December 3, 2024 • 10 mins
Robert Sprague discusses Trump's latest cabinet picks as well as his interest in the open Senate seat or Governor in "26
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone line. Let's
say good morning to Robert Sprague, Treasurer of the Great
State of Ohio. Robert, good morning, How are.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You good morning? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Yeah, glad you are able to take a couple of
minutes and chat with us. Of course, spend some time
in state government and as a representative, and he made
the leap to why did you decide? Why did you
decide to run for treasure Well.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I've got this financial background and skill set. My MBA
from the University of North Carolina and worked for Ernst
and Young before that, and so I was city treasurer,
city auditor, and then when I was in the House
of Representatives, my job was to control the medicaid budget.
So I was in charge of the twenty eight billion
dollar at the time Medicaid budget. So with all those
(00:45):
financial skills, I thought, well, I'm not done serving my
community in my state yet. Let me give it the
Treasurer's office to try. Maybe they could use a good
physical conservative to help with the treasury. So that's what
led me to pursue the state Treasurer's office in twenty eighteen.
I was elected.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Well, I'm looking at I'm looking at your education. You
got your NBA from UNC, but you went to Duke.
Are you a Duke? Are you a Duke basketball fan?
Or are you a Tar Heel fan?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah? Look, I'll tell you what your loyalties. I think
always lie with your undergraduate Okay, I'm a Duke basketball fan.
Let's just clear that up.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Get that out of the way. Speaking with Ohio Treasurer Robert
Sprague this morning, So people don't necessarily understand. I mean,
and I think a good treasurer or treasurer secretary treasury
secretary is somebody who people don't hear a lot about.
You're doing your job behind the scenes. You're not making news.
You're investing wisely. You're taking the state's tax money and
(01:44):
you're making money. So talk about where we are in
the state of Ohio. As essentially Ohio's chief investment officer.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I'll tell you what we're doing. We're doing a really
good job, and the state has been very fortunate. The
past six years have been phenomenal. We've seen record growth
of the treasury. At one point it was copying thirty
billion dollars. I think we're at twenty five billion right now.
We have a short and a medium and long term portfolio.
Let me tell you somebody once told me when I
(02:12):
came into the office. They said, Robert, these walls have
made are dynamite. And I said, well, what do you
mean by that? They said, well, you know, you make
one mistake and the treasure's hop us and everything blows up.
And it's kind of true. But I got to tell you,
I think we've put together one of the best financial
teams in the entire state of Ohio. My Deputy Treasurer
(02:33):
Mars Cruz, our Director of Trust wald Meyer, and just
on down from there. It's an incredible team. And you know,
we manage three hundred billion dollars. We're a custodian for
the pension funds, all the five pension funds. We manage
a twenty five billion dollar portfolio, well over twenty billion
dollars in our ELGIP, our local government investment pool, and
(02:56):
we're constantly looking for innovative ways that we could put
our balance sheet to work for everyday ohioans, like through
our Family Forward Account where we help people with the
cost of adoption, or with our New Ohio home Buyer
plus home program where you can get up to an
additional two point five percent earnings and an income tax deduction.
(03:18):
We're up to one hundred thousand dollars as you saved
to buy your home here in the state of Ohio.
So we're constantly looking for things like that where we
can use our balance sheet to help Ohio.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, use the money to work for you and not
against you. And those are good programs. Robert Sprague, Ohio Treasurer.
Or One of the items that's been in the news, Robert,
and it's controversial is Ohio continues to be amongst the
top states in the nation for investing in Israeli bonds.
There have been, as I say, a lot of controversy
around this. There have been protests not only here in
Ohio but around the country calling for companies and government
(03:52):
agencies and entities to boycott and divest in Israel. So
why is it so important that Ohio continue to invest
in Israeli bonds?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
You know, we are not going to back down from that.
