Pocketbook Politics: GOP State Treasurer Candidates Debate  

With runoff election day less than a week away, the two Republicans vying to become state treasurer faced off in a debate Tuesday evening at Rose State College.

Candidates Todd Russ and Clark Jolley were asked about college savings, inflation, retirement savings and more in the debate hosted by News 9 and NonDoc.com.

The two also sparred over their records. Both Russ and Jolley termed out of the state legislature after 12 years.

Before his public service, Russ served as the president and CEO of a local bank. After his legislative career, Jolley most recently served as chairman of the state tax commission.

The duo also discussed how to draw down the state’s unclaimed property fund. They agreed Oklahomans should have better access to claim their property, but they disagreed on when it’s fair for the state to step in to take control of it.

“The unclaimed property fund gets rated for the budget for the state of Oklahoma,” Russ said. “I do have a little bit of a problem with us going in and doing that.”

Russ claimed during Jolley’s time as Senate Budget and Appropriations Chairman, Jolley tapped into the accounts to help shore up rocky state finances, something Jolley said he was well within his rights to do.

“The treasurer is supposed to every year set forth an amount of money that they believe will never be collected from the unclaimed property fund and that amount of money is than usable in the state budget process,” Jolley said.

The runoff election is Aug. 23. The winner of this race will take on Democrat Charles De Coune in the November general election.

You can watch the full debate here.