Who’s the best candidate for state treasurer?

If you ever needed to see a difference between the two major political parties, one only needs to look at the two nominees in the race for state treasurer.

On the state treasurer’s website, readers can see following under statutory responsibilities. “The Treasurer is the chief elected fiscal officer for the State government, overseeing a wide range of activities regarding the prudent management of state government.”

The Democratic nominee, Shawn Wooden of Hartford, is being heralded as an inspirational story.

Mr. Wooden is African-American and grew up in Hartford under challenging circumstances. To his credit, he has earned a law degree and rose to become president of Hartford’s City Council.

Anyone in this state who follows the news knows that Hartford is effectively bankrupt despite having received copious amounts of state aid to stay solvent. Democratic party stalwarts, in their infinite wisdom, have nominated the City Council president of a bankrupt city to be our chief elected fiscal officer and oversee prudent management practices in our state government.

As per the state treasurer’s website, other statutory responsibilities include “the administration of a portfolio of pension assets for more than 190,000 beneficiaries and plan participants and a short-term investment fund utilized by the agencies of municipal and state government.”

Attorney Wooden does not have any background in pension management.

Contrast this with Republican nominee, Thad Gray. After earning his MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business, he joined Abbott Capital Management in 1989 and became a partner in 1995. For the last decade of his tenure at Abbott he was chief investment officer, leading an investment team that managed $7 billion in assets including pension funds.

Thad serves as a board member of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation as well serving on the foundation’s investment committee overseeing $135 million in assets. He also serves on the board of the National Iron Bank, a $125 million community bank based in Salisbury.

Last December, Mr. Gray retired from his position at Abbott to run for treasurer to put his considerable skillset to work making the treasurer’s office accountable and effective. In short, he’s the right man for the job campaigning for the right reasons. Imagine that.

Outgoing Treasurer Denise Nappier recently signed off on the Malloy administration’s reckless plan to take on $550 million of Hartford’s long term debt over the next 20 years when our state is staring down an estimated $4 plus billion budget deficit over the next two years.

The days of “screw up and move up” politics that come with one party rule have to end. When a professional like Thad Gray steps forward, we need to step up and deliver for him in the primary and the general election.

Todd Peterson, Washington, Conn.