Idaho State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth, left, and Democratic challenger Kevin Jones are set to face off in the Nov. 3 general election for the position of state treasurer. The candidates offer differing views on how to manage Idaho’s investments.
Jones, although running as a Democrat, believes the position should be nonpartisan and has announced he will unaffiliated the day after the election. The treasurer’s office serves as the state’s chief financial officer, which includes overseeing the receipt of state money, accounting for disbursement of funds, investing idle state money, and administering the unclaimed property program, the 529 College Savings Fund, and the Idaho ABLE savings accounts.
Each of the candidates is focused on the state’s investment strategy, but with different approaches and metrics for success. Jones, 63, said he is running to improve the state’s investment yields and said his background better suits him to the job. He previously ran Boise-based Harmonic Investment Advisors. He is a longtime institutional portfolio manager and a chartered financial analyst, which is an internationally recognized professional certification for advanced investment management and financial analysis.
“I’m a very logical individual, and I’m also a former college golfer, so I’ve spent my entire life competing, where numbers matter more than how someone dresses, what party they’re in, and so forth,” Jones said. “… You either post the score on the golf course, or you don’t. You either do well at managing investment portfolios, or you don’t.”
Ellsworth, 64, was first elected as state treasurer in 2018 after serving 12 years non-consecutively as an Idaho state representative. She has been a public school teacher, and a mediator and business consultant. She said she wants to run again because her work has helped the state. “I think I’m doing a good job, and I can see that it elevates Idahoans,” Ellsworth said. “It’s very uplifting. The main focus of my job is to assure that money is safe in the state of Idaho, that it is collected in a uniform manner. … and then when money is going to be spent but is idle at the time, we invest it. And I love turning money back to Idaho taxpayers.”
When the state has funds that aren’t yet ready to be spent, the treasurer’s office can invest the money to try and grow the fund until it’s ready to be spent. The Treasurer Investment Advisory Board reviews policies and performance of funds, and private firms that contract with the state help oversee investments with the treasurer. Jones said the state’s portfolios have been underperforming. He highlighted recent reports from the investment advisory board showing state funds, such as the IDLE fund, producing total returns less than a comparable index fund.
An index fund tracks performance of a certain index – or group of investments that often have something in common – and tries to mimic it through buying a representative sample of stocks and bonds in that index. The state’s IDLE fund is used to balance cash flow and is used to ensure there is adequate money for state appropriation. Money that isn’t being spent right away can be invested “at the best rate possible at the safest level of risk,” according to the treasurer’s website. That fund has returned .34% less than a comparable index fund since its inception, according to an Aug. 13 Treasurer’s Investment Advisory Board presentation. Jones argued the professionally managed funds should always outperform the index.
