Tom Hucker

Tom Hucker (born April 9, 1967) is an American elected official and a Democrat from the state of Maryland. He is currently serving as one of three members of the Maryland House of Delegates from District 20, which includes Takoma Park and Silver Spring neighborhoods including Hillandale, Woodmoor, White Oak, Indian Spring, East Silver Spring, and Colesville in Montgomery County.

Background

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Hucker graduated from St. Louis University High School. He then attended and graduated from Boston College with honors in 1988, majoring in biology, English, and philosophy. At Boston College, he was a student activist prominent in efforts to end apartheid and protect the environment. He was twice elected to the Senate of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College and elected President of the Boston College MASSPIRG chapter.

After graduation, Hucker continued his career as a public interest advocate by moving to Washington, DC to work for the Fund for Public Interest Reseach. There, he ran field campaigns for the United States Public Interest Research Group and the Sierra Club to reauthorize the federal Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other federal legislation. As a Regional Campaign Director, he supervised offices in the southern United States and later others along the east coast.

Career

Hucker came to prominence in Maryland politics when he founded Progressive Maryland, an advocacy group, in 2001. The group brought together thousands of individual members in partnership with dozens of the state's largest community, labor, civil rights, and faith-based organizations into a single organization to improve the lives of working families in Maryland. The group combined door-to-door organizing, grassroots leadership development, policy research, and face-to-face advocacy with lawmakers.

In that role, he authored and led a successful campaign to pass the Montgomery County living wage law in 2001, and the Prince George's County living wage law in 2002. Both laws require most county contractors to pay their workers enough to feed their families without food stamps -- over 130% of the federal poverty level.

As an advocate in Annapolis, he then authored and led efforts to pass the nation's first statewide living wage bill in 2004, [http://mlis.state.md.us/2004rs/billfile/hb1192.htm] which was vetoed by Gov. Robert Ehrlich. The bill was sponsored by Del. Herman Taylor. The bill would have lifted thousands of workers out of poverty by requiring the same standard as the Montgomery and Prince George's bills.

Rather than overriding the vetoed bill in 2005, House and Senate leaders instead agreed to help a larger number of low-income workers by raising the state minimum wage by $1, the first time Maryland had passed a minimum wage higher than the federal standard. The increase was estimated to produce a pay raise for 129,000 Maryland workers.

As director of Progressive Maryland, Hucker was recognized with the Friends of Latinos award by the Hispanic Democratic Club of Montgomery County, the Defenders of Justice award from the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association, and their Public Service award by the League of Korean Americans of Maryland. [http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/msa14620.html]

Hucker was elected to his first term in the House of Delegates in 2006, after a four-month grassroots campaign. He was endorsed by "The Washington Post," "the Gazette" [http://www.gazette.net/] , the Montgomery County Education Association [http://www.mcea.nea.org] and the Montgomery Federation of Teachers [http://www.mcft.org/] , the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, the National Organization of Women [http://www.now.org] , the Maryland Nurses Association [http://www.marylandrn.org/] , the Fraternal Order of Police [http://www.foplodge35.com/] , the Montgomery County Career Fire Fighters Association/IAFF L. 1664 [http://www.montgomerycountyfirefighters.com/] , the Hispanic Democratic Club, the Coalition of Asian Pacific American Democrats (CAPAD-MD) and over thirty other organizations.

In the State Legislature

Hucker currently serves on the Environmental Matters Committee, and on its Environment, Natural Resources, and Land Use and Ethics Subcommittees.

In his first General Assembly session, Hucker authored and was co-lead sponsor of the first statewide living wage law in the nation. See the "New York Times" coverage: [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/us/09wage.html?scp=3&sq=tom%20hucker&st=cse] The law required most state contractors to pay their workers wages high enough to feed their families without food stamps -- about 130% of the federal poverty level (HB 430). [http://mlis.state.md.us/2007RS/billfile/hb0430.htm]

Hucker was recognized as a 100% Environmental Voter by the Maryland League of Conservation Voters and Environment Maryland. [http://www.mdlcv.org//deeppockets/contshow-361]

He also received a 100% rating from Equality Maryland [http://www.equalitymaryland.org/legislation/house_2008_alpha.pdf] .

Hucker was also described as a "Champion of Working Families" by Progressive Maryland and received the highest score in the Maryland General Assembly [http://progressivemaryland.org/public/documents/releases/2008/2008-7-28-pmedfund-scorecardrel.pdf] .

Hucker serves as the representative of the Maryland General Assembly on the Board of Directors of Purple Line Now!, [http://www.purplelinenow.org] an advocacy group organizing to expand transit options by building a light rail line from Bethesda through Silver Spring, past the University of Maryland-College Park, and on to New Carrolton, Maryland.

Because of his years of successful advocacy inside and outside the General Assembly, Hucker now also serves on the Board of Directors of the Progressive States Network, a national nonprofit that provides research and strategic advocacy tools to help state legislators to pass progressive policy reforms, including legislation to reward work, strengthen communities, and expand health care access.

Hucker has also sponsored legislation to expand health care access, broaden pre-Kindergarten availability, provide mental health services for veterans, eliminate a significant source of mercury pollution, and ban discrimination in housing. [http://mlis.state.md.us/2008rs/sponsors/hucker.htm]

Hucker endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for President in 2007, months in advance of the Maryland Presidential Primary.

External links

* [http://www.delegatehucker.com Official site]
* [http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/msa14620.html Tom Hucker] in the [http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/html/mmtoc.html Maryland Manual On-Line]