Thoughts on new RI Treasurer, James Diossa?

Submitted by StonksGuy3000 t3_yqvvl1 in RhodeIsland

Personally I wasn’t too impressed with Diossa’s credentials and ended up voting for Lathrop despite choosing Democrats in the vast majority of other races.

To me, Diossa seems young and relatively inexperienced. In terms of education, he has a degree in Criminal Justice (unrelated) from Becker College (not operational anymore). Professionally, it seemed like his primary accomplishment was being Mayor of Central Falls. This is certainly admirable, but it is still one of the smallest and poorest cities in the state. I don’t know enough about the city’s history to know how dramatic the improvement was or how much is attributable to Diossa.

I also didn’t know that much about Lathrop, but I saw he was in the army, attended Bryant for accounting, earned the CPA designation, and started his own practice. It sounded like he also has a lot of other business experience that would be relevant to acting as Treasurer.

My thinking is that Diossa won solely because of party affiliation, but I’d love it if I’m wrong. Are there reasons to think he’s the best man for the job that I’m unaware of as someone who has only lived in RI for 3 years?

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TheSausageFattener t1_ivqkymr wrote

Central Falls is small and poor, but its incredibly densely populated and his timing is key. He’s been in politics since he was 24 and was mayor after the failed receivership effort from the state. He kept public services open in a city where the state had decided to basically get rid of the city council and relegate the mayor to a glorified advisor before his mayorship.

Does he have the prestigious degrees? No. Dude went through CF schools. Was his tenure clean? Not the best. But I give a guy credit for being willing to get involved young and see his work through.

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overthehillhat t1_ivqgqat wrote

He didn't know anything about being mayor - he seemed to learn quickly -

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StonksGuy3000 OP t1_ivqkow5 wrote

Definitely not an easy job to come in as mayor of a bankrupt city in your late 20s and have to try to turn things around and make the most of it

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overthehillhat t1_ivqlvj8 wrote

Buddy told the story of working the crowd as a brand new mayor = =

He threatened to move the city's money out of the bank it had always been in - -

He got what he wanted - -but admitted he had no idea if he could do that

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GotenRocko t1_ivqxzhl wrote

I think it's incorrect to assume that bussiness experience translates to running a government. They are different animals and obviously people with a lot of business experience have not been the best at governing. The state isn't and shouldn't be focused on profit or things like that which is what business experience will give someone.

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StonksGuy3000 OP t1_ivr0r05 wrote

It may not be a 1:1 translation, but I think business experience certainly helps. I don’t view them quite as differently as you make it seem. Sure, the state isn’t trying to maximize profits the same way a corporation is, but it's still looking for ways to collect revenues and control expenses to ensure long-term viability. And a thorough understanding of financial statements and accounting principles doesn’t hurt.

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brick1972 t1_ivr9fyy wrote

I'm not sure if you are the downvoting everyone who doesn't agree with you type but I don't think you actually understand what the office of the Treasurer does. It is not the CFO.

I mean I guess the same old people will continue to just downvote the same things and I get it all the butthurt republicans of the state get downvoted to oblivion around here but shit are we going to talk about the actual questions or just whine about politics? What a useless forum.

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StonksGuy3000 OP t1_ivrcyse wrote

I haven’t downvoted anyone in this particular thread at least.

And I didn't mean to imply that the Treasurer is responsible for the state’s budget, just that he should have a strong understanding of it and be able to oversee spending. Lathrop’s site also says he has experience helping to manage the South Kingston school trust, and investment management of public funds is one role that the state Treasurer is responsible for. While I agree business experience isn’t a necessity, but my guess is that most state Treasurers have a fair amount.

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GotenRocko t1_ivr1zs8 wrote

I mean that's what the staff is for to do all the technical stuff. He ran a city so he's going to be familiar with all the basics of financing, bonds, and municipal/state budget. Someone with a bussiness background would actually probably have less experience in those areas since a bussiness and government are not the same.

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Cash50911 t1_ivqnjv1 wrote

I personally thought Lathrop was the better choice as he actually has the needed education and experience. I'll give Diossa a chance but my guess is that he is going to be on the spend money side vs we have to pay our debt side.

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brick1972 t1_ivr77lz wrote

As an honest question - do you think the treasurer really affects the actual choices for budget items?

I mean I guess you could argue McKee isn't a strong personality and that the legislature is just going to accept his budget so the treasurer in this instance could have a lot of influence - but generally speaking the job of the office is act as the bankers, not the CFO or whatever. The treasurer doesn't even control the Department of Revenue, that job goes to a political appointee of the governor. The OMB is run by the Department of Administration, run by another political appointee.

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Cash50911 t1_ivt3dck wrote

No I don't think the treasurer picks the type of toilet paper(line item)... I do think the role is supposed to be fiscally responsible as it sits on many boards that makes these decisions. I 100% agree that the treasurer is not a CFO.

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brick1972 t1_ivr4pdu wrote

Yes, he got it through party affiliation.

I think the question of whether he can navigate spreadsheets is irrelevant. That's what all of the unelected people in the office take care of.

What is important is if he were planning on something stupid like putting the pension fund in the hands of FTX or something. Mostly he will probably just continue on with Magaziner's basic strategy.

He does have experience navigating public bankruptcy, which is something maybe as important as understand GAP rules.

