{"id":2540,"date":"2026-05-22T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/joseph-paul\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T14:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T14:37:13","slug":"joseph-paul","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/joseph-paul\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">About the Candidate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Longtime patron and volunteer with Steep Falls Library, served on Board of Trustees in the past, currently a member of the Steep Fall Village Improvement Society<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attended classes at York County Community College, Southern Maine Community College<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Previous campaigns and elected office(s) held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ran two previous times for Area 2 Town Council seat, won and served four years. After that, ran for budget committee and served an additional three years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Top three priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Traffic concerns in congested areas and school zones, compatibility between housing and\nbusiness construction, and a fair and balanced budget.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To serve the entire town of Standish and participate in future changes that will affect how the growth of the town will proceed<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">What is the biggest challenge facing your community? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Biggest challenge will be how housing and business will be able to co-exist in the atmosphere of pro and cons within the town. \nBiggest opportunity would be to have reasonable business in town for employment opportunities and help with the tax base.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">If you could change one thing about how your community functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One thing I would change is how information from the town is distributed to residents. People now have to\nsearch for information and complain it\u2019s not available and too complicated to find.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Do you support more development in your community? Why or why not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I do support housing and business development with fair practices to try and keep a &#8220;small-town&#8221; atmosphere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2768,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Joseph","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Paul","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":2538,"voter_guide_candidate_age":0,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Retired manufacturing technician, Maine Air National Guard veteran","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"","voter_guide_candidate_education":"","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_state":0,"voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":0,"voter_guide_candidate_time_in_area":"44 years","voter_guide_candidate_website":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1kj-Gc7-SK4aVtTmwfKesQWigsbeD67TX","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","voter_guide_candidate_incumbent_years":"","voter_guide_candidate_is_clean_elections":false,"footnotes":""},"vg_party":[],"vg_residence_municipality":[608],"class_list":["post-2540","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_residence_municipality-standish"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/2540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/2540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3422,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/2540\/revisions\/3422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=2540"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=2540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}