DANVERS — Republican Dan Bennett has a long history of public service, as a selectman, School Committee member, Town Meeting member and Essex Aggie trustee.
So as he goes about trying to unseat a seven-term Democratic state representative, he is a known quantity, at least in Danvers. He is running in a district that also includes Ward 6 in Peabody and all of Topsfield.
Bennett is also well-known as a local businessman — a former buyer for Almy's and Rich's department stores, and now the owner of his own real estate firm in Danvers.
All of that, he says, has helped prepare him for a seat in the Legislature.
"I've learned to work with people; I've learned to work with different personalities," Bennett said. "I've learned to negotiate from strength, not from weakness."
Six years ago, Bennett wanted to take a shot at the seat held by Ted Speliotis, but former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney backed Judith Judson of Topsfield instead.
"This isn't something I just jumped into," Bennett said.
So, why does he want to run?
"Because I'm tired of the direction the state is going in," he said, "and to restore fiscal sanity to the state. ... To sit there and complain about not doing anything is a waste of time. I firmly believe we can make things better."
Bennett graduated from Danvers High in 1967 and attended Boston University in a two-year, non-degree program. His public service resume dates to 1993, when he was first elected a Town Meeting member. This past spring he won his second three-year term as a Danvers selectman without opposition.
In between he has served on a variety of Danvers boards and committees, and he is the immediate past president of the Danvers Educational Enrichment Partnership, which supports the public schools. He is a former Kiwanis Club director, and is the current chairman of the Republican Town Committee.
Bennett's public service has had its ups and downs.
In 2000, he was "thrown under the bus," he says, as voters ousted him from the School Committee after a failed effort to gain taxpayer approval for a new middle and high school complex on the present Danvers High site. He was the school board chairman, and he voted for the plan, which required a tax hike.
After the defeat, Bennett worked with advocates on both sides to come up with a plan that eventually led to the renovation of Holten Richmond.
Today, as a selectman, Bennett is proud of advocating for a town bylaw to ban texting while driving. While the measure was defeated at Town Meeting this year, in part because of questions about enforcement, the state has since adopted a similar measure statewide.
He has also worked on an Affordable Housing Committee, which saw zoning rules passed that would pay for affordable housing.
Bennett's website says he wants to "see the budget mess on Beacon Hill straightened out without more tax increases." As a selectman, though, he voted to hike the hotel and motel tax, and the meals tax in Danvers.
Bennett said he initially voted against the meals tax when it came up in August 2009, but changed his position after a 20 percent state aid cut to Danvers over three years.
"Sometimes you don't have a choice," he said. "You still have to provide services."
Bennett also saw his share of controversy as an Essex Aggie trustee.
He was the secretary of the superintendent search committee when it recommended hiring Peter McCarthy, a former state representative and fellow trustee, to the school's top job in 2005. A judge later ruled that McCarthy, whose only educational experience was as a history teacher decades earlier, lacked the required credentials.
Bennett said that when McCarthy applied, the search committee believed he had the qualifications, and did not realize that state law required him to have a vocational superintendent's license.
On a positive note, Bennett said he was chairman of the search committee that led to the hiring of the present superintendent, Roger Bourgeois.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.
DAN BENNETT
Age: 61
Wife: Janet, 41 years married
Children: Three grown children, Laura Bennett-Riley, Adeline Matton and Jim Bennett; four grandchildren.
Occupation: Owner/broker Dan Bennett Real Estate, Danvers
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