Daniel R. Paige, Sr. (Submitted photo)

“Fairness is not a part time job.”

Candidate for Hendry County judge Daniel Riccardo Paige Sr., has been an attorney since 1986. With his primary office in Sebring, he practices civil law throughout Florida.

He grew up in Clewiston in the late 1950s through the mid-‘70s in a family with ten children. He watched as his mother worked hard in the fields to raise her kids. She eventually sent them all to college, he says proudly.

He went from Harlem Academy to Clewiston Middle School and High School during integration, taking college prep classes at high school. He acknowledges that his struggles made him the person he is today. Those experiences prepared him to be the attorney he is today. Growing up as he did gave him the motivation and determination to succeed, it made him a fighter for justice for his family and others.

He graduated from Clewiston High School in 1976 with the academic skills to continue his education. He graduated from Florida Memorial College with a dual major in 1981 and from Nova Law Center with a Juris Doctorate in 1985.

He is accredited as a criminal trial lawyer in county, state and federal court; is a personal injury trial lawyer and family law trial lawyer with experience in probate, incapacity and guardianship practice, eminent domain and real estate law. In addition, he is licensed to practice in all Florida courts and in US Southern and Northern Districts.

He said he has provided legal service for seniors at no cost, served as president of Toys for Tots in Harlem and on various boards in the Clewiston area. He was president of the Brown Sugar Festival for five or six years, which provides scholarships, and is a youth pastor at Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. His affiliations also include being president of Lifting Young Lions, an active member of the Alumni Brothers of Epsilon Mu Inc., (ABEMI) and a member of the American Bar Association and National Bar Association.

He also helped develop post storm assistance for local neighborhoods after Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

He feels led to lend his talent and leadership to local people and has done a lot of legal representation here.

Much of his family remains in the Clewiston area, he said, and so he has maintained residence in Clewiston for most of his life.

Now, he would like the opportunity to serve you as county court judge.

He feels his early life struggles, poverty and the strong family values he learned from his mother contributed largely to his present moral compass.

He learned to always be fair and to appreciate the struggles that made him strong.

“I’m a fighter,” he said. “I had to compete for what I should have.”

His very first trial was a defining experience for him. When his client was found not guilty he learned what it was all about.

“Thank you very much,” his client said. “I’ve been in court before - but nobody ever showed this kind of care.”

“That’s when I understood it’s not about the money. It’s about the service,” Mr. Paige recalls, and he is sure in his conviction: The Constitution protects everyone . . . there is one justice and it covers all equally.

He said if he’s elected he isn’t worried about the transition from attorney to judge. It should be easy, he said. All he has to do is listen and be fair and impartial.

Having been on both sides of civil cases he said the trick is to just apply the law - the outcome will take care of itself.

Mr. Paige’s decision to run for Hendry County Judge springs not as much from his ability, he said, as from the responsibility he feels to contribute to the community that raised him.