Candidate Profile: John Sytek

(Editor's note: Salem Patch is contacting candidates for the state House and Senate for Salem with a questionnaire, and their responses will be published as candidate profiles between now and the Sept. 11 primary. Disclaimer: Salem Patch will be publishing these responses as they are returned to us.)

NAME: John Sytek

DATE OF BIRTH: March 1943

YOUR BACKGROUND/EDUCATION: I graduated from St. Joseph’s College as a physics major in 1964. St. Joe’s is in Philadelphia where I grew up. I came to Cambridge to attend MIT where I got my Master’s degree in 1967.

EXPERIENCE/OCCUPATION: My first professional job was as an engineer at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. I left the yard to become one of the founders and owners of a small business based in Cambridge. After 20 years, we sold the company. Then I discovered teaching and that’s how most people know me – as a teacher at Salem High. I taught Latin, Spanish and math. I retired two years ago but still continue teaching one Latin class in retirement as well as the math portion of the SAT prep course. 

PRIOR ELECTED OFFICE: I am serving my fourth term having served three terms previously (1991 to 1996). I have been Salem’s Town Treasurer since 1996.

PERSONAL: I have lived in Salem 41 years with my wife, Donna. Our daughter is a nurse and lives in New Haven.

I have served on the Board of Dollars For Scholars for almost 20 years.

PRIORITIES: Continued pension reform.

A closer look at state regulations on business.

Reducing the waiting list for developmentally disabled adults.

Why are you running?

To foster and preserve a climate in New Hampshire of rewarding initiative and accepting individual responsibility.

What is your stance on expanded gambling in New Hampshire?

I don’t think it’s a good bet. 

I feel that revenues have been exaggerated and the share promised the towns is not sustainable. Even worse, Massachusetts with five times our population has given the green light to go on line with three half-billion dollar, destination casinos. We will be hopelessly outclassed. Remember: under our proposed legislation, there is no minimum investment in any NH facility. When that happens, where will our customers come from? There’s just not enough population north of us to provide a meaningful handle.

Gambling comes with its own problems. Two years ago a group of prominent Salem citizens were given a tour of Pennsylvania gambling facilities and came back favorably impressed. A week after they returned, several Pennsylvania politicians, including the president of the senate, were indicted for gambling corruption. Could it happen here? At about that same time, I was in Philadelphia and passed a riverboat casino on the Delaware River. It was closed despite the fact that 5 million people lived within an hour’s drive.

So why not let private developers take their chances? Because even a private failure can still do public harm.

I really wish expanded gambling were the answer but all the indicators I’ve seen point in the wrong direction. 

How would you help stoke economic development in the state of New Hampshire?

The sensible role for state government is to provide fertile soil in which businesses can grow. State government is not in a position to tell the farmers of this fertile soil what to plant and how to grow it. We just don’t have that expertise.

There are two ways state government can encourage growth. First is low taxes. Many people point out that our business taxes are higher than surrounding states. However, we don’t have a personal income tax, so the small disadvantage of a higher corporate tax is more than offset. 

The other impediment to business growth is government regulation. Obviously, the major function of government to protect our health and safety and we need regulation. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean we can’t re-examine whether our overgrown regulatory structure is damping economic growth. I’d like to cite an example that’s not directly relevant but gives a sense of the issue. I presently serve on the House Executive Departments and Administration committee, the committee that examines state licensing. Did you know that it is a criminal offense to give your son a haircut in your kitchen on a Saturday morning? We could not get that law repealed!