COLORADO State Treasurer Cary Kennedys stepfather, Dick Jackson, is proud of her (no doubt, mother Joyce Portnoy is, too). Jackson gave her the sign that graces her desk in the State Capitol: The buck starts here.
Indeed, a lot of bucks.
About six billion bucks.
Your tax money and mine.
I had always thought that a states fiscal condition rested solely on how much revenue it took in, as over against its expenses. California is a failing state because it spends too much. So I thought.
Its more complicated. What happens to the money that comes in? How is it managed? In high potential, risky investments? The state might get rich; then again, it might take a nosedive.
A state treasurer makes a big difference. Cary Kennedy, Colorados treasurer, says her investment philosophy is prudent, conservative, safe, restrained.
Not only is Colorado not losing whatever revenue it brings in, its actually making a small percentage unlike many states, which took a big hit in the stock market decline, says Kennedy.
Just in case you dont take Kennedys word for it, you dont have to. Under her administration, shes put Colorados entire record of investments and transactions online. Its all there every single investment and payment for whomever wants to look.
Oh yes, this too: Kennedys treasurers office balances the states books every single day.
Transparency is her favorite political byword.
Unless its accountability.But dont expect her to talk about this up front. Life is so much more enriching than six billion bucks.
CARY Kennedy lives in Denvers Crestmoor neighborhood in a house bought jointly through the sale of her and her husbands home, and her mother-in-laws home. When the kids were born, the Kennedys bought a crib, and Grandma bought a crib. The Kennedys got a car seat, and Grandma got a car seat. What a drag. So they consolidated, sold their homes and bought a big one.
Grandma moved in.
Shes been in the house 11 years. Thats been great, says Kennedy. She couldnt do politics and her husband couldnt do medicine without the stability that Grandma provides.
Talk about meeting places, its more than Grandma and the kids when it comes to Cary Kennedys life. Where did she meet her husband, Dr. Saurabh Mangalik? Right in the State Capitol, where she now offices. Both were student interns under Gov. Roy Romer, way back when.
Not to mention, Kennedy and Mangalik both went to Manual High School, but it took politics to bring them together.
Dr. Mangalik came to Denver from India when he was 10. He and wife and children travel to India with some regularity to see the relatives. He can understand Hindi, while Grandma still speaks it.
Bottom line: To keep the bottom line of the state straight, Cary Kennedy has Grandma and husband to thank for helping keep the family straight.
OK, now that the family is taken care of, Kennedy shares:
Because Colorados bottom line is in the black, our state, unlike California, has access to credit markets.
The state writes one million checks (warrants) annually to everything from schools to drinking water inspections to highway construction projects. Theyre all online.
Colorado has set a standard for transparency on how stimulus money has been spent here.
We do a lot of IT work to make all of this transparent, and its all done with a 16-person staff.
Not to mention, with some neat safes. The Capitols original safe is still in use it holds a coffee machine and refrigerator. Then theres the new safe. Its door weighs seven tons, duly mechanized with a gazillion wheels and gears and timing devices. This safe holds cash, bonds, records and checks not yet sent out.
Blind and bipartisan are two more of Kennedys favorite political words. In rewarding contracts, she does not know the name of the companies shes asked to choose between. Her staff, which she says is bipartisan, presents its research to her blind.
In 2007, she did not foresee the magnitude of the coming financial meltdown, but she did take steps to reduce risks. Wall Street created a lot of products that they marketed to governments as not being risky. You really have to be able to assess risk.
AND then, my favorite little (actually, its big) state trivia question: What is the state land board?
In 1876, when Colorado became a state, the federal government said: You must provide for universal public education, and pay for it, as a condition of statehood.
Eastern states relied on property taxes to pay for public education. Western states took a different tack, telling the federal government: You cant reserve a lot of land for yourself, thus denying Colorado the tax revenues from that land, and still expect us to finance universal public education.
And so, Colorado got whole swaths of land, held in perpetuity to pay for education. Specifically, Colorado took five million acres of surface land and four million acres of subsurface land, i.e., mineral rights, and leases these lands. All the revenue goes to public education.
Among the recipients: Very small communities with little old schoolhouses, actually, 100 years old, with crumbling foundations, no central heating, no plumbing except on the main story, no access to people with disabilities. One kid fell through the floorboards, recounts Kennedy.
These buildings pose a risk to health and the communities are too small to replace them. In comes the state land board to help finance, among other things, new schools in small communities.
The state funds I didnt know about total 400 funds! (Example, the hunting and fishing license fund). The state treasurer manages all 400.
KENNEDY is running for reelection this fall. Shes a Democrat and faces no primary opponent. Three people are vying for the Republican nomination.
Kennedy says shes not thinking about higher elective office just now, only about getting reelected.
But keep in mind: The two governors before Bill Ritter Bill Owens and Roy Romer were each state treasurer before being elected governor.
In an era when people are paying attention to government spending and management more closely than ever before, Cary Kennedy seems to relish the attention and enjoy the job . . . when, that is, shes away from home, where the two kids, Grandma and the good doctor . . . well, its not even close.
