The treasurer’s race may not attract many of the headlines but it’s certainly getting interesting, with attacks and counter attacks taking place almost daily. One candidate has a truly remarkable track record that spans more years than the age of his opponent. The other candidate overwhelmed a former treasurer in the primary and is a progressive with new ideas, star-power backing and a new vision for the office. One candidate is excited and animated; the other is more thoughtful and reserved. Both will push to reduce the State’s hedge fund investments as long as they can replace the returns through other vehicles and in a way that limits costly penalties. Both are pledging transparency on fees and investing. And both think that Gina Raimondo has done a good job and handled the pension issue well.
It stops there.
Independent Ernie Almonte has been in private practice accounting and fiscal oversight for over 32 years, 16 of them as the Auditor General for the State of RI, which is the legislative audit agency for the General Assembly. Here he was responsible for the $7 billion comprehensive audit report for the state, conducting an annual $3 billion federal audit as well as providing oversight of municipal, fraud and quasi-public agency audits. In short he has provided guidance, advice and oversight for virtually all of the State’s financial issues. He has never served in an elected office.
Seth Magaziner
Seth Magaziner grew up with politics. In the early 1990s his father, Ira, worked with Hillary Clinton on a famously unsuccessful attempt to reform the nation’s health care system. He later became President Bill Clinton’s internet czar and now chairs the ex-president’s foundation. Clinton recently returned the favor by holding a fundraiser for his son that was attended by over 300 people. (Ironically, the last time Clinton campaigned in RI it had been for Magaziner’s primary opponent, Frank Caprio.)
Seth Magaziner grew up in Bristol and attended Brown where he was president of the Brown College Democrats, as well as a member of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. He went on to get his MBA at Yale. After graduating in 2006, Magaziner spent two years teaching Louisiana children that Hurricane Katrina had made homeless. He also spent two years as a summer intern at Treasurer Gina Raimondo’s venture capital firm Point Judith Capital. He has been with Trillium Asset Management, the oldest investment advisory company exclusively focused on sustainable and responsible investing for the past three years. In November of 2013, according to CFO Journal, he was an analyst at Trillium and was quoted, “As an analyst your motto is question everything.”
Magaziner believes that what he brings to the race will resonate with voters. “People want new faces,” he notes. “They want new ideas and new approaches. My blueprint gives that. This office can be a job creator with new ideas and a new focus. I may be younger, but I’ve got more relevant experience,” he adds.
Magaziner’s campaign is based on broadening the treasurer’s reach. His blueprint is a comprehensive economic development plan, endorsed by both business and labor leaders. In addition to jobs and economic growth, his platform includes investing in Rhode Island with taxpayer dollars; insuring secure retirement for Rhode Island current and retired public servants; providing financial empowerment for the 25% of Rhode Islanders who don’t have bank accounts or rely on payday lending and pawn shops; supporting education initiatives to rebuild crumbling schools to insure equality and opportunity among our students.
Magaziner lives in downtown Providence and serves on the boards of Crossroads RI and Serve RI. He was the treasurer of the campaign for marriage equality and is a board member of Common Cause and the Bristol 4th of July Committee.
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