Treasurer hopefuls spar over climate, politics at debate

Candidates running for Arizona treasurer disputed whether environmental and other concerns have a place in managing the state’s investments during a televised debate Monday.

The debate was sponsored by the Citizens Clean Election Commission, which provides voter education and public funding for campaigns.

During the half-hour back-and-forth discussion, Democrat Martín Quezada, a lawyer and former state lawmaker, tried to tie incumbent and Republican Kimberly Yee to the more extreme members of her party.

“We’ve come to expect extreme, antichoice and election-denying candidates for office – people like (Blake) Masters, (Kari) Lake and (Mark) Finchem, but we shouldn’t expect that for the office of state treasurer,” he said. “If we allow extreme political views to influence our money-management decisions, we sacrifice sound financial decisions.”

He accused Yee, who initially planned to run for governor this year, of using the office as a “stepping stone” and a “consolation prize.”

Yee responded by saying she respects the office of treasurer, where she worked before running for office.

“I’m currently running for state treasurer and I have been doing so since January of this year, especially now that we know we have a radical progressive running for this office who could put the $63 billion of taxpayer monies at risk,” she said.

“Arizona Horizon” host Ted Simons and Arizona Republic political reporter Stacey Barchenger moderated the debate, which is available for viewing at azcentral.com.

Investing practice dominates

Much of the debate was spent discussing environmental, social and governance, or “ESG,” scores, which Yee condemned.

Analysts and investors use such scores to calculate risks to investments that are not usually included in traditional financial reviews. For example, a score might include how much carbon a company emits or how much energy it uses to make products. They also might evaluate labor practices, as well as public opposition to a company or industry.

ESG scores are a hot-button issue for conservatives, and were a central focus of one of the Republicans Yee defeated in the primary election.

Yee said the state should not make investment decisions based on politics.

She said the “ESG agenda” is an “attack” on the U.S. economy, and blamed the finance industry for pushing up the price of gas for consumers.

“That is wrong. It is not the way the American free-enterprise system works,” Yee said.

Quezada said vilifying ESG scores is not a prudent way to invest.

“We need to analyze the risk of every investment we make,” he said. “The fact is that climate issues in our country … they impact different industries, and whether our investments in those industries are safe or not.”

Yee said her office ignores ESG scores.

“The investment office of our Arizona treasury ensures we always produce the highest returns for the taxpayers of Arizona, not taking into consideration these political agendas, and in this case, liberal agendas,” she said.

Quezada said that major corporations around the globe use ESG scores because they want to understand financial risks.

“To presume that each of these organizations is making a political statement, that’s not what they care about. They care about making money,” he said.

Israel investments a focus

Simons questioned Yee about her support for a separate investment decision that seemed political and not financial.

The Arizona Legislature previously passed a law that required Arizona to end investments and contracts with companies that boycott Israel. Because of the law, Yee’s office divested $143 million from Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream last year.

Ben & Jerry’s had announced that it would stop sales of ice cream in the West Bank and East Jerusalem by the end of 2022. The company has said its actions are not a boycott. Unilever recently announced it sold the piece of its business in the region to a local company that would sell the ice cream there under its Hebrew and Arabic name.

“It was following Arizona state law that was established in 2016. Years ago the Arizona Legislature protected Israel, which is our friend and ally in America … so that we would not have any financial holdings with companies that are boycotting Israel,” Yee said.

“That is discriminatory and antisemitic and it’s wrong.”

Yee went on to attack Quezada for screening a documentary film called “Boycott” at the state Capitol.

The film examines legal battles in three states — Arizona, Arkansas and Texas — that challenge policies preventing governments from doing business with companies that boycott, divest from or sanction Israel for its occupation of the Palestinian territories.

And Yee teased Quezada for only getting one other lawmaker to show up despite inviting all the Democrats.

“His own colleagues in the Democrat caucus said it was far too left and too progressive for them to even attend this documentary,” she said. “So his own party believes he is too radical for this position.”

Quezada said it was “flat out wrong, ridiculous to even suggest that” he was antisemitic.

But Yee continued to assert that claim, particularly because he has used the hashtag #FreePalestine on Twitter.

Quezada shot back at that accusation.

“Where was Ms. Yee when Blacks were being politically prosecuted by the County Attorney’s Office? Where was Ms. Yee When Abe Hamedeh, an attorney general candidate in this election, was spewing antisemitic rhetoric? Where was Ms. Yee when President Trump was spewing anti-Asian rhetoric that caused a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes?” he said. “Now that it ‘s campaign season she cares about discrimination.”

Yee simply moved on. In her closing statement she again referenced her experience.

“I have the strong fiscal experience to lead this office to continue to grow it and prosper our finances in Arizona so more money goes back to the taxpayers of Arizona,” she said.