The two candidates for state treasurer speaking in Greenwood on Wednesday have experience in different types of finance, but both say they have the right kind of experience for the job.
Gary Anderson and Cindy Ayers Elliott, both Democrats, spoke to the Greenwood Voters League.
Rob Smith also is running as a Democrat to replace Marshall Bennett as treasurer. Wayne Burkes, Andrew Ketchings and Tate Reeves are the candidates in the Republican primary, and Lee Dilworth is running as an independent.
Anderson and Elliott spoke in a debate format, alternating in the presentation of opening remarks, main remarks and closings, within specified time limits.
Anderson said he learned about hard work growing up on a family farm in Byhalia. He began working for the state in 1981 under former Gov. William Winter and has served in leadership positions in each administration since.
He has served as director of the Department of Community Development and deputy director of the Department of Economic and Community Development.
Most recently, he was the state's chief fiscal officer and head of the Department of Finance and Administration, managing a $10 billion budget and making sure books were balanced annually. Even when the agency had to cut its budget by 17 percent, it still expanded its services, he said.
The state has never had a treasurer with that kind of experience, Anderson said.
"That's a big budget, and we have managed this budget during a time of national recession," he said.
He said he also has experience in the private sector, including starting and running a mortgage company and serving as a senior vice president at Union Planters. His community activities include work with the NAACP, MACE and other organizations.
Elliott, who grew up in Ashland, also was raised on a farm. She worked as a bank teller - "the first little colored girl put in that bank" - and eventually founded and led the Bank of Mississippi, the state's only black-owned financial institution. She also served as senior vice president for a Wall Street investment banking firm.
Elliott said her experience outweighs Anderson's. He may have participated in meetings with Bennett, but she served as Bennett's administrator for six years and knows the office well already, she said.
She came into office with Bennett in 1988 after helping him get elected, and the two of them worked to clean up the office, she said. "I even know what the vault was cleaned with, because guess what? I had to clean the vault," she said.
Anderson worked with Bennett and others to advise the Legislature on budgeting. He said this was difficult in a slow economy, and he ran into some disputes about revenue forecasts because he felt the forecasts were overly optimistic. So when the revenues came in less than projected, he had to cut the budget with great precision, he said.
In 2001, based on Anderson's fiscal predictions, Gov. Ronnie Musgrove vetoed 42 appropriations bills. "I was one of the ones saying, 'Governor, we need to veto these bills because the money is not there,'" he said.
When the Legislature overrode the vetoes, he began working with the agencies to prepare for cuts, he said.
He also implemented the strategy of allocating 45 percent of money to agencies in the first half of the year and 55 in the second half, rather than 50 percent each time. That way, he said, if revenues didn't come in as predicted, the agencies had already absorbed a 5 percent cut.
"I'm the only candidate in this race who can say they have handled this type of money," he said.
Each year during his tenure, the state has been recognized nationally for its financial management and reporting, he said.
Anderson also has advised the governor and legislators on all bond activities, and he and his staff were responsible for selling bonds for the Nissan project, university projects and other efforts.
Anderson said he has had to stand alone on tough decisions, cut the budget when needed and come up with creative solutions to problems. He worked alongside Bennett to carry out the responsibilities required by the law, and "when it came right down to the fiscal matters of the state, the buck did stop with me," he said.
Elliott said she knows bonds well, too; in fact, her investment firm was one of those brought in to sell them for the state, and she said she was proud to help the state save money.
She was named one of the state's top business women in 2002 by the Mississippi Business Journal. She also has served for five years on the board of the Delta Foundation and was treasurer for the Mississippi Head Start Association for six years.
"Do I know budgeting? Do I know finance? Do I know what it takes to pull people together to make something happen? I do," she said.
Anderson said he would continue his conservative financial approach as treasurer.
Small towns still are losing factories, and new manufacturing jobs aren't being created, he said. He vowed to help the Mississippi Development Authority with a game plan for recruiting industry, including a workable plan for the Delta.
Elliott said the state does have some budgetary problems to address. She stressed her experience in forecasting but also said she accepts the input of others. Better presentation of information to legislators might help convince them of the best path to take, she said.
Mississippi's budget may have been balanced, but this was done with special funds and rainy-day funds, she said.
She said she also has used her expertise outside Mississippi, having spoken to leaders in Africa and Cuba about fighting AIDS and advised companies doing business all over the world.
Both candidates said they planned to help the state's banks build their capacity for managing money, so their communities can grow. Elliott stressed the need to improve small businesses' access to money, because those communities have less chance of luring a large employer like Nissan.
Lester Spell, the commissioner of agriculture, who is unopposed in the Democratic primary, also spoke briefly.
He reminded his listeners that his agency touches the lives of many people besides farmers. It tests gasoline pumps for octane ratings, calibrates scales at grocery stores and checks to ensure that bar codes record the correct prices for groceries. "We affect everyone's life every day," he said.
Spell also said the department is doing more work than it used to, even with fewer people, through computer upgrades and other improvements.
