Sitting down with Richard Cordray...

Even on what might be one of the hottest days in Toledo, Richard Cordray was friendly, great to talk to and would definitely earn the title "cool". He was knowledgeable and while I'm sure some of the questions I asked were ones he has answered before, he was not scripted in his response.

Rather than ask him biographical based questions, since his website contains all of that information and I assumed some of his legal background/influences was going to be a part of his interview on Nookular Option. I went straight to my questions.

There has been some media attention paid to the fact that Ted Strickland was given the endorsement of the Ohio Fraternal Order Of Police, (FOP) but what might not be as well known is that Richard Cordray was also selected to receive this endorsement. I asked Rich if he felt that both he and Ted Strickland receiving these endorsements was a sign that Ohio was ready for a change. He responded "Yes", then stated while he was a little disappointed that he and Ted Strickland were the only two Democrats who received this endorsement that he was very pleased to have been selected. It was stated that he felt this was a very important endorsement and explained the relevance of this endorsement to the State Treasurer's Office; "Treasurer is about protecting the money and certainly the police have a special resonance with most of the public on protecting anything, including money and certainly financial crimes so I would say that the police and firefighters are probably the endorsements that carry the most resonance with the public."

The honor of Mr. Cordray being selected County Leader of the Year in 2005 by American City & Government Magazine has been mentioned in previous interviews I read as I did research for this interview. What caught my eye on the Cordray campaign site was this. After congratulation him on his team "Cordray for Treasurer" winning their Second Basketball Championship; I discovered he and his brother both enjoy basketball and they have done this over a decade. Rich played in high school and then while he did not join Magic Johnson in playing at Michigan State; he later played in England while he was attending school there for two years and played basketball in Europe, Egypt and Israel as well during that time period.

We then briefly turned the focus on the differences between himself and his opponent. Rich stated, "I think the key point here that we are starting to talk about is that, I am a Treasurer, I've been a Treasurer for four years. I handle deposits, I invest hundreds of millions of dollars each day and I have a record doing that. My opponent, is not a Treasurer, has never been a Treasurer, has never handled a deposit, never invested a dollar. She has been an Auditor, which is a very different thing". He feels the level of experience that he can bring to State Treasurer is an important point for Ohio voters to consider.

In my research I came across a video that was posted at the Ohio Democratic website back in April, I highly recommend taking the time to visit and watch this video. In it Richard Cordray discusses very thoroughly why he believes so strongly in encouraging personal finance education. It is something he has focused on in Franklin County as Treasurer and would like to bring this to all areas of Ohio. Having both watched the video and spoken in person with him on this topic, this is something he feels would be a huge benefit to our children and our State. I agree with him...Rich would also like to expand the Women and Money Program that is currently offered by the Treasurer's Office.

Rich does support the current Bid Ohio program and has instituted a similar program in Franklin County. One of the State Treasurer employees that was involved in helping to create the program for Ohio came to work for his Franklin County Office. He then stated, "Frankly, in general the principle of competition for public funds is a good solid principle, and when the banks and other institutions compete the tax payers get the best deal."

Ethics is an important issue, especially here in Lucas County. I had found this Cleveland Plain Dealer article in which Mr. Cordray had stated he felt that candidates should opt for mutual funds as opposed to picking stocks. I mentioned the article and asked him if he would like to elaborate on that topic. He said he thinks candidates are better off if they keep their investments more general that it avoids questions concerning inside information and possible concerns about corruption. It was obvious during the conversation that he does care about how the public perceives these actions and is concerned with building public trust. Or it would probably be more accurate to say "rebuilding" public trust.

Richard Cordray is very optimistic about being elected as Treasurer of the State of Ohio but not over-confident. He plans to continue to campaign hard as well as continue the level of fundraising necessary to have a successful television ad campaign. While he was pleased with the latest poll that showed him in the lead, and he felt the Democrats have a very strong ticket there was still work to be done. He does plan on returning to the Toledo/Lucas County again during the course of his campaign. It appears he is knowledgeable about our area and the candidates we have running for office. Rich also knows our current Mayor as well as Former Mayor Jack Ford and has for many years going back before Carty was first Mayor and Jack was a Legislator. I also felt that Rich feels our area is important when it comes to November's election.

We shared some mutual admiration, he for blogging in recognizing the amount of time some of us invest in blogging. Rich also participated in a Meet the Bloggers interview. He stated he felt blogging was a form of patriotic expression and that criticizing the government is not unpatriotic as some in our Federal Government have suggested, since bringing up concerns and discussing them is what at times creates changes that are important. I of course have a great deal of admiration for candidates and elected officials that make themselves accessible to the public. Years ago the chances of a candidate for a State office sitting down and meeting with a Mom of five at a coffee house for a one on one discussion would not often happen. Yet with blogging? It can and does happen and it gives all of us a chance to find out more about candidates than the traditional media can provide.

In closing, the above was what I felt was the key parts of our interview today. I encourage you to visit the links in this post to learn even more information about Richard Cordray. I had a chance to listen to him on the Nookular Option, where there was even a impromptu form of Jeopardy played. I'll add the link to the podcast here when that is available for those of you who didn't get a chance to listen in. I thank Richard Cordray very much, and I hope this was informative to my readers here as well.

:-)

As promised, the link to Nookular Option's podcast of the interview with Rich.