and I'm running to be your state treasurer.
Little bit about myself, I'm a practicing attorney
who lives in Cottage Grove with my family.
Before that, I grew up in Racine.
I also worked in the State Capitol for a number of years
for a senator and a representative.
I also served on several boards at the county and local level.
Now, one of the questions I get asked
when I talk to people around the state is
"What does the state treasurer actually do?"
That's a good question
because the duties of the treasurer
have changed a lot in the past couple decades.
Right now, the most important job of the state treasurer
is to be on what's called
the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.
That's a board that manages a $1.4 billion trust fund,
that's billion with a B, and 77,000 acres of state land,
mostly managed forest land.
Now, the proceeds of those two investments generate income,
and that income is distributed around the state
as school aid to libraries,
mostly for technology improvements.
Last year, this totaled $40 million,
which is not a huge amount
compared to the size of school budgets around the state,
but it is a substantial amount,
and every dollar that's distributed in state aid
is one less dollar that has to be put
on your property tax bill.
So in a very real sense, the larger we can grow this fund,
the less your property taxes will be.
And that's really what I wanna make sure the treasurer does
in these next four years.
I wanna make sure we invest that trust fund properly
to maximize the income,
and I wanna make sure we manage that forest land
to increase the value of the land and the income we get
because again, the treasurer should be focused
on the duties of the office.
And that's really the different vision I have
for this office.
I wanna make sure we focus just on the treasurer's duties
and not on duties that have been moved away over the years.
And that means we need to look at
what the treasurer does now.
Now, the treasurer's staff is actually only one person
right now, the state treasurer.
That means the person who is the treasurer
needs to do all the aspects of the job.
So we need a treasurer who is responsible, reliable,
and ready to start the job on day one.
Now, with my experience as an attorney,
I understand the role of the treasurer
in the law as it currently exists.
And as my experience in the State Capitol
working for a senator and a representative,
I understand how to work with the legislature
and work with the governor's office to get things done.
And as my role, as my work being as a board member before,
I understand the proper way
to interact with other board members,
how to get things done, and to work as a team.
So when it comes to this Election Day on November 8,
I hope I can count on your support.
Thank you again, and my name is John Leiber.