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Show me the money: Four Democrats vie for nomination for treasurer

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: July 28, 2008 -  The race for the Democratic nomination for treasurer has been a gentleman's (and lady's) agreement. The three men and one woman seeking the nomination have refrained from finding fault with each other, but that hasn't stopped one of them from stinging attacks on the policies of Gov. Matt Blunt and other Republicans.

"I'm running to fix the things that Matt Blunt's broken," says state Rep. Clint Zweifel , D-Florissant, in his latest 30-second ad.

Republicans have responded by putting Zweifel in their crosshairs. They ripped his ad, saying he wanted to lead Missouri back to fiscal irresponsibility, back to budget deficits and high Medicaid costs, that they say Blunt inherited and fixed, without raising taxes. The primary winner would face Rep. Brad Lager , R-Savannah, in the general election.

"Like Jay Nixon, Clint Zweifel does not want to fix anything," says Tina Hervey, the GOP communications director. "He wants to break state government by returning to the failed policies of the past."

Zweifel, of course, doesn't see things that way. He says the GOP is still mad at him for standing up to the governor and Republicans when they cut Medicaid and "raided" MOHELA, the state student loan agency. Zweifel added Sarah Steelman to his list for not talking about the consequences of the governor's decision to sell MOHELA's assets and for failing to speak out about the end result of removing tens of thousands of recipients from the Medicaid program.

"If the test of performance is leadership of the state treasurer, Sarah Steelman failed when she didn't stand up for Missourians and make a case for investments in health care," he says.

Zweifel, 34, has been on a steady rise since winning his House seat by 67 votes (out of 13,000 votes cast) in 2002, the year that Republicans won control of the House. Two years later, he won with 70 percent of the vote and ran unopposed in 2006, when he chaired the Missouri House Democratic Campaign.

"If we want to change the state and make it better and move forward, we have to win elections," he says. "I'm the only candidate who actually has defeated a Republican incumbent."

He has also raised the most money, more than $300,000, and has the endorsement of Pro-Vote, a coalition of labor unions and community groups. He formerly was research and education director for Teamsters Local 688. U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay has endorsed him.

His closest fundraising opponent is Andria D. Simckes , 37, who has collected over $100,000. She points to her managerial skills in government as good qualifications for a treasurer. She was an economic development aide to the late Gov. Mel Carnahan and has headed St. Louis' Regional Empowerment Zone. If elected, Simckes would be the first African American to hold a statewide office.

Zweifel and Simckes stand out for wanting to expand the treasurer's duties. College and housing affordability would be among the issues Zweifel would tackle as treasurer. Simckes would use the office's resources and clout to help spur economic development, help hospitals better serve their communities, and promote financial literacy to help Missourians make good decisions about borrowing and saving money, and making investments.

Another candidate is Dr. Charles Wheeler, 81, a pathologist and two-term mayor of Kansas City. Although he has lots of experience in government, he hasn't been an active campaigner and has raised only $8,000.

The fourth candidate is Arnold Mayor Mark Powell, 57, who lost to Steelman during the race for treasurer four years ago. He has raised over $42,000, but he hasn't campaigned much this time either. Unlike Zweifel and Simckes, Powell prefers to focus on the traditional duties of the treasurer "to balance the checkbook, pay the bills, and invest the taxpayer's money."

He has an accounting background and says there's one more reason he would make a good treasurer. The August issue of Money Magazine says Arnold is among America's 25 Best Affordable Cities.