The California state Controller wears several hats, but they all result in the same thing. The Controller oversees how California’s money is being spent. The regulation and auditing of the state lottery, school districts and the state payroll system all fall under the jurisdiction of the controller. Being the bookkeeper and accountant for these and other areas such as oil and gas lease royalties and a number of local governments are also the controller’s responsibility. State boards and commissions, including the state tax board, the Board of Equalization (which handles property taxes, sales tax rates, the regulation and management of business licenses, and liquor licensing among other areas) as well as audits for the retirement funds for CalPERS (California Public Employees Retirement System) and CalSTRS (California State Teachers Retirement System) fall under the controller’s jurisdiction.
The two candidates to run for the position are primary front runner, republican Ashley Swearengin, and democrat Betty Yee.
The Texas-born Swearengin attended Cal State University at Fresno, earning a bachelor’s degree and an MBA. She co-founded the Regional Jobs Initiative in 2002 to curb the city’s unemployment, and in 2005 became lead executive for the California Partnership for San Joaquin Valley. Since 2008, she has been mayor of Fresno. In 2012 when Fresno was on the “bankruptcy watch list,” Swearengin reduced 25 percent of the city’s staff and outsourced services. She also developed a number of plans to stabilize the city’s finances as well as a number of budgeting forecasts. In her campaign, she promises a “fiscally conservative, comprehensive approach” to the budget, and to consolidate agencies and simplify the tax code in the hope of attracting new business to California.
California native, Betty Yee, is from San Francisco and attended the University of California at Berkeley. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology, and a master’s degree in public administration before serving as a county public health commissioner. She also worked as a senate fellow with the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services before serving in senior staff positions for a number of policy and fiscal committees. She worked as the chief deputy director for budget with the state Department of Finance and helped develope the governor’s budget. She then went on to become a member of the State Board of Equalization.
Yee is campaigning for transparency of government and was responsible for the audio-visual streaming of the board’s public proceedings. She is promising to crack down on “tax cheaters” who place “a disproportionate burden on honest, hardworking taxpayers.” She is for enacting state tax equity for same-sex couples, expanding open space preservation with tax relief for conservation, and wants to update state tax rules to promote a green economy and its related technologies and products.
For more on the candidates, see their respective web sites. http://www.ashleyforca.com and http://bettyyee.com.
