Today, too many of our neighbors are fearful about their jobs, their homes, their savings and their children's future. They want leaders who care about them and who will work effectively to make their lives better and more secure.

Steve Grossman will bring these leadership qualities and practical common sense solutions to the office of State Treasurer. He has spent the last 35 years running a 100-year-old fourth generation family business: creating jobs, meeting payrolls, managing money, and dealing with crises – and doing so with social responsibility.

There is no substitute for this experience. Steve is the only candidate for treasurer in either party whose entire career has been all about creating jobs.

He has three priorities he will pursue as Treasurer:

• Protecting the public’s money – your money – through sound money management and investment practices.
• Helping create jobs by leveraging the Treasurer’s influence over the banks and by making prudent investments of Massachusetts pension funds in Massachusetts companies.
• Being a champion for small businesses by helping them secure the capital they need to grow and create jobs and by helping relieve their crushing health insurance premiums.

Steve has outlined a series of initiatives to help achieve those goals:

• Creating a Massachusetts Jobs Fund, using a modest amount of pension funds as a catalyst to spur bank lending to creditworthy companies.
• Moving state money to community banks that have shown community responsibility out of big banks that are unresponsive on business loans, unwilling to help families avoid foreclosures, and charge exorbitant credit card interest rates.
• Advocating for legislation to allow group buying of health insurance by small businesses.
• Expanding the Treasurer’s financial education and empowerment efforts. He will seek to expand financial literacy to high school students, families, and seniors through partnerships with the private, non-profit, and educational sectors and make the Treasurer’s office an effective clearinghouse to support financial education.
• A commitment to full disclosure and transparency in the operations of the Treasury. Using the Internet and modern technologies, the public will know who is doing business with the Treasury.
• Opening the Treasury’s business dealings to all qualified parties who want to compete for it including small businesses, women-owned businesses, and minority-owned firms.
• Protecting your money by bringing sound investment strategies and additional reform to the Massachusetts pension system. “My parents were products of the Depression,” Steve says, “They taught me these lessons: ‘Live within your means, protect your nest egg, invest wisely, do not engage in excessive speculation.’”
• Bringing environmental responsibility to the Treasury by investing in green jobs just as we now invest in high-tech and life sciences, by pushing corporations in which we own shares to embrace sustainable practices, and by promoting conservation in school building construction and other programs managed by the office.
• Advocating for corporate responsibility by taking a strong stand on corporate governance issues as a stockholder, including utilizing “say on pay” legislation to oppose outrageous corporate compensation packages.