We are going to stand firm. I'll tell you the
State of Ohio treasury is a long history of investing
in israel bonds. We've done it for the last thirty years, Democrats,
Republicans from all parties have invested in Israel bonds. They've
been an integral part of book of our portfolio. They
(04:22):
get a great yield, we get a liquidity of premium
that's good for the taxpayers and the people of the
state of Ohio. And it's our chance to support one
of our only allies as we're now seeing in the
Middle East, and we will not waiver, We will not
turn back from our investment in Israel. Bods.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well, I'm glad to hear that, and I think a
lot of our listeners would agree with you on that
stance as well. So I appreciate the quick little thumbnail
perspective on that. Yeah, we mentioned, you know, treasury secretaries.
I would imagine you've got an opinion as somebody who
manages the money for the state of Ohio and doing
so very well. By the way, President Elect Trump's pick
for Treasury Secretary, Scott Descent, your thoughts on him when
(05:02):
Trump and he had a couple of options too, By
the way, your thoughts on Scott Descent.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Look, I think he's a phenomenal pick for Treasury secretary.
Let me tell you Trump is going to boil the
ocean in Washington, DC. He is turning things completely upside
down with his picks. I love this guy. I mean
the Treasury secretary that he's picked out percent. He has
laid out a three point plan and it all has
to do with threes and it's really smart. So the
(05:31):
first three is three percent growth, and we're going to
get there by tax cuts. Trump's tax cuts are going
to be permanent. That's going to help out every single
citizen in the United States of America. No taxes on
Social Security. I love that. For our elderly here in
the state of Ohio. No taxes on overtime. That union
carpenter that goes to work every day and then works
(05:52):
additional over forty hours, no tax on that, and then
no tax on tips for our waitresses and the people
that help us service economy. I think that's phenomenal. So
all of that's going to juice the growth in the
United States of America. That's the three percent growth, three
million additional barrels of oil or oil equivalent a day.
(06:14):
That's going to help us with our energy costs. It's
going to drive our energy costs down. We're going to
be energy independent we're actually going to export that energy.
There's going to be money coming into the United States.
And here's the beautiful thing. It hurts Russia and Iran,
all right, because it's going to drive the price of
oil down and we're going to become the dominant energy
player in the world. And then the third three is
(06:35):
three percent deficits of GDP by the time we get
to twenty twenty eight. And that's the DOGE, that's the
Department of Government Efficiency and cutting the heck out of
the funeral bureaucracy is just way too big.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Everything you just said is music to my ears, my friend,
everything you just said is just absolutely glorious. Speaking with
Robert Spragg, Treasure of the State of Ohio, I want
to talk for a second, and I do think the
sense reports Trump's tariffs. What are your thoughts on tariffs
because it's kind of a polarizing topic. I mean, here's
some of these economists, and a lot of these are,
(07:09):
you know, theoretical economists that don't really practice it. They
don't practice economy in a practical sense. They just it's
all on paper. They say, well, it's gonna cause inflation,
the price of things are going to go high. I
always say, well, why didn't they when he imposed tariffs
the first time? And if they were so bad, why
did President Biden keep them in place? So your thoughts
generally on Trump and his thoughts on tariffs.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, Well, you know, if you want a practical trade policy,
I suggest everybody comes and they see when our trade
policy has done Toledo, Ohio, or Accres for deep or
Youngstown all right, or my little town of Finlay, Ohio
and Northwest Ohio or Fostoria, and the reality is that
our trade policies have sapped our strength as ohioans, our
(07:54):
industrial base, and has gone overseas. That's the reality of
what has happened over my entire adult lifetime here in
the state of Ohio. As matter fact, I could have
had a job in the private sector. I came back
to Ohio specifically because I didn't feel my state was
doing well. We have such incredible potential. We've got infrastructure
you can't replicate anyplace else. We got water, we've got energy,
(08:14):
we've got rail and highways, and we've got a workforce
that still knows how to produce things and make things.
And we have unlimited energy that got has put underneath
our feet in the appellation reachion of Ohio. It's a
fantastic combination and the sky's the limit for our state.
