State Rep. Timothy I. Marks, D-Pittston, speaks at a candidates event in Newcastle on Oct. 22, 2012. Marks will face a challenge from Pittston Republican Jeffery P. Hanley as he runs for re-election in the new House District 87. (J.W. Oliver photo, LCN file) |
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By J.W. Oliver
Pittston Republican Jeffery P. “Jeff” Hanley will challenge Rep. Timothy I. “Tim” Marks, D-Pittston, to represent House District 87 in the Maine House of Representatives.
The new district consists of the Lincoln County towns of Alna and Wiscasset and the Kennebec County towns of Pittston and Randolph.
Hanley, 63, will make his first run for elective office.
Hanley has worked as a pipe fitter and welder for most of his life, first as a member of a construction union and, more recently, for Sappi Fine Paper North America.
He retired from Sappi five years ago. Today, he works part time as an electrician.
Hanley has experience in town government as a member of the Pittston Comprehensive Planning Committee. He belongs to the Knights of Columbus and St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Gardiner.
He volunteers at a food pantry in Gardiner and formerly volunteered at the Maine State Prison, where he assisted the prison chaplain with a Catholic study group.
He lives in Pittston with his wife of 34 years, Sally. The couple has four children and nine grandchildren.
Hanley has a lifelong interest in government and politics.
“Financially, I’m a very conservative man,” Hanley said. “The rule of governing is, you have to take money from people to make government work, and you have an obligation to use that money very wisely.”
Hanley was a Democrat “years ago” before his switch to the Republican Party. “I felt the Democratic party really moved us into a lot of debt and quite far off to the left in the last decade or so,” he said.
He still agrees with the Democratic party on many issues. He thinks people can agree on about half of the issues and negotiate another 40 percent, but on some issues, “you have to stand on principle,” he said.
No single issue has spurred Hanley’s run. “I don’t have any specific ax to grind,” he said.
Marks was a state trooper with the Maine State Police for 25 years, retiring in 2011. He ran for the House the next year, receiving just shy of 52 percent of the vote to defeat Wiscasset Republican Raymond A. Soule.
Marks sits on the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety and the Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
A lifelong outdoorsman, he works as a logger in his spare time, according to his profile on the Maine House Democrats website.
Marks is a graduate of Gardiner High School and the University of Maine at Augusta. He lives in Pittston with his wife, Tammy. The couple has four children.
The towns of District 87 are currently split between two districts. Marks represents District 53, which includes Alna, Dresden, Pittston and Wiscasset. Gay M. Grant, D-Gardiner, represents House District 59, which includes Randolph.
The changes to the districts are the result of constitutionally mandated reapportionment in 2013.
Democrats and Republicans will elect nominees in the primary election June 10. Hanley and Marks are the only candidates for their parties’ nominations thus far.
The deadline for a candidate to file with the Maine Department of the Secretary of State in order to appear on the ballot is March 17.