Candidate talks state employees' benefits
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 1, 2016 1:46 PM
Dan Blue III
Democratic state treasurer candidate Dan Blue III of Raleigh often finds himself not only explaining what the duties of the office are, but reminding voters as well not to forget all of the down-ballot races such as his.
Blue was in Goldsboro Tuesday to speak to Wayne County Democrats.
He has been endorsed by Democrat Janet Cowell, who has served as treasurer since 2009 and who is not seeking re-election. He is facing Republican Dale Folwell of Winston-Salem in the Nov. 8 election.
"Most people don't really understand what the state treasurer's office does," Blue said. "There are three areas that I like to highlight. The first is the state pension which is over $90 billion of invested capital that is protecting, and securing and funding the benefits for retirees -- state employees, teachers. The second is the state health plan which covers over 700,000 lives of those same workers and their dependents.
"Then the third, one of the least understood aspects is the Local Government Commission which is housed inside the treasurer's office which is responsible for helping all of our communities access the capital markets."
"I want people to vote for me because I understand each of those three areas," Blue said. "With my private sector experience, I am converse in the language, but I am able to turn management of each of those functions into a long-term view, a long-term perspective of where North Carolina needs to go."
That perspective is that the state needs to invest in its communities in order for it to grow over the next 50 years, Blue said. Blue said there are three areas he would focus on as treasurer.
"When you talk about the retirement system, you are dealing with a system that is trying to survive in a very dicey financial market in terms of being relatively flat," he said. "A lot of the investments we are making to keep things stable and to reduce the risk to the portfolio have almost negated many of our returns. Our returns are fairly low.
"They need to be higher to sustain the system we have in place. That is an issue that is going to come up again and again."
Unlike the pension plan, the state health plan is underfunded, he said.
The health plan "bounced around" different departments before ending back up at the treasurer's office in 2011, Blue said.
"There are going to be some growing pains there as well," he said "The entire health care market is in a state of flux, and we have got to figure how out to protect the benefits that we offer there while making sure that we rein in cost.