How Nevada's State Treasurer Won't Screw Up

But Illinois's State Treasurer Did

One of the reasons I am running for Nevada State Treasurer is this. I have told this story to groups when I am out campaigning. The linked article does a great job explaining it in depth. Often, you only have a minute or two on the stump to do your spiel.

The Illinois Treasurer destroyed my family’s 529 college savings. As Nevada State Treasurer, I will never let it happen to you. Nevadans deserve a person with financial experience in the office. A pro. Not a neophyte.

Not a talker. Not a "watchdog". Not a career politician. Not someone who always loses a political race when they enter. Not a self-described fighter who has no idea what they are fighting. Not someone who isn't an accredited investor. Not someone who has never been in finance and is just running for an office because they need a job, or it’s a step up politically from where they were before.

They are guaranteed to make mistakes.

I am the only one in the race with professional finance experience and a track record of creating value and great returns on investment everywhere I have been. I can do it for you. I am the only one with an international network of finance professionals that will be ready to serve Nevadans on Day 1.

The next ten years in finance will see unbelievable changes. You have to have been exposed and worked with innovation to understand what works and what is snake oil. I have been on the leading edge of financial innovation my whole career. I didn’t sit in my pajamas and write articles about finance or point out what happened after the fact. That’s easy. Anyone can do that. I participated. I got my hands dirty.

Here is what happened in Illinois. It will never happen in Nevada when I am State Treasurer.

To begin any careful examination of Giannoulias’ past, it is probably helpful to start with a scandal that took place while he served as State Treasurer. During his tenure as Illinois State Treasurer (2007–2011), the state’s Bright Start 529 college savings bond program he administered experienced significant losses within a specific investment fund managed by Oppenheimer Funds Inc. The college program allowed families to invest money for their children's college educations. Among the advantages of the program were tax benefits and lower costs than private investment alternatives. Bright Start also allowed investors to split their money among many investment options.
However, because of risky investments in mortgage-backed securities and other volatile assets during the 2008 financial crisis, investors lost approximately $150 million between January 2008 and January 2009. To address the losses, Giannoulias and then–Attorney General Lisa Madigan negotiated a landmark settlement with Oppenheimer Funds that resulted in Oppenheimer agreeing to pay $77.23 million to Illinois families. The toll on investors, however, was staggering: 65,000 affected account holders were only able to recoup about half (approximately 51–56 percent) of their specific fund losses.
When the scandal became known to the public, Giannoulias was criticized for “sloppy management,” yet his office maintained they acted faster than other states facing similar issues and were among the first to secure a recovery for families. The problem with Giannoulias’ arguments is that the Bright Start program offered investors (parents) a choice of investments depending on their level of risk. The category that ensured parents the lowest level of risk to their investment lost 50+ percent, and why? Because Alexi’s office wanted to beat other states’ rates of return, even in low-risk investments, and invested in mortgage-backed securities as opposed to less risky government bonds or risk-level equivalents.

Go to JeffCarterNV.com, support the campaign. Volunteer. People are agreeing with our message. They are supporting us, and you can too. CEOs, economists, executives, and business owners from all over the US are on board. They know what it means to have a real financial professional in an office like this that most people don’t pay attention to. We have a movement. Join us.