Pete Buttigieg is running for the state treasurer's seat to bring transparency to the office.
Buttigieg, 28, (D-South Bend) faces current State Treasurer Richard Mourdock in Tuesday's election. Mourdock has served as the state's treasurer since 2007.
Buttigieg stopped by the Times-Union office Wednesday morning to discuss his run for the position that is the state's chief investment officer.
He said he earned a degree from Harvard before studying economics at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
Before campaigning last March, he worked for a business-consulting firm.
"We are in an economic emergency, and I like my job in the private sector, but I was looking for a way to be a solution economically so I decided to run for state treasurer," Buttigieg said.
He said he looks at his youth as an asset to the office in that it shows that he represents a different way of doing business.
He said, if elected, he will find ways to stimulate job growth and economic development.
"We need to make sure our state money is working for us by reinvesting state funds in assets issued by Indiana-based companies," Buttigieg said.
He said small businesses create two-thirds of jobs in the U.S.
"If funds are going into a bank that is local, it has a much better chance of circulating locally in the community," Buttigieg said.
He said the state needs to do more investments with Indiana banks.
He said the state's funds need to be looked after, and said a lot of money is currently being invested in high-risk investments.
He said, as treasurer, he would not support the investments in high-risk bonds, and said the state needs to be conservative in how it invests its money.
Buttigieg said there needs to be more transparency on the state's investments, and more transparency in how funds are spent.
He said it is important to have regular reporting on the state's investments.
"Information you can get online about the state's investments is infrequent and not up to date," he said. "As taxypayers, we have the right to know exactly how our money is being spent, where it's invested and how it's performing."
He said the state's investments and bank balances that say which banks have how much of the state's money need to go online and be updated.
He also said he is concerned about the influences special interest groups have on the state treasurer's office, particularly banks that do business with the state treasurer's office.He said he is concerned with banks that put money into the treasurer's race.
He said he decided at the beginning of his campaign to not accept corporate money from banks that do business with the state treasurer's office or any banks for his race.
For more information on Buttigieg, visit www.peteforindiana.com
