Most folks don't give a passing thought to who their State Treasurer is, let alone what duties the office entails. Including me. This past Wednesday evening, the folks of Northwest Indiana had an opportunity to amend that lack.
A town hall event was hosted by the Democratic Alliance of Northwest Indiana (DANI), featuring Pete Buttigieg, Democratic Candidate for State Treasurer. Pete brings a lot to the table, including enthusiasm and a very impressive resume. I invite you over the fold to learn more about this remarkable young man and his vision for the citizens not only of Indiana, but the nation.
Don Briggs, DANI Co-Chair and fellow Kossack, had heard Pete speak at a function a little while back. He was so impressed that he urged the executive board to invite Pete to a town hall event. We are so glad he did! Despite being in competition with the State of the Union Address and very slippery roads, Pete arrived to a roomful of a nearly empty room with lots of cookies and hot coffee. (Ah, well, the best laid plans....) In retrospect, I'm grateful it turned out like it did, because it gave us a chance to sit down and have a real face-to-face conversation.
Let's start where Pete did. How do you pronounce his last name? He recommends thinking: Buddha judge. (Speaking from experience, I can guarantee you will have trouble getting it out of your head.)
Now that that's out of the way, on to the substance and Pete's background. He is a native Hoosier, growing up in South Bend. After attending St. Joseph's High School he was off to Harvard,
...where he graduated magna cum laude in history and literature. After graduation, he was named a Rhodes Scholar and attended Oxford University, where he studied economics.
Pete is a co-founder of the Democratic Renaissance Project and a Fellow at the Truman National Security Project. He has also worked on Capitol Hill, at NBC in Chicago, and in congressional, gubernatorial, and presidential campaigns. He is a past winner of the John F. Kennedy Library’s "Profiles in Courage" national essay contest, has served as president of Harvard’s Institute of Politics, on the board of the College Democrats and also as an editor at the prestigious Oxford International Review. Pete’s work has appeared on NPR, local television and radio, the International Herald Tribune, the Boston Globe, and the New York Times.
Meet Pete
Pete is being modest here. He gave us a few more details on a couple of those items. After his presentation at the Kennedy "Profiles in Courage" event, he said he heard a booming voice call out to him. It seems Teddy Kennedy was so impressed, he asked Pete to contact his staff about coming to work for him. Oh, and that Presidential campaign... well, Pete had a choice to make. He was offered positions on a Senate campaign staff and a Presidential one. He was most apologetic when he had to call Mr. Obama to let him know he had decided to work on Sen. Kerry's campaign.
He has also had hands on experience working in some of the most difficult countries to help expand and strengthen their local and international economies. This has allowed him to have a more 'big picture' perspective and, thus, a more comprehensive plan to correct areas of weakness. With these experiences under his belt and even though the US has taken a beating as a result of the disastrous Republican policies of the last decades, Pete sees plenty of room for improvement here in his home state. A November 2009 article from A Loyal Opposition covers this nicely:
It is more than apparent that Pete Buttigeig [snip] is a guy who could do all sorts of very interesting and lucrative things. It begs the question why? Why would he run for state treasurer?
The answer is apparent in the energy of his voice during the conversation. He is excited about what he could do for citizens as a state treasurer. He’s excited about it most because he knows there are interesting creative approaches out there that can better the state and he can’t wait to bring them to bear.
"A more proactive state treasurer can do things from bolstering financial inclusion and raising financial literacy rates so fewer citizens are reliant on pay-day loans and other predatory lenders, to ensuring through standards what types of banks the state will do business with so banks treat their customers right."
[bold mine, italics preserved from original]
It was Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels' and Treasurer Richard Mourdock's (both Republicans) horrible handling of the sale an upstate toll road that first set Pete on his path to candidacy. Seeing that massive amounts of funds were being lost and mis-managed, prompted him to pursue the office. Since then, he has been poring over the State's spending and revenue, looking for ways to improve the everyday life of Hoosiers. As noted above, he plans to restructure the way Indiana does business, with a focus on growing support within communities. He also plans an educational program that will allow residents to take advantage of programs they may not be aware of in an effort to help map the future of a family's economic stability.
As if this wasn't enough to garner your support for Pete, let me emphasize that he also is a tremendous advocate for local participation in all levels of government. He repeatedly urged us to not only educate ourselves on the issues, but to sign up as delegates to the State Convention. He encouraged us to enter the process and be a voice in setting the course for the coming years. It is through this type of bottom up sense of community, that he sees as our mechanism to reverse the damage that so many have endured and to forestall it from happening again.
In my book, all this adds up to a Better Democrat. So, with all this and more in mind, I highly recommend Pete Buttigieg for Indiana State Treasurer and I urge you to do the same!
[In the interest of full disclosure, the diarist is the other DANI Co-Chair.]