If we could just get this trade policy right. And
let me tell you, these tariffs are good and they
(08:36):
are appropriate. These countries have been taken advantage of us.
They have been taking tremendous advantage of us, and it's
hurt Ohioans. And I like the way that Vetment is using.
Is going to use these tariffs as a threat to
open up new markets for US, But if they don't comply,
it's going to slap a tariff on them, and it's
going to help and pay pay down our debt and
(08:58):
reduce our deficits smart way to do business.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, there's a lot of bad information out there on tariff,
so I would encourage everybody to study up and read
up on their own. Speaking with Robert Sprague, Treasurer of
the State of Ohio, I got to ask you, Robert,
We've got a soon to be open Senate seat here.
As a Vice president elect, Judy Vance will have to
step away from his Senate seat. We have a governor's
race now less than two years away. Mike Dewan is
(09:24):
going to be turned out here in twenty twenty six.
Do you Ohio Treasurer Robert Spragg have any interest in
either of those offices.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You know, I'm looking at all my options to be
able to serve the people of the state of Ohio
with the skills that I have in my experience. And
I'll tell you I think that as you look at
the United States Senate seed appoint the JD Vance's seat,
it seems to me that the governor is going to
be looking for a couple of different things. Number One,
is that person in it for the right reasons? And
can they legislate on day one? Because it's going to
(09:56):
be fast and furious. Donald Trump is going to turn
this country around, and he needs support in the United
States Senate and it begins with his cabinet appointees. And
the second piece I think is he's going to look
at who can win a primary and who can win
a general in the state of Ohio. And I've won
tough primary racist statewide. I won tough general election races statewide.
(10:17):
As a matter of fact, I was the top vote
getter on the Republican side of the ticket in twenty eighteen.
Led the ticket and I think I'd proven both of
those things, and I think I'm the one candidate that
probably would not draw primary from the right because the
conservative groups like my fiscal policies and what I've done.
So I'm interested in both of those offices and interested
(10:38):
that more importantly, how I can serve my people in
my community and my state in the future
On the Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone line. Let's
say good morning to Robert Sprague, Treasurer of the Great
State of Ohio. Robert, good morning, How are.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You good morning? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Yeah, glad you are able to take a couple of
minutes and chat with us. Of course, spend some time
in state government and as a representative, and he made
the leap to why did you decide? Why did you
decide to run for treasure Well.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I've got this financial background and skill set. My MBA
from the University of North Carolina and worked for Ernst
and Young before that, and so I was city treasurer,
city auditor, and then when I was in the House
of Representatives, my job was to control the medicaid budget.
So I was in charge of the twenty eight billion
dollar at the time Medicaid budget. So with all those
(00:45):
financial skills, I thought, well, I'm not done serving my
community in my state yet. Let me give it the
Treasurer's office to try. Maybe they could use a good
physical conservative to help with the treasury. So that's what
led me to pursue the state Treasurer's office in twenty eighteen.
I was elected.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Well, I'm looking at I'm looking at your education. You
got your NBA from UNC, but you went to Duke.
Are you a Duke? Are you a Duke basketball fan?
Or are you a Tar Heel fan?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah? Look, I'll tell you what your loyalties. I think
always lie with your undergraduate Okay, I'm a Duke basketball fan.
Let's just clear that up.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Get that out of the way. Speaking with Ohio Treasurer Robert
Sprague this morning, So people don't necessarily understand. I mean,
and I think a good treasurer or treasurer secretary treasury
secretary is somebody who people don't hear a lot about.
You're doing your job behind the scenes. You're not making news.
You're investing wisely. You're taking the state's tax money and
(01:44):
you're making money. So talk about where we are in
the state of Ohio. As essentially Ohio's chief investment officer.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I'll tell you what we're doing. We're doing a really
good job, and the state has been very fortunate. The
past six years have been phenomenal. We've seen record growth
of the treasury. At one point it was copying thirty
billion dollars. I think we're at twenty five billion right now.
