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.