Republican Doug Ducey is the most qualified candidate to become Arizona's next treasurer.
He has a degree in finance from Arizona State University and is former CEO of Cold Stone Creamery ice cream stores. He's now chairman of iMemories, which digitizes home movies.
The main job of the treasurer is to manage the state's more than $9 billion in investments. The office also oversees banking services for state agencies and keeps track of proceeds from the sale of public lands.
Ducey, 46, says his top priorities would be to prudently manage the state's investments and to bring clarity to the state budget by presenting the numbers to taxpayers based on generally accepted accounting principles. This would include expanding the online "checkbook" started by current Treasurer Dean Martin to let the public see where revenue is coming from and how it's being spent.
Ducey says there's a disconnect between the state Capitol and the business community, and he'd work with other state leaders to improve the economy.
Ducey's main opponent, Democrat Andrei Cherny, makes much of the fact that Cold Stone was late with its annual filings to the Arizona Corporation Commission for the six years from 2000 to 2005. We wouldn't expect that the CEO of a company as large as Cold Stone would have hands-on knowledge of the annual filing.
Another of Cherny's criticisms is that Ducey failed to pay the property taxes on his Paradise Valley home by the deadlines in 2006, 2008 and 2009. Last spring, he paid $15,572 to clear the tax lien.
Ducey told us the property tax payments were handled by another person in his household and the missed deadlines were an oversight. We'd say that once is an oversight and that three times indicates he wasn't paying attention to his personal finances.
That's a concern, but it's hardly a crime. Plus, people who pay late are hit with a 16 percent interest penalty.
Cherny has an impressive résumé for a 35-year-old. He's written two books - "The Next Deal: The Future of Public Life in the Information Age" and another on the Berlin Airlift. He's been involved in presidential politics as a speechwriter and policy adviser. He was a lawyer in the state Attorney General's Office from 2006 to 2009.
Cherny lacks a finance or accounting background that would make him more qualified to be Arizona's banker and investment adviser.
Libertarian Thane Eichenauer works in technical support, and Green Party candidate Thomas Meadows is a tarot card reader.
Ducey has the educational and business background to be state treasurer, and we recommend his election on Nov. 2.
Arizona Daily Star
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