We have a short and a medium and long term portfolio.
Let me tell you somebody once told me when I
(02:12):
came into the office. They said, Robert, these walls have
made are dynamite. And I said, well, what do you
mean by that? They said, well, you know, you make
one mistake and the treasure's hop us and everything blows up.
And it's kind of true. But I got to tell you,
I think we've put together one of the best financial
teams in the entire state of Ohio. My Deputy Treasurer
(02:33):
Mars Cruz, our Director of Trust wald Meyer, and just
on down from there. It's an incredible team. And you know,
we manage three hundred billion dollars. We're a custodian for
the pension funds, all the five pension funds. We manage
a twenty five billion dollar portfolio, well over twenty billion
dollars in our ELGIP, our local government investment pool, and
(02:56):
we're constantly looking for innovative ways that we could put
our balance sheet to work for everyday ohioans, like through
our Family Forward Account where we help people with the
cost of adoption, or with our New Ohio home Buyer
plus home program where you can get up to an
additional two point five percent earnings and an income tax deduction.
(03:18):
We're up to one hundred thousand dollars as you saved
to buy your home here in the state of Ohio.
So we're constantly looking for things like that where we
can use our balance sheet to help Ohio.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, use the money to work for you and not
against you. And those are good programs. Robert Sprague, Ohio Treasurer.
Or One of the items that's been in the news, Robert,
and it's controversial is Ohio continues to be amongst the
top states in the nation for investing in Israeli bonds.
There have been, as I say, a lot of controversy
around this. There have been protests not only here in
Ohio but around the country calling for companies and government
(03:52):
agencies and entities to boycott and divest in Israel. So
why is it so important that Ohio continue to invest
in Israeli bonds?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
You know, we are not going to back down from that.
We are going to stand firm. I'll tell you the
State of Ohio treasury is a long history of investing
in israel bonds. We've done it for the last thirty years, Democrats,
Republicans from all parties have invested in Israel bonds. They've
been an integral part of book of our portfolio. They
(04:22):
get a great yield, we get a liquidity of premium
that's good for the taxpayers and the people of the
state of Ohio. And it's our chance to support one
of our only allies as we're now seeing in the
Middle East, and we will not waiver, We will not
turn back from our investment in Israel. Bods.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well, I'm glad to hear that, and I think a
lot of our listeners would agree with you on that
stance as well. So I appreciate the quick little thumbnail
perspective on that. Yeah, we mentioned, you know, treasury secretaries.
I would imagine you've got an opinion as somebody who
manages the money for the state of Ohio and doing
so very well. By the way, President Elect Trump's pick
for Treasury Secretary, Scott Descent, your thoughts on him when
(05:02):
Trump and he had a couple of options too, By
the way, your thoughts on Scott Descent.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Look, I think he's a phenomenal pick for Treasury secretary.
Let me tell you Trump is going to boil the
ocean in Washington, DC. He is turning things completely upside
down with his picks. I love this guy. I mean
the Treasury secretary that he's picked out percent. He has
laid out a three point plan and it all has
to do with threes and it's really smart. So the
(05:31):
first three is three percent growth, and we're going to
get there by tax cuts. Trump's tax cuts are going
to be permanent. That's going to help out every single
citizen in the United States of America. No taxes on
Social Security. I love that. For our elderly here in
the state of Ohio. No taxes on overtime. That union
carpenter that goes to work every day and then works
(05:52):
additional over forty hours, no tax on that, and then
no tax on tips for our waitresses and the people
that help us service economy. I think that's phenomenal. So
all of that's going to juice the growth in the
United States of America. That's the three percent growth, three
million additional barrels of oil or oil equivalent a day.
(06:14):
That's going to help us with our energy costs. It's
going to drive our energy costs down. We're going to
be energy independent we're actually going to export that energy.
There's going to be money coming into the United States.
