Eleni Kounalakis explains why she should be California’s next state treasurer | CA Politics 360
California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis is hoping to be the state’s next treasurer. Voters will decide between Kounalakis, a Democrat, and Jennifer Hawks, a Republican.
In a wide-ranging interview on California Politics 360, Kounalakis highlighted her background in housing, finance, and public service as key qualifications for the role.
“I’ve been very honored to serve for eight years as California’s lieutenant governor. I’m the first woman ever elected to the position. And it has really been an extraordinary opportunity,” Kounalakis said. “But this is actually the first official elected office I’ve ever held. Before this, I was in the private sector. I ran a master-planned housing community business. We built major housing developments in the Sacramento region. I did that for almost 20 years.”
She explained her transition to public service began when President Obama appointed her as U.S. ambassador to Hungary. “I enjoy public service. It feels very meaningful to me. And because I have a background in business and in housing specifically, being the next state treasurer feels to me like the perfect fit. And I’m very, very excited to take on this new role,” she said.
Discussing California’s financial challenges, Kounalakis described the state’s “boom and bust” cycles.
“In 2022-23, it was a $100 billion budget surplus that we had. And then two years later, we had a $50 billion budget deficit,” she said. She expressed support for Proposition 2, which would allow the state to increase contributions to its rainy-day fund from 10% to 20% of tax revenue. “This, to me, is incredibly important because it will help us smooth out the boom-and-bust elements of our tax income in order to be able to have predictability in funding the programs of the state,” she said.
When asked about her plans for the treasurer’s office, Kounalakis praised the current state treasurer, Fiona Ma, for running an efficient office.
“From all of the conversations that I have had with people who work with the state treasurer’s office, it is very well-run, very well-organized,” she said. However, she noted her unique experience in housing as an area where she could make a difference. “I intend to be even more hands-on to make sure that if California taxpayers and our precious tax revenue goes to fund housing projects, that I know exactly which housing projects we are funding, and that we are moving those through the process to get those rooftops over families’ heads,” she said.
Kounalakis also addressed concerns about potential conflicts of interest, given her family’s background in real estate.
“Affordable housing developers are very, very different than the kind of development that my family and I used to do or that I used to do,” she said. “For me, the most important thing is that I have this experience to be able to work with them, to know what they’re proposing and to be able to tell the difference between good projects that deserve to have state funding and those which maybe should be coming back and need a little bit more work on their proposals.”
If elected, Kounalakis said her first priority would be to understand the inner workings of the state’s financial operations.
“You want to make sure that you go in there, you know who is in charge of what, how our funds are being managed, and you get basically under the hood of the state finances to make sure that we’re operating in a way that is transparent and efficient and responsible,” she said.
She also highlighted the importance of improving California’s bond rating, which is currently the highest it has been since the Great Recession.
“If we increase and improve our bond rating one more step to the A level, that automatically will give us a savings in how much we pay to service our debt, which is just more money right back into the general fund,” she said.
Reflecting on her decision to switch from running for governor to running for treasurer, Kounalakis said, “Running for governor of California, I think, as we saw, it’s a very, very difficult thing to do. We’re a huge state, 40 million people. The economy, an economy the size of India’s, and getting your message out is just a very difficult thing to do. But after a while, I thought, you know, we need a treasurer who has a deep background and experience in business and finance and public finance. I know that I can serve the people of our state very well in this position.”
When asked if there’s anything the state’s government should have done differently with state taxpayer dollars, Kounalakis suggested they should have invested more in higher education. She emphasized her commitment to higher education, which she described as a key driver of California’s success.
“We have this unbelievable robust system of public higher education—the UC, the CSU, the community college system. And we have these young people that is just this giant conveyor belt of talent through the system and into the economy,” she said.
She also shared her personal connection to the importance of education, recounting her father’s journey as a refugee who worked his way through college.
“It changed the trajectory of his life, and it changed the trajectory of his kids and grandkids and all of our family,” she said.
Kounalakis concluded by expressing her hope for a Democratic victory in the upcoming election and her commitment to addressing immigration policies.
“California has benefited from America’s generous immigration policies over the last few generations in particular. That is what has made California great,” she said. “And we absolutely need to be looking at this differently and first and foremost, stop the terrible treatment that immigrants and immigrant families are experiencing right now.”
KCRA 3 Political Director Ashley Zavala reports in-depth coverage of top California politics and policy issues. She is also the host of “California Politics 360.” Get informed each Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on KCRA 3.