By Katy Savage, Standard Staff
Ron Miller looked at a signature on a paper attached to his clipboard.
“Oh, we’ve met,” said Miller. “You’re the artist!”
Miller chased after the elderly man (Robert Caulfield, the owner of Caulfield Art Gallery in Woodstock) who just signed his paper as he was walking into the Woodstock post office.
Caulfield wrote a book about his art — one Miller sold at his former bookstore.
This was how most of Miller’s encounters went Tuesday morning as he stood outside the post office.
“Are you a Woodstock resident?” Miller asked just about everyone he saw.
Miller, 60, needed 50 signatures to get his name on the ballot to run for a House seat representing Woodstock, Plymouth and Reading. Miller is new to campaigning. He has no idea what he’s doing, he admitted. He’s eager to learn.
“I thought that meeting strangers and trying to approach strangers and sell myself would be really challenging but people are really nice, very receptive,” Miller said. “It could be fun.”
Resident Paul Regan who has collected hundreds of signatures in the past outside the post office for ballot items helped Miller. He knows the drill.
“Give it a shot,” Regan said, encouraging Miller to ask someone dropping off mail where they lived.
Miller is one of at least two who have announced their candidacy for Alison Clarkson’s House seat.
Democrat Miller and Republican Keith Cappellini of Plymouth are both collecting signatures, though neither candidate has filed official paperwork yet. They are both new to campaigning.
“It’s going to be interesting learning how to do politics. That’s not something I’ve done,” Miller said.
The strangers Miller met on Tuesday seemed generally aware of who he was.
“Did you have the bookstore?” one resident asked.
Miller is the former owner of Shiretown Books. Miller is introverted but dogged. He’s owned and founded companies, been a leader for organizations and an organizer of events. He puts together the Bookstock Literacy Festival, which brings authors, poets and tourists to Woodstock every summer. He’s the director of the Learning Lab in Woodstock, an adult education program, where he also teaches about the Constitution and fascist movements.
Miller has a vast background in education. Miller was a teacher in the Burlington area before coming to Woodstock. He taught education and history at Champlain and Goddard Colleges. Twenty-two years ago he founded the Bellwether School, an independent holistic school for ages 3-12 in Williston.
Miller has devoted himself to sustainability in Woodstock, which he hopes to pursue in the legislature. He is currently chair of Sustainable Woodstock.
“It’s been very gratifying to accomplish something in our community locally. I feel that I’m ready to take on some of the issues statewide,” Miller said.
Rep. Clarkson announced she’s campaigning for senator, opening up a seat she’s held since 2005.
Miller of Woodstock and Cappellini of Plymouth have never run a campaign, but they’ve both closely followed politics.
Cappellini, 42, covered the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns as a television news producer. He reported in Berlin, Germany, Washington D.C., and New York City. He moved from New York City to Vermont in 2014. Currently, he’s a landlord and real estate investor in New York and Washington and his wife is a social worker with Rutland Mental Health Services.
He’s interested in “ameliorating” property taxes and amending or replacing Act 46, referred to frequently as the school merger law. He’s interested in protecting Second Amendment rights. He wants to give constituents a choice when they vote November. “Moreover, when I learned that Alison Clarkson had run unopposed in the past few elections, I was determined to at least get my name on the ballot,” he said in email.
John MacGovern who chairs the Vermont Republican Party for Windsor County said the Republican candidate would bring a “breath of fresh air” to Montpelier.
“For too long there’s been no choice, it’s just been one candidate. It looks like this time there will be at least two choices, if not more,” he said.
As the first open House seat in 10 years and the first potentially contested race in that long, Windsor County Democrats chair Bill Kuch expects that more candidates will step forward, but “I think that’s pretty good for starters,” he said.
Several residents have explored running. Some have decided not to run. There are others still thinking about it.
“I’ll be happy to help whoever wants to be the Democratic candidate,” said Clarkson.
Miller is taking advice from Clarkson, who was known for knocking on every door of her constituents in Woodstock, Plymouth and Reading before the election. Miller plans to do the same.
“I want to be as active as Alison has been in visiting every household in the district,” he said. “I’ve been told by several people that’s really the best way to get to know the community, to get to know the constituents I’ll be representing and let them get to know me.
“It’s a big effort. I’m eager to do it.”
Petitions are due May 26 and the primary election is in August.
This article first appeared in the May 5, 2016 edition of the Vermont Standard.