Raising the bar for county treasurer
11/19/2009
When Ventura County Treasurer-Tax Collector Larry Matheney announced last week that he would not seek another term, it came as a big surprise that Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, whose professional experience is limited to her political work and her time as a private junior high schoolteacher, was going to run for the position, which she officially announced Tuesday.
Albeit, in order to run for just about any elected seat — whether it be the governor of California or the tax collector of Ventura County — candidates must meet very minimal qualifications, mainly, they must be registered to vote and be older than 18, and the process to obtain such positions is based solely on the will of the people. While we are not going to dwell on the flaws of the democratic process — the electing of certain individuals who are seemingly not qualified — in the case of county treasurer-tax collector, if we refuse to learn from the mistakes of the past, we are doomed to repeat them.
Fifteen years ago, Orange County declared bankruptcy, losing $1.6 billion due to extremely risky financial investments made by the longtime treasurer-tax collector, Robert Citron. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California then wrote a follow up to the OC debacle in 1998, making 10 policy recommendations to prevent such a disaster in the future. One of the recommendations was that “local elected officials need more financial expertise and objective professional advice so that they can make sound fiscal policy decisions in the complex world of municipal finance.” California legislators had also passed Senate Bill 863 in 1995 that would require individuals running for treasurer to meet certain professional and educational standards. But this law was specific to individual counties and would only be enacted if a county’s board of supervisors adopted it. To this day, the provision has not been adopted locally by the Board of Supervisors.
Although times have changed, fortunately, the supervisors can still approve and enact the law before Matheney gives up his post as the county’s watchdog over public funds. SB 863 requirements include either having worked in a senior financial management position for a public agency; have an accounting or finance degree or be a certified public accountant or chartered financial analyst. We believe these qualifications to be minimal and absolutely necessary, considering the millions of dollars the treasurer-tax collector must be accountable for and the county’s multimillion dollar budget shortfall during this economic climate.
Given the questionable practice of earning money by running husband Tony Strickland's Senate race campaign where Audra's company earned six figures through fundraising — a practice which now is illegal, courtesy of a bill proposed by Tony himself this summer — and her limited professional experience, we don’t believe she is the right person for the job. We are also careful to endorse any person for that position, unless they meet the minimum requirements included in the provision, whether or not the supervisors enact it.
We hope Ventura County’s Board of Supervisors expedites this agenda item of raising the minimum requirements for treasurer to the top of the list — or at least well before Feb. 15, the time when candidates can file declarations of their intent to run for office. While the current treasurer-tax collector called Audra’s intent to run for the seat as “great,” we suggest proceeding with caution, hoping that the supervisors will do everything possible to hire a qualified and experienced individual to this important decision. At a salary of more than $150,000, they should have many applicants.
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