Honorable Matthew Dunlap
Maine's 47th Secretary of State
Matthew Dunlap of Old Town was elected by the Legislature to serve as Maine's 47th Secretary of State. He was first sworn into office on January 7, 2005.
Secretary Dunlap's widely varied professional career has included extensive work as a cook, a bartender and bar manager, radio show host, proofreader, research assistant, waiter, editor, writer, fur trapper, and textile worker.
Secretary Dunlap's career in public service began with his election to the Maine House of Representatives in 1996. During eight years in the Legislature, he served three terms as House Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. He was also Democratic Chair of the 2003 Legislative Apportionment Commission, a member of the House Standing Committee on Elections, served as House Chair of the Citizen's Advisory Commission to Secure the Future of Maine's Wildlife and Fish, and was the first House Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Program Evaluation and Governmental Accountability. He was Chair of the Old Town Democratic City Committee, and also Chair of the Marsh Island Community Deer Committee. Secretary Dunlap chaired a special task force in 2006 to plan for the future of the state's Cultural Building, and was the Chair of the 2006-2007 Maine State Employees Combined Charitable Appeal.
Dunlap's notable legislative activities included securing passage of amendments to the Great Ponds Act, the creation of the Maine Online Sportsman's Electronic System (MOSES), sponsorship of the legislation creating the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, protections for permanently disabled workers under the State Retirement System, creation and development of the Lifetime Hunting and Fishing License, stabilization of conservation revenue streams, and the creation of the Office of Program Evaluation and Governmental Accountability.
While natural resource conservation was the hallmark of Dunlap's legislative career, he also was a vocal champion for historic preservation and promotion of Maine libraries. He sponsored enacted legislation to protect library materials in circulation and to proscribe illegal sale of rare and important public documents.
Dunlap has been an active and vigorous promoter of technological improvements in the delivery of government services. In addition to his legislative work developing the MOSES system, as Secretary of State he is a member of the InforME board. Dunlap is also a member of the Board and 2010 President of the National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council. As Maine's chief motor vehicle official, he has also continued the work to modernize and integrate the electronic delivery of many services, including Rapid Renewal and online driver's license renewals. In this role he was nominated by Governor John Baldacci and Senator Susan Collins to be a member of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee to Establish Minimum Standards for State-Issued Driver's Licenses and Identification Cards created under the Intelligence Reform Act. With passage of the Real ID Act, Dunlap has been an active participant in the national discussion of identity security.
Dunlap is a member of the National Association of Secretaries of State. He has served on that organization's Heritage and Elections committees and the Business Formation Task Force, and has served as co-chair on the Business Services and Voter Participation Committees. He is a past Eastern Region Vice-President and Treasurer and is the President-Elect for 2009-2010.
Dunlap's work has been recognized by a wide diversity of organizations, including Maine Audubon, the Maine Merchant's Association, Maine Bowhunters Association, Maine Professional Guides Association, Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, Informed Notaries of Maine, Maine Civil Liberties Union, and the Maine Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration, which named him 2008 Maine Public Administrator of the Year.
Dunlap was a 1997 Flemming Fellow with the Center for Policy Alternatives, a 2002 delegate to Russia with the American Council of Young Political Leaders, and is a 2009 Toll Fellow with the Council of State Governments. He also received grants from the Maine Development Foundation and the University of Maine in 2000 to complete the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Dunlap is a founder and current board member of Maine's Youth Fish and Game Association, and is president of the University of Maine 'M' Club. He is a member of the Russian American Rule of Law Consortium Steering Committee as well as the Greater Portland-Arkhangelsk Sister City Committee, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. He is an award-winning monthly columnist for the Northwoods Sporting Journal , and is a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and the New England Outdoor Writers Association. He is an assessing editor for the Journal of Mind and Behavior and is a periodic co-host on both Maine Outdoors, heard statewide each Sunday night, and on The George Hale and Ric Tyler Show, a daily current events and talk show, both heard on the Blueberry Broadcasting talk radio network. He is also a Notary Public and Dedimus Justice.
Raised in Bar Harbor, Secretary Dunlap is a graduate of Mount Desert Island High School . He later graduated from the University of Maine, where he was a varsity member of the track and cross-country teams and received a B.A. in History and an M.A. in English. He lives in Old Town with his wife Michelle Dunphy and their daughter, Emily Charlotte Dunlap.
