Paul LeSalle

Paul LeSalle is a Centralist party member, former party chair, and Imperator candidate in the 2950 elections.

Early life
LeSalle comes from a wealthy family on Cassel. In his earlier years, LeSalle founded a hauling conglomerate in Goss, right before Goss’s corporate tax rate jumped significantly. He swore off help from his family in running this business. The conglomerate would eventually get bought out by Covalex for a large sum. After that, he served as senator from Goss for two terms.

LeSalle then was party chair of the Centralist party from 2942 until 2950, when he resigned his position prior to kicking off his Imperator campaign.

2950 elections
LeSalle applied to run for Imperator and made it through the primary and secondary voting rounds. During the signing ceremony after the primary votes, LeSalle pointed out that the fact that three Centralist candidates (LeSalle, Emma Thorne, Nikki Abdalla) made the secondary vote “indicates the voters’ desire to return to a fiscally responsible approach to governance”.

Campaign pledges
LeSalle adheres more closely to the core platform of lower taxes and more restrictive social services, and also called for a reevaluation of the Fair Chance Act, which could potentially open previously protected areas of the empire for resource extraction. His campaign slogan was ‘The Right Leader for the Right Time’, and said he distinguished himself from other candidates with age and experience in both private and political sector.

Safe & Secure Initiative
A big pillar in his campaign was his proposed "Safe & Secure Initiative", also known as the SSI. It focuses on three pillars: empowerment, engagement, and repayment.

'Empowerment' and 'engagement' deals with loosening certain weapon restrictions.

'Repayment' focusses on legislation that eliminates prison sentencing for all but the most violent cases. Instead, smaller crimes would be paid back in credits garnered from wages. Funds spent on imprisonment could then be used for employment programs to match offenders with companies that could need them. LeSalle also believes this would decrease the spending on repeat offenders.

Endorsements
LeSalle is endorsed by the following organizations:
 * Centralist Party
 * Federation of Interstellar Businesses
 * Wakana Society

Personal statement
"Paul LeSalle has dedicated his life to public service and improving the UEE for all. He believes that the government’s primary role is to protect individual liberties so people can prosper. For decades, he’s pursued and defended these policies in several political arenas. He’s had the honor of representing the great system of Goss in the Senate where he advocated for a fairer tax system and created an incentive system for companies to provide employment to struggling planets. For the past eight years, he also proudly served as Centralist Party chairman, unifying the party back to their core ideology and leading them to important election victories across the Empire.

Paul has worked with and against the expansive government system and is now prepared to steer Humanity in an exciting new direction. One that protects the people from external threats while still fostering the freedom to pursue their dreams. Paul has spent his life preparing for this moment, and is ready, willing, and able to enact bold ideas that will build a government that works for the people."

Possible criminal involvement
LeSalle was linked to several now imprisoned people by the media. They were investors that were discovered to be associated with outlaw organizations. Alin Hastings was one of those names. She was someone who offered several loans during the first year of LeSalle's mining conglomerate. Hastings was snared several times, but without charges, until she took things to the extreme to keep her syndicate in power. When the scandal broke the media over a decade ago (as of August 2950), LeSalle disappeared from the public spotlight for a few years. LeSalle undoubtedly benefited from these loans, but he claimed later that their unlawful actions occurred after their business relationship was over.

Similarly, LeSalle hinted that Titus Costigan may have been involved with some questionable business that ended up publishing a peculiar ad on Spectrum. In it, Titus Costigan is alleged to have financial ties to a multi-system drug syndicate. In an interview with Garet Coliga on TRACKER, LeSalle denied involvement in this for him and his campaign staff.