Candidate profile: Dickson touts his experience

Published 9:36 pm Sunday, October 17, 2010

Tom Dickson says experience is always a plus in the General Assembly but it may be especially important next year when lawmakers will continue to grapple with a weak economy and low revenues as well as new issues such as tax reform and redrawing congressional district lines.

A Republican from Cohutta, Dickson says he has “established a record of leadership” in his five years in the House of Representatives that’s demonstrated by the committee assignments and leadership positions he holds. Dickson serves as the chairman of the Human Relations and Aging Committee and secretary of the Regulated Industries Committee. In addition, he serves on the Appropriations Committee, which writes the budget, as well as the Education and Economics Development and Tourism committees.

Dickson faces Murray County Democrat Tommy Patterson in the Nov. 2 election for the District 6 seat in the state House. District 6 includes parts of northern Whitfield and Murray counties as well as part of eastern Catoosa County.

“The budget is still going to be the big issue next year. That’s true every year, but every indication is that it is going to be another year where the needs are going to far outstrip the available resources,” he said.

Dickson said lawmakers may not have to make the multi-billion dollar cuts they have over the past two years but they also won’t be able to put any of that money back into the budget.

He said illegal immigration will also be a big issue. He says he supports trying to expand the number of local law enforcement agencies taking part in the federal 287(g) program, which gives them access to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) databases. Currently, just five agencies in Georgia, including the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, take part in the program.

“That makes no sense to me. It’s a very effective tool,” he said. “I would hesitate to say the state should mandate from the state level because I think local officials should make decisions for local policies. But if there are cost issues keeping more agencies from taking part, we could help them with that or provide other incentives.”

Dickson said lawmakers will also have to find ways to help boost economic growth.

“The best thing you can do is figure out how you can create incentives for businesses to expand and create jobs. Government can’t create jobs,” he said.

Dickson said he supported bills in the last two sessions that would give tax breaks to those who hired people who were unemployed. Both of those bills were vetoed by Gov. Sonny Perdue, but Dickson said he believes lawmakers will look at something similar next year.

“We’ve got a lot of folks who are unemployed, and we’ve also got a significant number of people who are underemployed and working part time. We need to do what we can to help them,” he said.

Dickson was born in Pennsylvania and has lived in Whitfield County since 1967. He has a bachelor’s degree from Maryville College, a master’s in education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and an educational specialist degree from the State University of West Georgia. He spent 34 years in education, mostly with Whitfield County Schools.

Dickson is married and has two grown children and three grandchildren.