“5 vie for state treasurer post in primary” |
| 5 vie for state treasurer post in primary Posted: 22 Aug 2010 07:22 PM PDT | Election Coverage
Complete coverage of the fall election races, including Dawn Marie Sass says she's done a good job over the past four years as state treasurer, has helped return record amounts of money to residents and businesses, and has a proven record of serving the public. Because of that, Sass, a Democrat, says she deserves a second four-year term in office. The state treasurer receives $65,079 per year in salary. But others campaigning for her job say the controversial Sass hasn't handled her treasurer duties competently. Sass, of Belleville and formerly of Milwaukee, was a little-known Democrat who in 2006 upset incumbent Republican Jack Voight, who had held the treasurer's office for 12 years. Sass is facing a challenge in the Sept. 14 primary from fellow Democrat Daniel Bohrod of Madison. Three Republicans are seeking the nomination in their party's primary: Scott Feldt of Janesville, Jim Sanfilippo of Milwaukee and Kurt Schuller of Eden. The top vote-getter in each primary advances to the Nov. 2 election. Libertarian candidate Craig Mohn of Woodville also will be on the November ballot. The state treasurer runs two high-profile programs - EdVest, the state's college-savings program, and the unclaimed property program, in which the state holds the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes and bank accounts. Among other duties, the treasurer also operates the Local Government Investment Pool, which operates like a money-market fund. Counties, municipalities, school districts and other local government units pool their money to earn a higher interest rate. Sass drew criticism last year for traveling to a National Association of State Treasurers meeting in California when her office was trying to dig out from under a backlog of 2,900 claims for property. It was the largest backlog of requests for unclaimed property in at least a decade. At the time, Sass said the backlog emerged because of record claims filed after she promoted the unclaimed property list with annual visits to all 72 Wisconsin counties. She also drew flak last year for her decision to hire her 20-year-old niece to answer phones and other relatives to work the treasurer's booth at the State Fair. The jobs were temporary, and the Government Accountability Office said the hiring was not illegal. Sass said she hired her niece because it would be hard to find someone who wanted to take the $14-an-hour job for a short time. Bohrod said it's time for new leadership because Sass has diminished the position to "that of a rote administrator, to the point where both (Milwaukee) Mayor Tom Barrett and the tea party have proposed eliminating the office." A budget analyst for the City of Madison, Bohrod said he would use the treasurer's office to speak out about important state financial matters in an effort to streamline government and save taxpayers money. "I've proposed the elimination of state agency executive assistants, which are gubernatorial patronage appointments. Eliminating these positions will save millions of taxpayer dollars and not affect state operations one whit. And I'll speak about issues such as the payment of bonuses to state pension fund managers. Public servants should be fairly and appropriately compensated, but no public servant should be made wealthy," Bohrod said. GOP primaryOn the Republican side, Feldt, a former top aide to ex-state treasurer Voight from 1995-2002, said he is seeking the office because Sass has taken it in the wrong direction. "Delays in processing thousands of unclaimed property requests and questionable hiring practices have proven that the current state treasurer cannot perform the basic duties of the office. This is not about partisanship. This is about competence," he said. "I plan to bring professionalism and integrity back to the treasurer's office. I will not hire family members. I will educate taxpayers about the state budget process and how the state is spending their money. I will explain how the state issues debt and what effect that has on our state's economy," said Feldt, an economics instructor. Sanfilippo is a financial manager with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee assigned to the Milwaukee High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. He said he's the only qualified Republican in the race who isn't a political insider. He said he wants to transform the treasurer's post into an "active budget and fiscal watchdog for the people of Wisconsin." "The state treasurer should use the position as a soapbox to inform the citizenry of any wasteful spending," Sanfilippo said. Sanfilippo said he also would push for legislation to make the office oversee auditing of state finances and for zero-based budgeting. "I have the experience and education to do the job and will implement my ideas right away with no excuses," he said. Schuller, a restaurant manager, said he's running for treasurer in the hope of getting rid of the office as well as eliminating the secretary of state post. "The only power this office has is to reward the holder of it and the political friends of others in power," said Schuller, who formerly owned and operated WolfenDale's restaurant in Sussex. "I pledge to support a constitutional amendment that would eliminate the treasurer and secretary of state. This idea has a much better chance of succeeding if the treasurer gives it its endorsement and support," Schuller said. "I have pledged to serve one term only whether or not I am successful at accomplishing this. Ultimately, if this effort succeeds, the people of Wisconsin will get the final say in this via the ballot box should this referendum come before them." Sass brushes off the criticism aimed at her. She said she's improved office operations and done a good job making the public aware of what the treasurer does. "I enjoy being a public servant. Helping people find unclaimed funds, sometimes in the hundreds of thousand of dollars, makes my job the best job ever. In my term, my office has processed 97,975 claims, amounting to $97,747,984, and paid 1,027,703 shares of stock," she said. She said her office, with a budget of about $7.4 million, is fully staffed and things are "running better than ever."
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Daniel Bohrod
Dawn Marie Sass (inc.)
Scott Feldt
Jim Sanfilippo
Kurt Schuller| You are subscribed to email updates from Content Keyword RSS To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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