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Mountain_Bill5743 t1_ivrh6b5 wrote

The other candidate in the D primary was an extremely controversial candidate despite looking good on paper (moved among many states making many negative headlines before landing here-- I still don't know why he was the education commissioner in CT. Risky loans with the city of Newark as mayor). He landed here for some time (Yale college friend of Gina), but still seemed to be a really controversial candidate who happened to be linked to a lot of negative financial/PR decisions where he was always the common denominator:

https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/politics/2022/09/09/ri-treasurer-candidate-stefan-pryors-record-questioned-what-we-found/7992869001/

The party endorsed Diossa so I'm sure that helped and I'm sure most likely due to his popularity as the CF mayor. It's like you have an educationally qualified guy who seems to be linked to controversial decisions in every job for the last decade or a well liked guy with few qualifications who is less likely to make a large decision that poisons the well again.

I think people tend to vote D down ballot, sure, but I also think the more democratic voters of this state are also worried about electing an R. In all honesty, I'm not sure myself how much power a treasurer has to make it a partisan position.

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StonksGuy3000 OP t1_ivrkujb wrote

To my knowledge, Lathrop didn’t carry any baggage though so perhaps he had the qualifications and a clean past

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Mountain_Bill5743 t1_ivrqxgk wrote

Yeah, having read his positions, he sounds very moderate. These days, hitching yourself to the Republican party is pretty much going to guarantee failure in a state like RI because you're not going to be synonymous with moderate. Baker's the exception, not the rule nationally.

I also totally understand. I've been here for a decade and I always tell people hat politically the state is not on the same candidate quality as MA and similar states. MA just has its act together in a way we never had on a lot of levels and if you decide to stay here long term it's worth resigning to the fact that the state doesn't run all that well (ask anyone who works for the state here haha).

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55galBucketHunter t1_ivr8p6j wrote

Seems like a nice guy but I wanted Lathrop in charge of my pension

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FrequentAnnual1262 t1_ivssc5h wrote

After the shit show we have witnessed since 2016, I will never vote for a Republican again.. but I do think he needs to be watched very closely.

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__CarCat__ t1_ivqvccw wrote

You see, that doesn't matter in this state. So many don't do a wink of research and vote straight D without realizing that they're voting for some very questionable candidates.

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Background-Adagio-35 t1_ivu8v6o wrote

Lathrop is much more qualified than Travelin Diossa who still hasn't explained the numerous trips he took while Mayor of Central Falls.

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exploding_neon_cat t1_ivudws1 wrote

James Diossa doesn't seem like a person who should be involved in any regard to managing money. He had about 40+ trips (many international) under the guise as a the Mayor of Central Falls. The documentation for this travel spending seems to be lacking in transparency, and frankly dubious. Sloppy at best, possibly negligent, and an overt misuse of funds of the taxpayers of Central Falls. He doesn't seem to have the fiscal intelligence and restraint needed for the job. You can probably uncover more details of the story online, although, at this point it seems to have been swept under the rug. Anyways, I'd keep an eye on this guys ledger book!

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3-Inch-Hog t1_ivrjzgs wrote

I worked with that guy years ago. Not someone I would have thought would win treasurer

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StonksGuy3000 OP t1_ivrkl7f wrote

Interesting. Care to elaborate?

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3-Inch-Hog t1_ivrnnxx wrote

He was a nice enough guy, but he wasn’t great on the job. Fooled around, didn’t seem to take things seriously and made trouble for other employees with his mistakes, etc. This was years ago, maybe he’s a different person now, but when he told me he was getting into politics, I remember thinking “good fucking luck bro lol”

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xanderg102301 t1_ivvee3s wrote

Typical RI politician, no idea why you're being down voted

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3-Inch-Hog t1_ivvte0h wrote

People can downvote me all they like. I’m just saying what happened. I worked with him at a CVS call center in Smithfield

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Desperate_Expert_952 t1_ivtklm4 wrote

Diossa won solely on party affiliation. Not a bad guy but that is what propelled his victory.

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Simonsays2526 t1_ivunuek wrote

He’s not qualified. It should be a nonpartisan position.

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lolabeanz59 t1_ivvbzhz wrote

Lathrop should’ve been the winner. He was one of my three R votes. Disappointing election results all around in RI.

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Dense-Ganache-292 t1_ivrwzql wrote

Lathrop was clearly the more educated one in accounting… his background is exactly what you look for when looking fit a treasurer and he had no interest in politics which made him perfect. It’s too bad Rhode Island is corrupt and chooses to stay that way.

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DeftApproximation t1_ivszwga wrote

You had me nodding until that last sentence.

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xanderg102301 t1_ivvehne wrote

I mean, the state is most definitely corrupt

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DeftApproximation t1_ivxll9u wrote

Parts of it the govt, yea they’ve got a checked past. The topic of the OP and context of the situation was about voting tho.

So the corruption dig on the end their either alludes to:

  1. The govt rigged the election for Diossa
  2. The people are in on a scheme and cheated Diossa into office

Both of which are dumb assertions to just toss in at the last second. I think it’s pretty much just tribalism that probably got Diossa in. He just had that (D) marked next to his name. I vote primarily Democrat but I at least read up on candidates beforehand and recognize that not all (R) are maga heads. Some are just conservative people that deserve some talking to.

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