COLUMBUS — For years as a junior high school American history teacher, Scott Schertzer taught eighth-graders about how government works.

Today as a Democratic candidate for Ohio treasurer, the state's top banker and broker, he is living what he taught.

“We talked about checks and balances,” the 14-year mayor of Marion said. “When one party rules all three branches, there's a deterioration of the checks and balances system, and there's where we need to interject now a different political party.”

Mr. Schertzer, Marion’s 56-year-old mayor, is challenging Republican incumbent Treasurer Robert Sprague, 49, of Findlay.

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“I call it the least political of all of the state offices...,” Mr. Schertzer said. “That's really how Mary Ellen [Withrow] ran her office. We have seen the politicization of the treasurer's office over the past two decades. We've seen scandals come out of that office, and that's been very unfortunate.”

A young Schertzer honed his early political skills driving for a young Sherrod Brown when he was Ohio secretary of state.

He did the same on the campaign trail for Ms. Withrow and worked in the treasurer's office with her before she was named U.S. treasurer in 1994 by President Bill Clinton. And he volunteered for the late U.S. Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio).

“Mary Ellen, John Glenn, and Sherrod all taught me something,” Mr. Schertzer said. “Those were three giants in Ohio in the '90s, and Sherrod still is. Just being exposed to them, I really learned what honor, integrity, and character really mean when you're elected officials.

“...It was those qualities that I carried with me back home when I ultimately ran for city council and then became mayor,” he said.

This isn't his first flirtation with statewide office. As he puts it, he was Connie Pillich's 2018 running mate “for a hot second” before that Democratic gubernatorial candidate bowed out and threw her support to Richard Cordray, who went on to lose to Republican Mike DeWine.

“I didn't have a problem supporting Rich and Betty [Sutton], but I just got here,” he said of the 2018 Democratic ticket for Ohio governor.

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Mr. Schertzer said he sees his campaign for treasurer as a means to pick up where Ms. Withrow left off in the early 1990s.

“Because of the programs that exist in that office, the treasurer, the CEO of that office, should be out promoting them like I saw Mary Ellen Withrow do,” he said. “When I would drive her to a county, she would get out and she would talk about programs that she created — the Linked Deposit program for small businesses, Ag Link deposit.

“Most Ohioans don't realize that agribusiness is the second-largest employment sector in the state,” he said. “That is a program that should be shouted from the rooftops all over the state, going into the rural counties, talking to the ag extension office, talking to the county treasurer, talking to all of the folks that would have contact with the farmers.”

The primary duty of the treasurer is to protect taxpayer dollars, build on them when possible with safe investments, and to ensure the liquidity of state funds for when they are needed.

While Mr. Sprague's tenure has not been touched by scandal as occurred with some of his predecessors, Mr. Schertzer said the former state representative can't help but have been tainted by the current Ohio Statehouse bribery scandal

“I don't know how any Republican in office in the capital city couldn't be tainted,” Mr. Schertzer said. “We're talking multi-millions of dollars in the federal investigation that's ultimately going to be a trial for [former Ohio House Speaker Larry] Householder.”

“That whole structure was created to funnel money to get Republicans elected, and I don't think we all know the true tentacles that it really has at this place and time,” Mr. Schertzer said.

He said Mr. Sprague has not done enough to promote the programs through which the state uses its financial clout to help generate lower interest rates for farmers, businesses, and others.

“I've been in office for 15 years,” Mr. Schertzer said. “No treasurer has ever come to see me here.”

He said Mr. Sprague should also heavily promote the online Ohio Checkbook through which government entities display their spending, payroll, and other financial decisions to anyone who cares to look through the treasurer's office.

Mr. Schertzer said many local governments, including the city of Marion, don't participate and suggested that the state should offer incentives for a city’s auditor to do so, including dangling the restoration of their revenue-sharing dollars that were slashed nearly a dozen years ago.

“We here at local government often get the punitive effect from state government...,” he said. “Let's change our whole attitude, and if we want somebody to participate, let's offer them something to do so.”

While the office of treasurer has nothing to do with abortion policy, Mr. Schertzer said he believes it is that issue that will drive voters the most on Nov. 8, including when it comes to this race.

“Constitutionally, in a nutshell..., the treasurer is the watchdog of the state's investment portfolio,” he said. “So when it comes to passing laws and signing laws, that's not the treasurer's responsibility. But I do have a voice, and as the treasurer I will exercise that duty to speak out.”

He said he believes the current treasurer, who appoints an investment expert to each of the state's five public employee pension funds, has not done enough to protect retiree benefits.

In particular, he took aim at the decision of the State Teachers Retirement System board to pay performance bonuses to in-house investment staff after the fund lost $3 billion.

“I just can't believe that we now give incentives to people for doing bad jobs,” Mr. Schertzer said. “That's a societal, cultural problem that we all need to have a reckoning with. If you do a good job you should be rewarded for it in any position, private or public...But that was a hard pill to swallow for retired teachers, even active teachers.”

The Democrat concedes that he may not have the money to compete with Mr. Sprague on TV airwaves. As of last week, the Republican was sitting on a campaign war chest of $1.25 million compared with Mr. Schertzer's roughly $241,926.

First Published October 8, 2022, 9:15 p.m.