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The state treasurer touts his record during his first term on the job
State Treasurer
Video Set
YOUNGSTOWN
Based on what he’s done during his first term as Ohio treasurer, Republican Josh Mandel said he deserves to be re-elected.
Connie Pillich, his Democratic opponent in this election, agrees that voters should strongly consider what Mandel did in his nearly four years as treasurer.
The only difference is Pillich, a state representative from Cincinnati, said Mandel spent his first term “making the office work for him rather than making the office work for Ohio.”
Mandel, of Beachwood, said, “In every objective measure we’ve improved the operations of the treasurer’s office. We’ve improved the finances of the treasurer’s office and also improved the finances of the state.”
Mandel said the administration of his predecessor, Democrat Kevin Boyce, was involved in “the largest corruption scandal” in the treasurer’s office — his deputy treasurer fled the country after pleading guilty in April to charges related to a more than $500,000 bribery and kickback scheme.
Mandel also said he’s reduced his staff from 140 when he started as treasurer in January 2011 to 113 today, and cut more than $6 million from his budget.
The treasurer mentioned the state’s budget had an $8 billion deficit when he first came into office and now has a surplus, and the state’s rainy-day fund had 89 cents when he started and now has $1.5 billion.
When asked further to explain his involvement in those two issues, Mandel said he and state Auditor Dave Yost, a fellow Republican, “advocated” the state Legislature to “replenish” the rainy-day fund.
“The governor is the quarterback, and the Legislature obviously is very involved, but I’ve been involved as well,” Mandel said. “By no means do I take total credit for all of that, but I’ve definitely played a part in it.”
Pillich said, “Josh is doing a great job of trying to take credit for things that other people have done,” and that as a former Ohio House member, Mandel knows that it’s the Legislature’s job — not the treasurer’s — to balance the budget and determine what’s to be done with the rainy-day fund.
Mandel also said that during his time as treasurer, the state’s financial ranking went from 43rd among the 50 states as measured by Forbes Magazine to seventh in a study by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center.
Pillich said the studies “have nothing to do with each other.” The first evaluates pension liabilities per capita and the other examines different accounting measures, she said.
Pillich also criticized Mandel for signing a “threatening” letter for businessman Benjamin Suarez, who had a regulatory issue in California. Suarez, who faced numerous criminal charges and was found guilty of one count of obstruction of justice, as well as his employees and their relatives donated $100,000 to Mandel’s failed 2012 U.S. Senate campaign shortly after he signed the letter.
“That really crossed the line,” said Pillich, who added, “It may not be criminal, but it’s not ethical.”
Mandel said, “No one on my campaign has done anything improper or illegal. No one in the treasurer’s office has done anything improper or illegal, and I have not done anything improper or illegal either.”
Mandel said he recalls meeting Suarez one time three years ago, and helped because when the letter was signed “the economy was in the dumps. We had people out of work all over the place. Back then it was really bad.”
The treasurer said he signed the letter “to protect jobs and protect the tax base in the state of Ohio.”
As for the contribution, “there’s absolutely no evidence of a quid pro quo, and the reason there’s no evidence of a quid pro quo [is] because it never happened,” Mandel said.
Pillich touted her bipartisanship, saying she was elected to an Ohio House seat three times in a Republican district.
“There’s not a Democratic way or a Republican way or doing things,” she said. “There’s just a right way. That’s the approach I’ve taken in the Legislature, and that’s the approach I’d like to use in the treasurer’s office.”
The Plain Dealer of Cleveland recently examined her votes on more than 30 key bills and determined Pillich as well as Mandel during his two terms in the House almost always voted with their political parties.