Andover resident Ken Wells has announced that he is a candidate to represent the towns of Andover, Danbury and Salisbury in the N.H. State House of Representatives, Merrimack County District One, in the September 11 Democratic primary and in the November 6 general election.  
A resident of East Andover and voter in Andover since 1989, Ken recently retired from teaching, a career he began in 1981 at Tilton School in Tilton, NH.  In addition to teaching high school science and mathematics for 37 years, he also coached football, skiing and rowing, founded and mentored a FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics team whose students competed at the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championships in two of those years.  He has had a wide range of other work experiences in his career, including working on a truck assembly line, as a carpenter, and in a nuclear physics lab.
When asked what prompted him to run for public office, Ken refers to being particularly focused on the local issues important to the residents of the towns he would represent:  those of increasingly high property taxes, the current state habit of down-shifting costs onto local town budgets, and the importance of adequately funding local schools.
He adds, “I am not so keen on divisive national issues, but am passionate about local issues. The state has been avoiding its constitutional obligation to adequately fund our schools, leaving the towns with no alternative but to increase property taxes.  The tax downshifting problem is particularly acute in rural parts of N.H., where we live, and has resulted in wildly unequal taxation across the state.
“It’s also vitally important that the wealth of our towns, including the resources of our forests and the fruits of our labor, not be taxed away by the state and then given to out-of-state corporations as tax breaks. These are the issues I would give priority to if elected in November.”
In his free time, Ken’s interests are wide-ranging.  He and his wife Lee enjoy doing their own work on projects around their old house and barn, and Ken enjoys his occasional role as a driver or pit crew member in several types of car-racing competitions.  Ken also plays blues harmonica, likes to walk his big dog on the Northern Rail Trail and hike on the SRK Greenway and in the White Mountains with his wife and grown children. He has been actively involved with the Friends of the Northern Rail Trail and the Andover Energy Group since their inceptions.  
In Ken’s own words:
** On criticism:  “Criticism is most useful when it is not adversarial. Criticism, delivered skillfully, is meant to help us all see things the same way, and is not delivered to injure or offend. A teacher’s or a coach’s skillful criticism, often in the form of a critique or suggestion, helps people work together, solving whatever challenge lies ahead of them.  I think we need more of that sort of frank honesty and helpful attitude working for us in government, rather than all the strident bickering that has become so commonplace in political speech.”
** On listening; “When I  meet with voters, whether at yard sales in Danbury, the 250th birthday celebration in Salisbury or going door to door in Andover, I try hard to listen carefully to the stories of their experiences. I leave voters with my phone number (735-5756) or email address (kenwells3@nullgmail.com) so they know how to  reach me to share their thoughts. I want to hear their stories about how state and local governments affect their life. I know that property taxes have been growing to unmanageable levels, threatening to tax seniors out of their homes and outstripping wage growth for working families.”