And here's the beautiful thing. It hurts Russia and Iran,
all right, because it's going to drive the price of
oil down and we're going to become the dominant energy
player in the world. And then the third three is
(06:35):
three percent deficits of GDP by the time we get
to twenty twenty eight. And that's the DOGE, that's the
Department of Government Efficiency and cutting the heck out of
the funeral bureaucracy is just way too big.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Everything you just said is music to my ears, my friend,
everything you just said is just absolutely glorious. Speaking with
Robert Spragg, Treasure of the State of Ohio, I want
to talk for a second, and I do think the
sense reports Trump's tariffs. What are your thoughts on tariffs
because it's kind of a polarizing topic. I mean, here's
some of these economists, and a lot of these are,
(07:09):
you know, theoretical economists that don't really practice it. They
don't practice economy in a practical sense. They just it's
all on paper. They say, well, it's gonna cause inflation,
the price of things are going to go high. I
always say, well, why didn't they when he imposed tariffs
the first time? And if they were so bad, why
did President Biden keep them in place? So your thoughts
generally on Trump and his thoughts on tariffs.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, Well, you know, if you want a practical trade policy,
I suggest everybody comes and they see when our trade
policy has done Toledo, Ohio, or Accres for deep or
Youngstown all right, or my little town of Finlay, Ohio
and Northwest Ohio or Fostoria, and the reality is that
our trade policies have sapped our strength as ohioans, our
(07:54):
industrial base, and has gone overseas. That's the reality of
what has happened over my entire adult lifetime here in
the state of Ohio. As matter fact, I could have
had a job in the private sector. I came back
to Ohio specifically because I didn't feel my state was
doing well. We have such incredible potential. We've got infrastructure
you can't replicate anyplace else. We got water, we've got energy,
(08:14):
we've got rail and highways, and we've got a workforce
that still knows how to produce things and make things.
And we have unlimited energy that got has put underneath
our feet in the appellation reachion of Ohio. It's a
fantastic combination and the sky's the limit for our state.
If we could just get this trade policy right. And
let me tell you, these tariffs are good and they
(08:36):
are appropriate. These countries have been taken advantage of us.
They have been taking tremendous advantage of us, and it's
hurt Ohioans. And I like the way that Vetment is using.
Is going to use these tariffs as a threat to
open up new markets for US, But if they don't comply,
it's going to slap a tariff on them, and it's
going to help and pay pay down our debt and
(08:58):
reduce our deficits smart way to do business.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, there's a lot of bad information out there on tariff,
so I would encourage everybody to study up and read
up on their own. Speaking with Robert Sprague, Treasurer of
the State of Ohio, I got to ask you, Robert,
We've got a soon to be open Senate seat here.
As a Vice president elect, Judy Vance will have to
step away from his Senate seat. We have a governor's
race now less than two years away. Mike Dewan is
(09:24):
going to be turned out here in twenty twenty six.
Do you Ohio Treasurer Robert Spragg have any interest in
either of those offices.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You know, I'm looking at all my options to be
able to serve the people of the state of Ohio
with the skills that I have in my experience. And
I'll tell you I think that as you look at
the United States Senate seed appoint the JD Vance's seat,
it seems to me that the governor is going to
be looking for a couple of different things. Number One,
is that person in it for the right reasons? And
can they legislate on day one? Because it's going to
(09:56):
be fast and furious. Donald Trump is going to turn
this country around, and he needs support in the United
States Senate and it begins with his cabinet appointees. And
the second piece I think is he's going to look
at who can win a primary and who can win
a general in the state of Ohio. And I've won
tough primary racist statewide. I won tough general election races statewide.
(10:17):
As a matter of fact, I was the top vote
getter on the Republican side of the ticket in twenty eighteen.
Led the ticket and I think I'd proven both of
those things, and I think I'm the one candidate that
probably would not draw primary from the right because the
conservative groups like my fiscal policies and what I've done.
So I'm interested in both of those offices and interested
(10:38):
that more importantly, how I can serve my people in
my community and my state in the future
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