A Look at the State Treasurer Race

Earlier this year I took a brief look at the attorney general race. This is a similar look at the state treasurer race. What does the state treasurer do?

Treasury and its employees are accountable for safeguarding the financial assets of all Pennsylvanians, serving as custodians, investors and disbursers of the Commonwealth’s funds.

There is no incumbent in the state treasurer’s race this year. Bob Casey, Jr. was the last elected treasurer. He left the office last year when elected to the senate. Gov. Rendell appointed Robin Weissmann to fill out Casey’s term. She said she would not run for the office.

The candidates this year are Republican Thomas J. Ellis and Democrat Rob McCord.

Ellis presents his biography as:

Tom Ellis is a lifelong resident of Montgomery County and a partner in the Public Finance Department of the law firm of Ballard Spahr Andrews and Ingersoll, LLP. He has worked on a variety of tax exempt financing projects since joining the firm, primarily with Pennsylvania local governments and municipal authorities.

In 2003, Tom was elected to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. Even prior to his first day in office, Tom used his finance experience to re-evaluate a portion of Montgomery County’s bonds, saving County taxpayers millions of dollars. During his tenure as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Tom oversaw a county budget of a half a billion dollars and utilized cutting-edge financing techniques enabling the county to increase services while cutting costs. Tom was also successful in reducing county taxes, preserving record amounts of open space, and introducing new technology to keep our children safe while in school.

There have been some blips in his personal life. A former girlfriend filed and then withdrew a pfa. Later there were questions about the nature of his relationship with a county employee. (Ellis was then a Montgomery County commissioner.) He was recently endorsed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Rob McCord is described on the campaign website as:

Rob McCord is one of Pennsylvania’s leading business finance experts and a passionate Democrat who is running for Pennsylvania State Treasurer. As Treasurer, Rob will use his energy and experience to help create jobs for hard-working Pennsylvanians, grow the state economy and stop wasteful spending in Harrisburg.

As a business leader – not a politician – Rob has managed more than one billion dollars in assets and has raised money for start-up companies that have created more than 1,900 jobs in the state. Rob has served as co-founder and Managing Director of Pennsylvania Early Stage Partners – a family of three venture funds that invests in early-stage life-science and information technology firms – and he co-founded the Eastern Technology Fund, a successful provider of funding that serves more than 800 innovative companies.

While McCord worked on Capitol Hill for a decade he has not held elected office before and so has not been subject to the scrutiny that Ellis has.


For more information:
Fenton, Jacob, “Ellis gains support for PA treasurer,” Intelligencer, 12/25/07

Levy, Marc, “Treasurer's race pits bond lawyer against venture capitalist,” Morning Call 9/22.08

Singleton, David, “Treasurer hopefuls share visions," Times Tribune 10/09/08