Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Local Newscast
Hear the latest from the WRKF/WWNO Newsroom.

Lawmakers Lining Up for Treasurer's Race

media commons

While we were busy with the special session, three state legislators announced for the Treasurer’s race this fall.

Representative John Schroder, a Republican real estate developer from Covington, says he will follow the pattern set by former state Treasurer John Kennedy.

“I believe the Treasurer has to be somebody that has political courage, that will represent the people and say what needs to be said,” Schroder states.

GOP Senator Neil Riser of Columbia, a funeral home director, is also running.

“I feel like I’m uniquely the most qualified candidate to be in the race: 32 years of business experience, 23 years in banking,” Riser says. “I’ve chaired Revenue and Fiscal Affairs. I’ve been on Bond Commission, which the state Treasurer chairs.”

And then there’s Representative Julie Stokes of Kenner, a certified public accountant who is a Republican, as well.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a CPA in that role,” she says, regarding her reasons for running. “Numbers are absolute, and as a CPA, people of the state have just accurate, objective, non-politicized fiscal information to go from.”

I asked each of them what they might do differently, if elected.

“I haven’t really spent a lot of time thinking about what I would change, because I don’t know if anything needs to change,” Schroder says.

Riser wants to see more outreach from the unclaimed property program.

“That’s the people of Louisiana’s money, and sometimes people don’t realize they have it,” Riser explains. “But to notify them and let them know it’s their money, and I’ll diligently pursue that, and we’ll be getting it back to them.”

Stokes says she would check and double-check the numbers the state is using in its budgeting practices.

“We get these audited financial statements, and then we make all of our decisions based on the budget,” Stokes explains. “I think we need a procedure to reconcile those two sets of books.”

The election for Treasurer is October 14th.