Purse protector: in the election for state treasurer, one candidate says stay the course and the other says a shake-up is overdue.

• Author: Mildenberg, David
• Position: UP FRONT

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It won't get any publicity given the Clinton vs. Trump and McCrory vs. Cooper matchups, but a key election in North Carolina is the contest to replace Janet Cowell as state treasurer.

Unlike many elected positions, treasurer is an actual job, overseeing a $90 billion pension plan, all state and local debt, huge contracts with money managers and a health plan that spends $3 billion annually on 700,000 state employees, retirees and their dependents.

The treasurer's race has parallels to the presidential race. Democrat Dan Blue III is part of a political dynasty, though he has never held elective office. He practices law with his father, state Sen. Dan Blue Jr. The younger Blue thinks Cowell's department is well-run. There's one disagreement: He says she should not have accepted public-company board seats before her term ends in January. The two directorships pay about $300,000 in cash and stock. Her state salary is $125,000.

Republican Dale Folwell can't match Trump's braggadocio, but he is a scrappy ex-motorcycle racer, investment adviser and state representative who wants to shake things up. When he worked in the N.C. Commerce Department, Folwell oversaw elimination of the state's $2.8 billion debt to the feds for unemployment insurance. Oversight of benefits had grown lax, and Folwell's work impressed conservatives and enraged liberals who contend the changes gave needy North Carolinians the shaft. If elected treasurer, Folwell expects to focus on the health plan, which has an unfunded liability expected to reach $37.5 billion by 2020. "It's a huge issue that is the result of 35 years of promises without ever putting...