Sarah Godlewski
The Wisconsin State Treasurer’s office was designed as the fiscal watchdog to monitor and sustain our state’s financial wellbeing. The office works as a check and balance on the rest of state government, much like a company’s chief financial officer. If a private business tried to get rid of its CFO, as the Republicans tried and failed to do, investors would not go near that company as it’s a major warning sign of fraud and abuse. Last spring, when the question of whether Wisconsin should get rid of the office was on the ballot, 62% of Wisconsin voters said no, we want a fiscal watchdog.
Sarah Godlewski, 36, worked hard to save the office, even getting invited to attend a national nonpartisan gathering of state treasurers because no one would come from Wisconsin. Convinced of the good the office can do, she decided to run for treasurer. “It’s an independently elected officer that is empowered by the people to do the right thing,” says Godlewski. “For eight years now, the office has been run by people who don’t want it to exist. It’s like having the fox watching the hen house.”
Godlewski, an Eau Claire native, is well prepared for this job. She owns an investment business focused on socially responsible investing, worked for the U.S. Department of Defense as a watchdog that saved taxpayers millions of dollars and co-chairs UNICEF USA’s Advocacy Leadership Group. She’s thoughtfully researched all the ways a state treasurer can make lives easier for Wisconsinites and help the fiscal health of our state. For example, Godlewski sees the many small banks that shut down over the past three decades as harmful to entrepreneurs, farmers and small businesspeople in both rural and urban areas who used to know their lenders personally.
In Rhode Island, the state treasurer partnered with credit unions to revive local lending. In Massachusetts, the treasurer does equal pay work that actually shrunk the gap. The office also teaches citizens economic empowerment, offering classes and tools to raise financial literacy and getting people through the financial side of such life changes as job loss, divorce, losing a partner and college graduation. In Illinois, the state treasurer cancelled transactions with Wells Fargo over its financial improprieties. Godlewski would also like to see the office working in partnership with the private sector to refinance their student loan debt at significantly lower rates. She cites this idea as a potential tool to stop Wisconsin’s brain drain of recent graduates.
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When Gov. Walker and Republicans moved to get rid of the state treasurer, Godlewski correctly labeled it a power grab. The office should have been able to help identify financial mistakes the state made on everything from rejecting the Medicaid expansion monies to the risky Foxconn payout. “When 62% of the public voted to save this office, I saw what it could do and decided to step up and run for it,” she says. “These are tasks I’ve been doing my whole career—from looking to save taxpayers money at the Department of Defense to starting a socially responsible investing firm. I’m sick of Wisconsin not being a leader, and if your state isn’t financially healthy, your state isn’t healthy.”
Godlewski’s opponent voted to eliminate the office and is focused on issues such as abortion that have no bearing on the state treasurer’s job. In contrast, she’s attracted such Republican support as former State Treasurer Jack Voight and political veteran Bill Kraus, who was campaign manager for former Republican governor Lee Dreyfus. Godlewski will make a wise financial watchdog and creatively empower the office of state treasurer to serve financial needs and address the financial issues of the citizens of Wisconsin. That’s why we strongly endorse Sarah Godlewski for state treasurer of Wisconsin.
Read the rest of our endorsements for the 2018 midterm election here.
