Both the Democratic and Republican contenders for the office of Massachusetts Treasurer in the upcoming mid-term election have private-sector business experience. That will be needed for a job that encompasses the high-profile Massachusetts State Lottery (oh, and casinos, if that bet ever comes through); the lower-profile, but just as impactful, state pension system; the Massachusetts School Building Authority; the Unclaimed Property Division and the Veterans’ Bonus Program.
Except for the Lottery (and casinos), many of these programs are the relatively invisible movers of economic well-being for thousands of Massachusetts residents.
Let’s hope whomever wins doesn’t believe in kicking the can down the road on pension and infrastructure projects, both of which need proactive intervention right now. The U.S. Congress has a lock on that, though Massachusetts’ U.S. representatives are openly critical of the impasse and do not appear to have contributed to it.
The state’s two party primary winners for treasurer have proposed initiatives that would spur investment in the state, which, ranks only 45th in the nation for job growth, according to Moody’s.
Democrat Deborah Goldberg’s initiative to create a state bank to handle infrastructure projects has its pros and cons. Vermont has been considering such a move for at least the past year and it has been reasonably controversial even there. She also wants to modernize the state Lottery, and to stop relying on MCAS scores as the criteria for high school graduation.
Republican Michael Heffernan’s call to bring the state’s Small Business Banking Partnership funding to $1 billion from its current $350 million would expand the number of participating banks by lowering eligibility requirements. Great idea, as long as there is due diligence in deploying that money, so we’re not pushing too much money after too few good prospects.
In the treasurer’s role as overseer of the Lottery, the next occupant of the office may or may not have to actively balance the Lottery’s yield to the state with that of the projected yield from casinos, which at this point is clearly fungible – just look at Atlantic City.
The Lottery’s clientele are predominantly lower-income people looking for a break – or at least a good fantasy until the next winning numbers come out. Casinos are supposed to draw clients who can afford to lose at least some of their money.
We won’t know the outcome of the Massachusetts casino verdict for almost two months, but if casinos prevail, the newly elected treasurer will want to draw a line that would keep casinos’ customers from cannibalizing Lottery proceeds. This may be a tough call – recent news reports indicate that the presence of casinos in Maryland has cut into sales of Lottery ticket sales in that state. That’s what usually happens with quick revenue streams. They look great in the short term, but in the long term, there’s a price to pay somewhere else.
Then there are the less glamorous, but nonetheless life-sustaining, responsibilities of the Office of the Treasurer. Let’s hope that the two winning primary candidates could both use their private-sector experience to make things better stateside. n
