Election
Coverage: State Treasurer Race
As part
of its continuing election coverage, the GRC blog will focus each week on a
different state or national race for office. This week, we focus on the often overlooked
but critical position of the state treasurer.
The Treasury Department is responsible for investigating financial loss,
theft, and fraud in checking; reviewing real estate leases and contracts; and
managing the affairs of several programs that directly financially benefit
Pennsylvanians. The Treasurer himself
oversees this department, with the specific duties of chairing the Board of
Finance and Revenue, through which he chooses which banks will hold the state’s
money; setting the interest rate for commonwealth deposits; managing money
invested in the state college system, including at the University of
Pittsburgh; and deciding state tax appeals.
If there is a single race that should be watched for its direct impact
on the lives of voters, it is this one.
This
year, there are three candidates for Treasurer: incumbent Rob McCord on the Democratic
ticket, Diana Irey Vaughan on the Republican ticket, and Patricia M. Fryman
running as a Libertarian.
Treasurer
Rob McCord (D):
Robert
McCord is a native of Montgomery County.
He attended Harvard University and received a B.A. in economics, graduating
with high honors. He received his MBA
from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. Following graduation he worked in venture
capitalism, serving as a senior executive of Safeguard Scientifics from 1994 to
2007. He was the founder of the Eastern
Technology Fund, co-founder and Managing Director of Pennsylvania Early Stage
Partners, and was leader of the trade association known as the Eastern
Technology Council in 2007. In 2007 he was elected PA State Treasurer.
McCord
counts among his successes in office the Treasury Department’s history of
bringing in revenue for the state during his term. He claims that the investment strategies he
has brought to the department have generated $1.4 billion since January
2009. He cites the jump in funding for
the PA 529 College Savings program from 70% to 98% as a success, as well as its
history of strong investment returns (13.6% during the fiscal year of
09-10). He cites the reduction of the
state Government Operations Budget and the reduction of his department’s
workforce and automobile fleet as an improvement in efficiency, though this
might be an effect of the government cutbacks required by the budget crisis
rather than actual streamlining. He also
cites improvement in the efficiency and productivity of the Personal Income Tax
auditing process, a 73% reduction in overtime hours (again perhaps due to
cutbacks), and the creation of several programs to educate Pennsylvanians on
saving for retirement.
McCord
is campaigning on the efficiency of the Treasury Department under his lead,
pointing out that throughout his tenure the Department has consistently turned
a profit for the state and promising more of the same should he be reelected. He promises to continue his investment
strategy in order to create jobs and generate public income while increasing
the accountability and transparency of his department.
PA
Treasury profile: http://www.patreasury.gov/treasurer.html
Campaign
Website: http://www.robmccord.com/homepage/
Centre
Daily Times race profile: http://www.centredaily.com/2012/04/14/3160375/treasurer.html
Diana
Irey Vaughan, Republican candidate for State Treasurer:
Diana
Irey Vaughan is a graduate of West Virginia Business College, with work in
business, accounting and legal studies both at Fairmont State College and
California University of Pennsylvania. She is the Washington County Commissioner and
is serving her fifth term (16th year) in that office, which entails
managing 53 departments, nearly a thousand employees, and overseeing all county
property including a nursing home, airport, ports and bridges. She is a member of the Washington County
Pension Board and the Washington County Prison Board, and in the latter
position has voted down measures such as cable TV for inmates while ensuring
that non-violent inmates serve community service hours, which creates unpaid
labor for the County.
She is
campaigning on the issue of fiscal responsibility. She states that as commissioner she has
balanced seven consecutive budgets without tax increases and has approached
pensions with a strict, conservative investment policy. She takes credit for Washington County being
ranked third in the nation for job growth by the U.S. Department of Labor. She is promising to bring that same
minimalist approach to government with her to the position of State Treasurer.
Campaign
Website: http://friendswithdiana.com/
Washington
County profile: http://www.co.washington.pa.us/generalpage.aspx?menuDept=3&genPageID=47
Centre
Daily Times race profile: http://www.centredaily.com/2012/04/14/3160375/treasurer.html
Patricia
Fryman, Libertarian candidate for Treasurer:
Patricia
Fryman is the third-party candidate for State Treasurer this year. She was born and raised in Mercer County and
a current resident of Venango County, for which she served three terms as the
County Auditor. She previously worked in
several positions, including as an office manager, in business, banking, and
industry, but is now retired. She holds
a degree in Accounting from Clarion University and a degree in Social Sciences
from Penn State University, with additional education at the American Institute
of Banking. She is also the current
treasurer of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania and a previous treasurer for
the Pennsylvania State Association of County Auditors.
She is
running on the issue of wasteful spending and on her independence as a third
party candidate. “In every election,
it’s been a choice between two evils, and I feel it’s time to quit voting for
the evils and have a real choice,” she stated in an interview. She has refused campaign financing on the
principle of maintaining her independence, a bold move that also greatly
reduces her publicity. She follows the
Libertarian Party’s broad policy of economic freedom which includes “less
rules, less regulations,” though she
admits that especially in finance some oversight is necessary. She states that her top priority is to manage
the state budget, which she finds needlessly complicated, poorly overseen, and
too heavily invested in the operations of the State Legislature. She specifically targets the controversial
Liquor Control Board as wasteful, citing international trips for product
sampling as an example.
She
states that as Treasurer, she would bring accountability to the state pension
system. She contends that the increases
in tuition for the state college system is due to an oversized and inefficient
administration and that this needs to be curbed. She states that as State Treasurer, she will
scrutinize all payments before signing any checks. She would like to disband the PA Turnpike
Commission and turn over its operations to PennDOT, reasoning that the system
has already paid for itself and should not be used to garner state
funding. She promotes the idea of a
return to small government and low taxes under her term of office.
Smart
Voter profile: http://www.smartvoter.org/2012/11/06/pa/state/vote/fryman_p/
Candidate
position paper: http://www.smartvoter.org/2012/11/06/pa/state/vote/fryman_p/paper1.html
PCN “On
The Issues” Interview Video: http://pcntv.com/blog/2012/10/16/oct-15-patricia-fryman-libertarian-for-pa-treasurer/
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