COLUMBUS — For the Republican candidate for Ohio treasurer, the job is pretty easy to explain.

“The job of the treasurer’s office is to invest, to protect, and to issue debt...,” state Rep. Robert Sprague (R., Findlay) said. “It’s different than being in the legislature...In the legislature, you’re making public policy about a broad spectrum of things, from educational funding to drug policy and criminal justice policy.

“But as treasurer, you have a much different role,” he said. “You are to be a steward of the tax dollars of the people of the state of Ohio. You have a fiduciary responsibility to that.”

So he takes issue with proposals from his Democratic opponent, Cincinnati attorney Rob Richardson, to use the office to influence the behavior of those in which the state and its pension funds invest.

“He’s saying that he’s going to use his office to pressure pension systems to divest of certain companies that he doesn’t agree with,” Mr. Sprague said. “I think that’s a mistake.”

The state legislature, however, has stepped in in the past to influence investment decisions, for example, when it came to companies doing business in Iraq and Afghanistan at a time when the nation was at war in both.

“They’re policymakers,” Mr. Sprague said. “That is the purview of the legislature...If my opponent wants to run for the legislature and make those policies, I suggest he do that. But the fiduciary role of the treasurer is different.”

Mr. Sprague, 45, has been in the Ohio House since 2011 and was previously Findlay city auditor and treasurer.

He has focused to a large extent over the last few years on the opioid addiction crisis, playing a role in passage of legislation cracking down on so-called pill mills, increasing access to the anti-overdose drug naloxone, enacting a Good Samaritan law to encourage people to report someone else’s overdose without fear of being prosecuted, and increasing funding for drug courts and addiction recovery housing.

While he sees a move to the treasurer’s office as returning to his fiscal roots after having run a financial consulting business in Atlanta, he would not leave the opioid issue entirely behind. He has proposed expanding the use of existing social impact bonds, already approved by the General Assembly to seek ways of improving Ohio’s dismal infant mortality statistics.

He would also use this treasurer’s program to reward innovation in dealing with the opioid crisis, such as finding more effective treatment models.

“Up until now we’ve funded everything with grant programs, and we don’t measure the results after the grant program runs...,” Mr. Sprague said. “This is entirely different. Instead, you’re paying for it on the back end, and you’re only paying for the things that work and produce results.”

Under his proposal, an entity, for example, could pitch a treatment model, back it up financially by posting a bond, and run a pilot program. If an outside audit determines it met its goals, the state would buy back the original bond, plus provide a bonus for the investing entity. The state would also presumably adopt the new, more effective method.

He said a similar approach could be used to encourage innovation in addressing the phosphorous runoff that has fueled toxic algal growth on Lake Erie.

Although it has little to do with the role of treasurer, Mr. Sprague criticized Mr. Richardson’s support of Issue 1, also on the Nov. 6 ballot. The proposed constitutional amendment would convert low-level, non-violent drug felonies to misdemeanors and require much of the financial savings from not sending these people to prison to be spent on treatment instead.

“My opponent’s solution to (the opoioid crisis) is to support Issue 1, which allows traffickers to carry up to 20 grams of fentanyl..., and receive the equivalent of a minor misdemeanor for that,” Mr Sprague said. “There is no reason, medically or any other reason, for anybody to carry around 19 grams of fentanyl...The only reason that you would have 19 grams of fentanyl would be to sell it.”

He said his opponent has made the ballot question an issue in this race.

“I’ve worked too long on this issue,” Mr. Sprague said. “I understand it too well to let this pass.”

He argues that his experience better prepares him for this office, one that has experienced corruption scandals in the past under both Republican and Democratic treasurers.

“It’s not about whether you have an R or a D behind your name, honestly,” Mr. Sprague said. “It’s about the character and ability of that particular person. I would bring to the table my background with Ernst & Young and with the city of Findlay. I used to implement accounting systems for a living. I ran a consulting firm in Atlanta that did this.”

Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.

First Published October 14, 2018, 12:30 p.m.