Schneider: For Wisconsin state treasurer, a 'no' vote is the best vote of all

“When it comes to finance,” Wisconsin state treasurer candidate Sarah Godlewski says in her new television ad, “you gotta double-check everything — even the small stuff.”

Godlewski, a Democrat, claims that her work for the U.S. Defense Department during the Iraq War saved taxpayers “tens of millions of dollars,” although she claims she can’t provide any evidence of this because her work was “top secret.”

Yet Godlewski’s unquenchable thirst for cutting government waste is contradicted by her candidacy itself.

In recent years, the Legislature has attempted to throw the state treasurer position out like a smelly old mattress, yet state voters earlier this year opposed eliminating the constitutionally-mandated job. Unable to outright eliminate the position, the Republican-controlled Assembly and Senate have instead stripped it of all its staff and moved virtually all of the state treasurer’s duties to other state departments.

Basically, the state treasurer is a shell position, open only to those craving a government paycheck. If elected, Godlewski would simply be living, breathing, government waste. She would sit by herself in an empty office cooking up press releases criticizing Republicans and be paid by taxpayers to do so. (That is, naturally, if the office still has a computer and printer left for her to use.)

Of course, a lucrative state government paycheck for doing nothing is an attractive proposition, so Godlewski has competition. Among her opponents is Democrat Dawn Marie Sass, a former Boston Store retail clerk who rode the anti-Republican wave in 2006 to actually become the treasurer. She spent only $4,000 on the race in her third try for the office; she was defeated in 2010. (Her website boasts she was “only the third woman in history to ever acheive [sic] that responsibility and honor,” which doesn’t exactly make her Marie Curie.)

Sass says her goal as treasurer if she were to win this year would be to create a “State Bank of Wisconsin to offer low-cost loans and services to citizens.” But given the toothlessness of her office, the only way Sass is going to build a new bank is if she is skilled at masonry.

Sadly, this quest for non-power has adversely affected the personal lives of some candidates. Republican Travis Hartwig of Oak Creek was fired from his job at U.S. Bank after he was warned his candidacy caused a conflict of interest between his employer and the state, with whom U.S. Bank does business.

Unable to resist the siren’s call of a job that pays nearly $70,000 to build giant rubber band balls, Hartwig refused to end his candidacy and was summarily dismissed from his job. He claims he is being “bullied” and has plans to file a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Fair Employment Practices Agency.

Obviously, there’s no problem with people running for public office. The difficulty with this specific race is that the candidates are actively misleading the public about what the position can actually accomplish.

For instance, in her TV ad, Godlewski claims voters saved the office earlier this year to “double-check the Legislature” and to make sure companies like Foxconn “hold up their end of the bargain.”

While Godlewski’s attempt to make herself seem relevant is admirable, the neutered treasurer’s office has absolutely nothing to do with Foxconn or making sure they hold up any part of any bargain. In fact, the public subsidy to Foxconn to create tens of thousands of productive jobs is far less offensive than someone robbing the state to serve the theoretical job of state treasurer.

If she wins her race, the only eye Sarah Godlewski is going to keep on taxpayers’ money is as it flows from their pocket into her bank account. The state constitution dictates the state must have a treasurer, but we should pass a new law mandating the winner in November should have to serve wearing a ski mask.

Christian Schneider is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email christian.schneider@jrn.com. Twitter: @Schneider_CM