Cape County treasurer -- Roger Hudson

Name: Roger Hudson

Party: Republican

Birth: July 8, 1953, Perryville, Mo.

Spouse, children: Elizabeth; Seth, 23, Zach, 21

Occupation: Cape Girardeau County Treasurer

Employer: People of Cape Girardeau County

Businesses owned: None

Public Office Held: Cape Girardeau County Treasurer, 2004-present

Past Political Campaign: Cape Girardeau County Treasurer, 2004.

Question 1: What is the most important issue facing the treasurer's office?

Answer: Currently, sales tax revenue is coming in lower than budgeted and possibly less than 2007, and interest rates are going down

Question 2: What in your background or education makes you qualified for this office?

Answer: I have a well-rounded work history including employment in state government, sales management and international marketing. In the export business I sold and collected multimillion dollar deals via international irrevocable letters of credit and bank-to-bank cash against documents transactions to the amount of more than $100 million. The organizational requirements of buying, selling, negotiating, shipping, and collecting these transactions were tremendous and well prepared me for anything.

Question 3: Why are you better qualified than your opponent?

Answer: Obviously, I already have four years' experience of on-the-job training for treasurer and have spent untold hours reading statutes and attending training and seminars to make me more effective. My life-long traits of honesty, good character and integrity are important issues for the voters to evaluate. The office handles about 34 million dollars a year.

Question 4: What key actions will you take as a financial manager to minimize the effect of the economic downturn on the county?

Answer: We have already realized that revenue is, at best, flat, and most departments are spending less than budgeted and to-date spending is well behind revenue. I will participate in the budget hearings with the commission and do my best to cut fat out of the budget and defer most new ways to spend taxpayer dollars. The county must learn to do "just as much" with less, and they will.

Question 5: What will you do to preserve the treasurer's integrity while in office?

Answer: I operate the treasurer's office as professionally as possible and welcome the public, press, and other county officers or workers to come discuss all concerns. I've found one of the best ways to make people feel good about what you are doing is to share the information that you have -- in my case, reports and spreadsheets on accounts, fund balances, sales tax, cost comparisons and projections. The treasurer's office is "now" the place where ideas start.