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 Secretary of State’s office has increasingly taken control of aspects of our elections that are assigned to local election officials, the town clerks and the boards of civil authority, who are best situated to conduct fair and honest election. They are also the authorities that the Vermont Constitution specifically assigns with the responsibility for conducting our general elections. The creation of Universal-Vote-by-Mail elections, the liberalization of vote harvesting, extending Election Day to an “Election Season” all act to expand the opportunities for errors, omissions and fraud in our voting process – all are at variance with the Constitutional Election process which proscribes that the local officials are the state’s Chief Election Officials. If elected, I would make sure that the Secretary of State’s office would return to its Constitutionally authorizes duties and not infringe on those duties best kept in the hands of local authorities.
The Secretary of State’s office has numerous other duties which include: managing of the state archives, the Office of Professional Regulation, Business Services all of which need attention and reform to more effectively serve the public.
Issues in depth
What are the most important responsibilities of the Secretary of State’s Office?
Collecting preserving and maintaining the State Records, Business Services, Election Administration and the Office of Professional Regulation.
What would your top three priorities be if you were elected or reelected to the Secretary of State’s Office?
1) Return the State Election process to the boundaries proscribed in the State Constitution, 2) Restoring the records in the State Archives and making those records more accessible to the public and 3) Streamlining Business Services and the Office of Professional Regulations to make these departments more helpful (and less of a hinderance) to those entities they are intended to serve.
If you’re an incumbent, what are you most proud of achieving in the Secretary of State’s Office? If you’re a challenger, what could you do better than the incumbent?
Restore confidence in and Constitutional fidelity to the Vermont Election process. Qualities lost in recent years with the unconstitutional changes that have been made in recent years.
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.
