restrictions on environmental protections.
This is the absolute worst approach to the water and environmental crisis that we have in Merrimack. My opponent believes that the NH Advantage is the industries, I believe that our New Hampshire advantage is its people. They must be protected first and industries must be held accountable for harming them.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

Working with Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water, as a group it took us years to get the Merrimack Town Council to appreciate the threat of PFAS in our water.
This is taken from a Letter to the Editor about my opponent - we would go to "Town Council meetings in order to alert and protect our town, yet Boyd sat back and waited until it was "safe to finally speak out" Boyd was even crass enough in 2018 to address a Merrimack's resident's concerns about her well being decommissioned by the state due to PFAS contamination by saying "stop your whining… the water is fine."
"Imagine being a woman resident of Merrimack who is concerned about the health of her family, and the value of her house after her well water was poisoned by a local business. She goes to a town council meeting to express her outrage and concern and she and her concerns are summarily and arrogantly dismissed by an elected official - Bill Boyd."
That's it in a nutshell. I believe in science and think that people come first.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

Last March when I realized that masks were not available, I organized local Merrimack volunteers. I matched up sewing machines with those who could sew and I organized donations of fabric. Our Mask Sewing group ended up making and distributing over 6,000 fabric masks to our residents and businesses in order to keep them safe during this pandemic.
This group took charge, worked together and made a difference to our community.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

1. Holding polluters accountable. Merrimack shouldn't have to shoulder the cost of filtering water that was contaminated by a local industry.
2. Healthcare should be affordable and accessible - no one should lose their home or job because they got sick - this is especially important in a town where the water is making us sick.
3. Public education should be fully funded - this is the United States, we should have the best public educational system in the world.
4. Small businesses are being choked by the big ones, we need to protect our local small businesses and give them the resources they need to thrive.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I am a former state rep who got two of my own bills passed in my first year and several other bills passed where I was a co-sponsor.
Because of our work with both parties, we were able to lower the MCL (Maxium Contamination Level) of PFAS in our water from 70 ppt to 12 ppt and we were able to set up a commission to look at the health impacts of PFAS on the residents in Southern New Hampshire.
When I was a rep we also passed a balanced budget that fully funded public schools and sent money back to the town for schools.
As a state rep I also held office hours at Town Hall and met with many of the town's residents over various concerns.
I did a PFAS presentation at a Women in Government conference in DC and as a result have been working with many legislators across the country.
I've testified for PFAS bills across the country and I'm working with our national delegation to make sure that PFAS protections are included in the Clean Air and Clean Water acts.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

I use this advice when I teach my college writing classes -
"If the desire to write is not followed by the act of writing, then the desire is not to write."
I use that piece of truthful advice constantly. If you are all talk and no action then in the end, you are simply all talk.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

The people of New Hampshire are our true NH Advantage. They come first. Always.