Poll says Fresno mayor leads in race for state controller

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Poll says Fresno mayor leads in race for state controller

FRESNO, California (KFSN) -- The SurveyUSA Poll commissioned by Action News shows the Mayor of Fresno is ahead of candidates from LA and the Bay Area in the statewide race for State Controller. Ashley Swearengin's momentum may carry her through the June primary, but any Republican is expected to have a tough time winning any statewide seat in November.

However, Swearengin believes her experience with Fresno's budget will help her deal with the state's finances.

"I've said often that I've kind of enjoyed cleaning up the messes here and there's a lot of messes to clean up in Sacramento as well."

Swearengin is the only Republican on the June primary Ballot. She's facing John Perez, the Speaker of the State Assembly who's from LA, And Betty Yee, the Chair of the State Board of Equalization, who's from San Francisco.

The SurveyUSA Poll shows 31 percent of registered voters surveyed said they'd vote for Swearengin. 24 percent favored Yee. 18 percent went for Perez. But another 18 percent are undecided.

Asked for her response to the poll, Swearengin told Action News, "We are just spending every minute of every day between now and the primary running hard and making sure people know the importance of this position and why I'm qualified to do the job and we are not paying attention to polls just focused on the finish line and of June 3rd and hopefully we'll make it through there and then reset for November."

Fresno County Democratic Party Chairman Michael Evans says its likely Swearengin will be among the top two finishers in the June primary, and move on to the November election. "The Republicans will solidify and she will get a portion of the undecided vote but whichever Democrat comes through will be a very formidable candidate come November."

Holyoke believes the odds are against Swearengin winning in November. "It's still really hard to imagine this is a race she would be able to pull off, she's essentially unknown outside of Fresno and there's a lot of people statewide who don't necessarily think highly of Fresno. The fact that she's been Mayor of Fresno is not necessarily an asset."

It's widely perceived that this race, for a somewhat obscure state office could position Swearengin for something else, once her second term as Mayor of Fresno is up in two and a half years.

"Assuming that she does lose this race she does have the experience and the infrastructure that she could then run two years from now, to do something else, like run for the legislature or maybe run for congress," Holyoke said.

Of Course Swearengin maintains she's in it to win this race.

Here are the duties of the State Controller, as listed on the California State Government website.

Account for and control disbursement of all state funds.

Determine legality and accuracy of every claim against the State.

Issue warrants in payment of the State's bills including lottery prizes.

Administer the Uniform State Payroll System.

Audit and process all personnel and payroll transactions for state civil service employees, exempt employees and California State University employees.