Biography
Longtime transplant who came with my wife seeking the freedom that Vermont’s rural communities offered. As a conservative, I have become increasingly concerned with the overreach of state government into every aspect of our lives. I have witnessed friend after friend falling behind financially because of the increasing burdens if taxation and the high cost of living in Vermont and I have seen many fleeing the state for friendlier environs. I hope I can act as a catalyst for change, helping Vermonters regain control over their lives.
Candidate occupation
Retired
Why are you running for office?
In recent years, the Auditor of Accounts office has become more of a political operation and less of an office that review the state’s “books” with an eye for promoting good business practices as well as its principal responsibility of routing out: errors, waste, corruption and fraud. The office has had little interest on looking for savings in our governmental functions or suggesting innovative ways to accomplish those goals. If elected, I would return the Auditor’s office to its intended “job” of reviewing and reporting on the accounts of the numerous the various state departments and agencies with a mission to save the taxpayers from unnecessary expenditures and resulting increasing taxation.
Issues in depth
What are the most important responsibilities of the state Auditor’s Office?
The review of the state’s “books” with an eye toward routing out unnecessary expenditures that require increased taxation. This is the mission described in the job title and a responsibility that the current officeholder has seemed reluctant to pursue.
What would your three top priorities be if you were elected or reelected to the state Auditor’s Office?
1) Refocus on the primary mission of the office – auditing the accounts of the state, 2) hire competent professionals with substantive accounting experience sufficient to manage the accounts of an $8 billion organization, 3) create a transparent process for interested parties to review the work of the Auditor’s office and the accounts under the office’s control.
If you’re an incumbent, what are you most proud of achieving in the state Auditor’s Office? If you’re a challenger, what could you do better than the incumbent?
The current office holder has not effectively carried out the primary duty of the office and as a result these has been little effort to look for and uncover excess expenditures and work to “claw back” overpayments and fraudulent expenditures.
What’s the most important thing voters probably don’t know about you?
I think that I am a fairly well-known individual, however for those who may be unfamiliar with me – I hope that they will learn that I am a sincere person with a deep love of my adopted home state and have a desire to promote and protect the rights and freedoms of all my fellow Vermonters.
Financial disclosure
Candidates for state and legislative offices are required to submit a financial disclosure when filing to run. These disclosures include each source, but not the amount, of personal income of each candidate, and of their spouse or domestic partner, that singly or jointly totals more than $5,000 for the previous 12 months. The information provided is an opportunity for voters to learn about candidates’ potential conflicts of interest.
You can find Paige’s financial disclosure here.
Disclaimer
We emailed a questionnaire to every candidate with a valid email address. The responses provided by candidates are in their own words. VTDigger has not edited or fact-checked information provided.
If this is your candidacy and you’d like to fill out the questionnaire or report an error, please contact us at voterguide@vtdigger.org.
