About

My name is Paul Sciortino, and I wasn’t planning on running for the State House of Representatives this year. What changed my mind? Like all of you in Cambridge, I got my property tax bill! Clearly, something needs to change in Montpelier, and that starts with the people we send there to craft these policies. We need people who understand the challenges and responsibilities of owning property, running a business, managing a household, and paying taxes.

The Democratic Super Majority has the “We are smarter than you” attitude.

We need to balance the legislature by voting in candidates that have a central, more moderate approach. National and State Government legislatures are designed to have checks and balances, it was set up that way in the Constitution for good reason. The citizens of Vermont have lost that benefit.

The property tax bill that just passed this spring does nothing to address the fundamental problems with our education finance system. Instead, it kicks the can of any meaningful reform down the road for at least two more years. This is unacceptable. If elected this November, I pledge to demand that the legislature enact some form of property tax relief before the next time the rates are set again.

The property tax increase, I have learned, is just the tip of the iceberg for what the current crop of incumbents has in store for us. In January 2025, the newly elected legislature is mandated by law to vote for or against rules implementing a “carbon credit” system on home heating fuels, which is effectively an excise tax on oil, propane, natural gas, and kerosene. Best estimates show this program adding somewhere between 70¢ to more than $3.00 per gallon to those fuels. Who can afford this?

I pledge to you here and now that I will be a guaranteed “NO” vote on this and any bill designed to raise Vermonters’ costs to heat our homes and to keep warm in wintertime. Especially when those policies are as regressive and harmful to low-income Vermonters as this one is. But our incumbent Representative, who is running for another term, not only voted for this home heat carbon tax system but voted to override Governor Scott’s veto of the scheme.

Our current representative voted for the higher DMV fees we’ve been paying since the new year, the new payroll tax that’s been coming out of our salaries since July, new energy regulations that will drive up our electric bills, a tax on internet based services, and to add insult to all these injuries, voted for a bill that would have more than doubled their own salary as just one more straw on the backs of us taxpayers. None of this is sustainable or responsible governance.

Although Governor Scott’s veto of the legislators’ pay raise bill was successful, many incumbents have vowed to bring it back after this coming election. Again, I pledge to you here and now that I will be a guaranteed “NO” vote for raising the salaries of lawmakers, especially when Vermonters are struggling so hard to get by under the policies passed by these same lawmakers. The quality of work we’ve been seeing does not deserve a raise!

Vermont is facing some serious crises today, including the overall cost of living, climate related flooding, crime and substance abuse. We all need to get real about finding workable, affordable, practical solutions to these issues. This is why I am running for the House of Representatives for Cambridge, and I am asking for your vote on November 5th, or by early mail-in ballot after September 23. Thank you!

I will release my platform and solutions after Labor Day. If you would like to contact me please email me at paul@sciortinoforvthouse.org.