Campaign for Cape County treasurer low-key

It's a mud-free race for the two candidates for Cape Girardeau County Treasurer.

Democratic candidate Deborah McBride Young and incumbent Roger Hudson, a Republican, are concentrating on what they would each bring to the upcoming term of office.

Before his 2004 election, Hudson worked in the poultry export business, handling million-dollar transactions and "buying, selling, negotiating, shipping and collecting these transactions," he said.

Since taking office, he's written an investment policy for the county and worked to make his office better reflect standards set by state statutes, he said.

Young said she spent five years at Southeast Missouri State University as a billing specialist and three years as an office manager for the Community Counseling Center in Cape Girardeau. She said she also works as an associate pastor for St. James AME Church in Cape Girardeau.

A native of Southern Illinois, Young, 51, said she has lived in Cape Girardeau County for 18 years.

Hudson grew up in Perryville and thought he might be that city's mayor one day. He said throughout his life he has wanted to hold public office.

"Most people do. Very few people jump in," he said. "I've always felt like I would be involved that way, a leader in some way. I'm not saying that in a big way ... I'm the guy you call to help put your roof on."

Young said she is making her second run for a county office — she filed for the county administrator's job in the 2004 election — because she doesn't like the way the county's women, children and senior citizens are treated.

"We're overlooked, and I don't feel the way the government is set up now that we're treated equally," she said. "I want to give the appearance that you have more than one set of individuals living in this county. There's a diversity that makes up the county, but there's a very elite few taken care of by roads, parks and bridge [departments]."

Young said she has an associate degree in business administration from Shawnee Community College in Ullin, Ill., and has taken some paralegal courses through Kaplan University, which offers online degree programs.

The treasurer's job, she said, is "the orderly and honorable administration of public finances."

If elected, she intends to establish an investment advisory board made up of the treasurer and two county commissioners, she said.

Hudson has raised 12 times the amount of money in campaign contributions Young has. Working with a $1,000 war chest has made her more creative in seeking out voters, she said.

"What I lacked in money, I made up in walking door to door and making telephone calls."

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

388-3646

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