Good Morning Readers,

This is another effort to provide some perspective on various political races that are upon us in an important election year.  This year the office of State Treasurer is wide open as incumbent Mike Murphy is retiring after three terms.

You do not hear much about the State Treasurer, and that is probably a good thing.  The office is essentially the state's CFO.  Its duties are spelled out on its website, http://tre.wa.gov/.  "As the state’s chief fiscal officer, the Treasurer provides banking, cash management, investment, and accounting services for state government."  Pretty humdrum, eh?  What is needed then is a steady hand who understands good financial principles, practices sound management and ensures that the state's bond rating stays high.

Voters are actually blessed this year with three solid candidates for this office, two Democrats and one Republican.  The Republican is Allan Martin, who currently works in the Treasurer's office.  The Democrats are Chang Mook Sohn, the state's chief economist and State Representative Jim McIntire. 

The WTIA is supporting Jim McIntire for several reasons.  The first being that Rep. McIntire was instrumental in extending the R&D tax incentives in 2004 until 2015.  He knows full well that incentivizing R&D is good for the economy, helps create jobs and brings in more tax revenue as R&D leads to additional economic activity that helps our state stay competitive globally.  While the other two gentlemen are certainly qualified, McIntire has shown true leadership as he had to advocate for the R&D extension in a caucus that has too many members who say "how high" when the unions say "jump".  Many of his fellow House Democrats are loathe to support anything that helps business succeed.  And yet, McIntire got the Labor Council's endorsement for this office.

Secondly, McIntire has a broad range of professional experience in both the public and private sectors that makes him the right choice for State Treasurer.  You can learn more about him here:  http://jimmcintire.com/default.aspx?ID=15.

McIntire's solid King County base should put him in good stead for the August 19 primary, where he needs to finish among the top two vote getters statewide to contest in the November general election.  He is an excellent choice for this low profile but important statewide office.