In the race for Wisconsin State Treasurer, a strange paradox is emerging: Only one of the candidates believes the office should exist in the first place.

While incumbent Democrat Dawn Marie Sass has touted her office’s ability to act as a responsible custodian of state money and return assets to regular Wisconsinites, Republican challenger Kurt Schuller has said he hopes to eliminate the office entirely.

Neither Sass nor Schuller come from extensive political backgrounds, although Sass was elected as a delegate three times to the Democratic National Convention.

Before being elected in 2004, Sass worked as juvenile justice custody specialist and part-time store clerk. She also worked as a child welfare worker and probation officer in the past.

Schuller, a former small-business owner who quit his job managing a restaurant to campaign full time after winning the primary, told The Badger Herald his small business experience balancing budgets and payrolls qualifies him for the duties of treasurer.

Schuller said he was motivated to enter the race for treasurer by his frustration at watching the state slip away from the principles of Abraham Lincoln.

“I decided I wanted to get off my duff and get into politics so I could try to change it,” Schuller said.

Schuller said he will attempt to fold the office of treasurer into the lieutenant governor’s responsibilities while in office and will not run for a second term, instead hoping to turn his sights on either the state Assembly or Senate.

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson also proposed to eliminate the treasurer’s office, while in 2003 Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, introduced a bill to accomplish the same goal. So far, however, all attempts to remove the post have been unsuccessful.

The state treasurer’s office administrates the Local Government Investment Pool, oversees all unclaimed Wisconsin property and administers the Wisconsin College Savings Program. The treasurer also serves on several financial committees.

The running of one treasury program has been criticized by Schuller, although Sass’s office has touted its success – the Unclaimed Property initiative.

In Wisconsin, banks or other businesses are required to turn over assets such as savings accounts or bonds to the state treasurer’s office after five years of inactivity.

Schuller argues the program would be more efficient if residents were encouraged to access the database and claim assets remotely themselves, and that Sass’s outreach tours to alert residents of assets wastes taxpayer money.

However, Sass has publicized her yearly visits to all 72 counties in Wisconsin as a way to return $100 million in unclaimed property to Wisconsin residents.

Specifically, Sass has highlighted how she and her staff helped a Fond Du Lac woman reclaim more than $102,000 in assets the woman did not know she had.

“I made it my goal to reach out to all state residents to try and give them money they may have forgotten about,” Sass said in a statement. “While crisscrossing the state these past 4 years, I have been honored to help thousands of people get their money back.”

However, the treasurer’s office is under attack from other directions as well.

Both candidates for governor have released plans to eliminate the State Treasurer’s office and the Secretary of State as cost-cutting measures.

Democrat Tom Barrett plans to attempt to fold the treasurer’s responsibilities into other offices within the Governor’s administration.

“The idea has always been to take the duties and responsibilities of those offices and consolidate them into another office, so we can realize costs and inefficiencies,” Phil Walzak, a spokesperson for Barrett, said.

Republican Scott Walker has also said he would support cutting the two offices.

However, despite Schuller’s plans and gubernatorial hopefuls’ promises, the actual impact of removing the position of treasurer remains unclear.

“Possibly eliminating the state treasurer’s office is more symbolic than meaningful,” Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin, wrote in an e-mail. “As Schuller notes, it would save a couple of million dollars each year directly, but those costs would probably get picked up by another agency that would take over the treasurer’s duties.”

The cost of keeping the treasurer’s office is only a fraction of the state budget, Burden said, and would do almost nothing to reduce spending or the overall size of state government in Wisconsin.

Eliminating the treasurer’s office would require a constitutional amendment that would need to be approved by both the Legislature and state voters.

Sass’s office could not be reached for comment as of press time.