Treasurer candidates searching for first state election victory

The candidate who captures Tuesday's contest for treasurer will be winning his or her first state election.

Republican David Mcrae, a Ridgeland attorney and managing partner in his family's business, Mcrae Investments, and Democrat Addie Lee Green of Bolton, a retiree from an automotive parts manufacturer in Clinton, are vying to replace twoterm Treasurer Lynn Fitch, who is running for attorney general.

Mcrae, has run a primarily self financed campaign, defeating outgoing state Senate Appropriations Chair Buck Clarke of Hollandale in this past summer's Republican primary. In 2015, Mcrae ran unsuccessfully against Fitch.

Green ran unsuccessfully in 2015 for the post of agriculture commissioner. She has served on the Board of Aldermen in Bolton and is a local election commissioner. She is on the state's Democratic Party Executive Committee.

Green, who studied sociology at Jackson State University, has run a financially strapped campaign.

But as treasurer Green said she will be a keen watchdog of the state's money.

“I want to watch your money like a hawk watches a chicken,” Green said recently at the annual Mississippi Economic Council's Hob Nob where the state's business community hears from state officeholders and candidates.

Mcrae told Mississippi Today, “I'm running because my experience in private sector investing can help maximize our state's investment returns for the benefit of taxpayers. I'm a businessman, not a politician. That means I'm willing to question the status quo, particularly when it comes to our state's investments and debts.”

The office of treasurer, one of eight statewide posts, serves multiple functions, including maintaining the state's financial records and overseeing the investment of state funds. The office manages the state's college savings plans, which allow parents to invest funds for their children's tuition, and the treasurer also oversees the state's unclaimed property.

Mcrae said he wants to provide more transparency on how state funds are invested and wants to develop “sound financial strategy” of the state's funds. Mcrae said he also wants to stress constituent services and work to reduce the state's debt, though, that largely depends on the amount of debt approved by the Legislature.

Green, who helped organize a union when she worked at a Clinton auto supply manufacturing plant, said she believes more information needs to be provided to the public on the state's college savings plans and she wants to stop the practice of what she calls “rewriting arithmetic.” She said she is referring to the practice of more money being appropriated than the state has. That also would be determined in large part by the actions of the Legislature.

Mississippi's general election is Nov. 5. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. unless there's a line.