One number looms large in the low-profile race for state treasurer: $27 billion.
It’s the total deficit in the pension fund for 512,000 current and former state employees — a figure that is spurring a debate between the two candidates, Republican incumbent Walker Stapleton and Democratic challenger Betsy Markey.
The state treasurer holds a seat on the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association board, one of the more visible aspects of the job, and the two candidates for the post differ on what to do about the unfunded liability.
Stapleton warns that the state needs to do more, because projections show it will take 34 years to make the $44 billion plan solvent.
“I want to make sure that Colorado proactively is able to keep promises to retirees in the system,” he said.
To make the plan work, he said, state employees need to “pay a fair price for their retirement benefits.” Stapleton declined to define what he meant but said “it would be an increase over what is paid now.”
Four years ago, amid the economic downturn, the state increased the amount that employees contribute to the pension plan, reduced retiree cost-of-living adjustments and raised the retirement age. A state Supreme Court decision this month upheld the move.
Markey, a former Fort Collins congresswoman who lost her 2010 re-election bid, called the changes “necessary and important.” But she cautioned against further adjustments, saying more time is needed to let the reforms work.
The race is overshadowed by those at the top of the ballot, but limited public polls show the contest is just as close with the candidates essentially tied in a midterm that favors Republican candidates.
In her campaign, Markey is emphasizing the importance of the treasurer’s role as an ex-officio member of the PERA board. She is criticizing Stapleton for attending only a fraction of the meetings and tasking the others to a deputy.
“This is an important role, and you should be attending yourself and not sending your deputy to attend,” she said in a recent interview.
Stapleton said the practice of sending a deputy is not new and his office has near-perfect attendance.
But Markey’s point is part of a larger argument her campaign is making in a negative television ad, asserting that Stapleton doesn’t show up to work.
“I will extend my full energies to this job,” Markey said.
The campaign is using keycard-access data and calendars it obtained through a public-records request to support its claim, but it is incomplete and doesn’t take into account when Stapleton used the public entrance.
Stapleton calls the charge “a bold-faced lie.”
He is countering her punch with his own; Stapleton’s TV ad is using her congressional voting record to link Markey to Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi and suggesting she is ill-prepared for the office.
“I would say her understanding is an inch deep and mile wide with respect to the state’s investments statutes,” he said in an interview.
A former CEO of his family’s real estate company, Stapleton quizzed his rival in a television debate to define a yield curve, a graph that plots bond interest rates over time.
Markey sidestepped the question.
She later said her 30-plus years of experience as a former small-business owner and former budget analyst at the U.S. Department of Treasury, as well as her educational background in finance, “speaks for itself.”
Stapleton is emphasizing his record in managing the state’s bond portfolio, which has exceeded benchmark returns, and his efforts to consolidate and refinance state debt to save tax dollars.
Markey said she wants to focus on finding innovative ways to pay for education and transportation needs, as well as work more closely with the state’s 64 county treasurers.
The race for state treasurer
Walker Stapleton, 40
Party: Republican
Occupation: former CEO of publicly traded real estate company, SonomaWest
Political experience: first-term state treasurer
Betsy Markey, 58
Party: Democrat
Occupation: former chief financial officer of Syscom Services, an Internet company; former owner of Huckleberry’s coffee and ice cream shop; former budget analyst at U.S. Department of Treasury
Political experience: former U.S. Department of Homeland Security; assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs, 2011-13; former U.S. House representative, 2009-11
