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NEWS

Is incumbent Fitch vulnerable?

Geoff Pender
The Clarion-Ledger

Is Republican State Treasurer Lynn Fitch vulnerable this year even as most statewide incumbents appear to have re-election cakewalks?

There is much talk to that effect these days, and oddly it's coming from some of her (former) staunchest political supporters and staff.

Notably, her primary opponent is among that relatively large number. Republican challenger David McRae, a Ridgeland attorney, was formerly a Fitch majordomo. He served as an adviser and even worked in her office providing pro bono counsel. Now he's gunning to oust her.

At least half a dozen of Fitch's top treasury staff have bailed or been run off during her first term.

Also notably, two of her top campaign gurus have jumped ship to support McRae.

Consultant and lobbyist Hayes Dent, who ran Fitch's successful 2011 campaign, and fundraiser Sara Williams are supporting McRae and helped with a recent fundraiser for him.

Fitch's vulnerability hinges on two questions: Is McRae, part of the family that owned and sold the McRae's department store chain, willing to write a big check to self-fund his campaign? If so, is he going to do it soon?

Fitch likely has GOP primary name ID somewhere in the low- to mid-30 percent range. That's not insurmountable for a challenger. An incumbent treasurer is not typically a household name. But McRae is starting at zero and has yet to start a campaign ad bombardment. Time is a-wastin'.

At last report early this year, Fitch had only $97,000 in her war chest, not exactly an amount that would ward off evil spirits in a statewide race. Fitch's family helped her self-fund her first campaign. It's being widely said she won't have that luxury this go-'round. But an incumbent treasurer can usually shake down bond attorneys and others who make millions from financial business with the state for some serious campaign cash. There's been no outward sign that those donors are ready to back a challenger. But as of early this year, they still hadn't lavished Fitch with tributes, either.

In her first term as treasurer, Fitch has neither set the world on fire nor made any major public blunders. She's refinanced a lot of state debt at lower interest rates but that didn't require rocket surgery.

Her most notable action was putting a freeze on and revamping the state's prepaid college tuition plan, saying it was financially out of whack. That drew some kudos but also earned the enmity of her predecessor as treasurer, now-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, and others who say she overreacted, then moved too slowly. This beef with Reeves has hamstrung her efforts at getting legislation passed for her pet project, teaching "financial literacy" in Mississippi schools.

Fitch recently managed to make lemons out of lemonade with her office's unclaimed property fund. Typically, a treasurer worth his or her political salt uses this fund to generate warm, fuzzy headlines and much public goodwill, handing out checks to Mississippians who had forgotten old bank accounts and security deposits that eventually get turned over to the treasurer.

But Fitch failed to publish the list in newspapers statewide on schedule in 2012, and got sideways with the Mississippi Press Association. They reached an agreement last year, but Fitch published the list only last week, drawing claims that she sandbagged it so she could use it to kick off her re-election bid this spring.

My friend Jim Prince at the Madison County Journal lit Fitch up pretty good in an editorial last week. I quote: "Fitch … blatantly defied state law for three years … and launched her re-election campaign last week on the state's dime."

That's just not the feel-good press typically generated by a program that hands out long-lost cash to the masses.

The power of incumbency is strong, and McRae faces an uphill battle in a race that's not really top ticket or top of mind for most voters. But in an election year that so far promises few surprises for current statewide officeholders, it will at least be one to watch.

Contact Geoff Pender at (601) 961-7266 or gpender@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @GeoffPender on Twitter.