Tom was a lawyer in private practice in the Lakewood-Wheat Ridge area from 1988 to 2016. He practiced in many areas of law including environmental law, special districts, and workers’ compensation. From 2000-2012 he taught undergraduate classes in land use planning and environmental policy at Metro State University. He served on the Lakewood Planning Commission from 1998-2005 and the Lakewood City Council from 2007-2015 where he championed sustainability and community health issues.

Tom graduated from Western Illinois University with a B.S. in Law Enforcement Administration and Political Science. He received his J.D. from IIT-Chicago Kent College of Law in focusing on environmental law. In 2014 he authored a book on the Civil War titled American Massacre, Fort Pillow and the Day that Changed a War. In his spare time, Tom also enjoys talking like a pirate, reading lists of celebrity scandals on Facebook and overfeeding his neighbors’ dogs.