SPECIAL TO THE VALLEY
PATRIOT WHAV's Tim Coco to Run
for State Senate says
small businesses, consumers need boosts
Haverhill business
owner Tim Coco, 50, took out papers
Thursday for the Democratic nomination
for the vacant First Essex District
senate seat. He said his region wide
focus will be on bolstering the state’s
small business climate—especially
for small “mom and pop”
businesses—and improving consumer
protections.
Coco took out nomination papers around
noon at Methuen City Hall. He said his
quick decision was necessitated by the
short window of time available to gather
the required signatures. The Methuen
setting was appropriate, Coco said, since
his grandfather settled in Methuen’s
Pleasant Valley after emigrating from
Italy during the 1920s.
“There’s no disputing small
businesses create the most new jobs. Yet
the state’s focus has been on giving
tax breaks to conglomerates that then
ship jobs out of state. Fidelity
Investments, for example, received
millions of dollars in tax breaks, while
job creators that need the most relief
have been tossed to the curb. The U.S.
Department of Commerce says businesses
with fewer than 500 employees represent
99.7 percent of all employer firms,”
Coco said.
Coco also said consumer protection is a
top priority. “The rush to
deregulate utilities and push through
mega-mergers has harmed natural gas and
electric ratepayers. There has been
virtually no savings passed along to
residents, increased delays in addressing
outages after inclement weather and
unacceptably few limits on career
politicians and state workers taking
lucrative positions in firms they
formerly regulated. Utilities are a
special form of private/public
partnerships and the corporate side isn’t
holding up its end of the arrangement.”
In a message to friends Wednesday night,
Coco said his work in Haverhill and
Newburyport and deep family history in
Methuen give him a better understanding
of vital needs throughout the region.
“Unfortunately, the senate
candidates being mentioned seem to be
looking out only for the interests of
their own hometowns. This is laudable in
many respects, but the district, frankly,
needs someone who will represent every
part of it equally and fairly,” he
wrote.
Coco began his communications career 34
years ago as a news reporter—first
for WHAV and then for the daily Haverhill
Gazette. In 1984, he became a regional
staff writer for the Daily News of
Newburyport and then founded COCO+CO. in
1991. At the beginning of 2004, Coco
returned to his roots by resurrecting
WHAV as an Internet, cable television and
low power radio station.
He holds an associate’s degree from
Northern Essex Community College and a
bachelor’s in Management from Lesley
University School of Management. Coco is
a founding director of the Merrimack
Valley Economic Development Council, a
member of the Occupational Advisory Board
at Northern Essex Community College,
president of the Trustees of the John
Greenleaf Whittier Homestead, member of
the Haverhill Citizens Hall of Fame and
involved with a variety of other business
and charitable organizations.
The First Essex district serves Amesbury,
Haverhill, Merrimac, Methuen, Newburyport,
parts of North Andover and Salisbury.
Haverhill business
owner Tim Coco, 50, took out papers
Thursday for the Democratic nomination
for the vacant First Essex District
senate seat. He said his region wide
focus will be on bolstering the state’s
small business climate—especially
for small “mom and pop”
businesses—and improving consumer
protections.
