Rano Singh, Democratic candidate for state treasurer, has begun her general election media campaign with a 30-second TV ad citing “turmoil” in the Treasurer’s Office.
The ad opens with a newspaper headline about employee problems at the Treasurer’s Office. The narrator says, “Our state treasury is in turmoil, with allegations of fraud and theft.”
The TV spot includes a photo of Ms. Singh with Governor Napolitano, with the governor’s endorsement of her candidacy.
Ms. Singh is unopposed in the Sept. 12 primary, as is her Republican opponent in November, Sen. Dean Martin.
Treasurer David Petersen, who is not running again, is the subject of an attorney general’s investigation into alleged fraud, theft and conflict of interest. Over the past year, as many as a dozen key Treasurer’s Office employees have resigned, about half of them — the most recent one this week — since the AG’s investigation was announced in February.
Mr. Petersen has continued to do most of his work from home.
The Singh ad ends with the message that she will restore honesty, integrity and competency to the Treasurer’s Office.
Ms. Singh, a self-employed consultant for a bio-engineering company, has received $47,700 in Clean Elections funding.
Mr. Martin, who owns a research and marketing business, reported private funding of $75,000, with $70,000 on hand as of Aug. 23. A total of $44,000 comes from a transfer of funds from his previous Senate campaigns.
Mr. Martin said he had not completed his advertising plans and complained about public funding for unopposed primary candidates.
In answers to an Arizona Capitol Times questionnaire, Ms. Singh said she wants to restore trust in the Treasurer’s Office and attract the best talent to manage the state’s money.
Mr. Martin said, “The people should not need a secret decoder ring to figure out what government is doing with their money.”
Meanwhile, the Board of Investment, which oversees the state’s nearly $10 billion in investments, is seeking an outside legal opinion on whether it has any authority in the day-to-day operations at the Treasurer’s Office, and whether the solicitor general’s recent advice was correct that the office was obligated for a $1.9 million payment to the AG’s office for legal work in the recovery of funds after settlement a large fraud case.