Agricultural News
Candidate Clark Jolley says State Treasurer is the Role of a Lifetime
Thu, 04 Aug 2022 11:39:21 CDT
Farm Director, KC Sheperd, visited with State Treasurer Candidate, Clark Jolley, about his plan to improve services for Oklahomans and stand by farmers and ranchers if elected as State Treasurer of Oklahoma.
“When you look at the treasurer’s office, obviously most of the investment portfolio is dictated by statute to be in very secure investments,” Jolley said. “About 93 percent of the portfolio of the treasurer’s actual investment that they directly control is going to be in U.S. treasuries and U.S. mortgage-backed securities and agencies and those types of things that have bonds.”
The other 7 percent, Jolley said, is seen being invested in local banks and that can provide a tremendous benefit not just to the taxpayers of Oklahoma by getting a return on their money but also provides a huge benefit to those banks locally.
“Obviously, we have seen over the last several years, the last decade-plus, an effort from Washington to really starve out our hometown banks- our little community banks that know our citizens, that know their fellow folks in town,” Jolley said. “They have done everything they can to starve them out of existence and we don’t see as many of the small banks today as we used to because of them getting gobbled up by big city banks.”
Jolley said he thinks growth in rural banking is possible, but first, we have to see a reversal of people moving out of rural areas into cities.
“We are seeing more and more departure from rural America because it is hard to do business when you have a federal government that is opposed to everything you are trying to do,” Jolley said. “Thankfully we have had some good farm bills lately and I know they are working it now, but you still have the Securities and Exchange Commission. Right now, it is trying to add another burden on the family farmer to compete with global firms that are in the agricultural industry to chart their supply chain management and all the climate-related information.”
Adding burdens to the family farm or ranch, Jolley said, makes it more difficult for them to survive and more likely for them to get out of the business and sell to a larger corporate operation and move to where the grandkids are. If we could see some encouragement of the family farm or ranch, Jolley added that we might see a resurgence in rural banking.
“The atmosphere is tough right now mainly because of the regulations you see coming out of Washington,” Jolley said. “For decades, we didn’t have any new banks created in Oklahoma. We have got to reverse that trend. I don’t know that the state treasurer can really do anything to change that environment for them other than to join with other state treasures across the country in battling against the kind of anti-fossil fuels, and anti-agriculture mindset that we see coming out of Washington that goes into our financial investment firms.”
Jolley said he believes the Oklahoma State Treasurer is the role of a lifetime.
“It is a vital position that oversees billions of dollars of investment of Oklahoma taxpayer funds,” Jolley said. “To me, the treasurer’s office is a fantastic opportunity to serve Oklahoma using the public treasury background that I have. I have a really good preparedness to be able to step into the role of state treasurer on day one because that’s what I have spent the last decade of my life really working in public treasury management. It is a great opportunity to serve Oklahoma.”
Jolley said for starters, he would like to improve in Oklahoma is the 529 college savings plan and the unclaimed property program.
“There is only one state in the nation that has fewer people investing in a college savings plan for their kids, their grandkids, their nieces and nephews and that state is Hawaii,” Jolley said. “In an environment where we see liberals in Washington D.C. wanting to cancel and forgive all of the student loan debt, this is the responsible way of handling the student debt crisis is to save our own money and not rely on the government to bail us out.”
Oklahoma needs to dramatically improve the number of participants in the 529 program, Jolley said, so we can track better investment options and get kids the education they need at career tech, or at college or a university to be able to stay in Oklahoma and thrive and succeed.”
To learn more about Clark Jolley and his ten-point plan for Oklahoma’s Fiscal Future, click here.
Click the LISTEN BAR below to hear KC’s full conversation with Clark Jolley talking about his passion for agriculture and plan to stand by farmers and ranches is elected as state treasurer.
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