Republican James Lathrop wants to bring financial expertise into the treasurer's office

In his spare time, James L. Lathrop likes to read financial statements.

It's a habit that comes in handy in his job as North Kingstown's municipal finance director.

He hopes it will also serve him well in next month's general election, where he is the Republican candidate for general treasurer, facing former Central Falls Mayor James A. Diossa, a Democrat and winner of that party's primary. Lathrop was unopposed in the GOP primary.

Before beginning his career as a municipal finance director, Lathrop, 58, was in private practice in Connecticut as a certified public accountant. He chose the field, in part, because of a mild speech impediment.

"I thought it would be a job I wouldn't have to speak too much," he told The Providence Journal.

He sold the firm to a Fairfield, Connecticut, company that was expanding into Eastern Connecticut after the casinos opened there. That brought him to Hopkinton, Rhode Island, where he became the town's finance director.

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He quickly slashed the job from a full-time position to part-time, he said.

"I'm a big believer in efficiency," he said.

After that, he held similar posts in New London, Connecticut; Westerly; and, now, North Kingstown, while briefly serving as town manager on Block Island.

What Lathrop wants to accomplish as treasurer

Lathrop says his background in finance makes him better suited to the treasurer's job than his opponent, Diossa.

"He's a policy guy who wants to have a career in politics to make changes," said Lathrop. "My whole career is about solving problems."

"Because of my knowledge, I can hire good people," Lathrop said. "Going to Bryant, I have friends on Wall Street."

While former treasurer Gina Raimondo used the office as a stepping stone to the governor's office and, later, the Biden Cabinet, and current treasurer Seth Magaziner hopes it launches him to Congress, Lathrop said he doesn't see it as a rung on the political ladder.

"If I'm elected and reelected, I'll do my eight years, and I'm retiring," he said.

While he's there, Lathrop would hope to bring even greater transparency to the office by disclosing more details about where the state invests its money, who is managing it, for how long, and how much they get paid.

He also would seek to lower the fees the state pays on its investments, from 1.8% to 1.0%.

"It's the advisers that you hire," he said, saying he would shift the state's portfolio to advisers with lower fees.

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He also would like the state to be able to use short-term borrowing, as many municipalities do, to address cash-flow problems.

He cited an example: the federal government postponed the income tax deadline during the COVID-19 pandemic. That forced the state, whose income-tax infrastructure is based on the federal system, to stretch its cash for several months when it also delayed collecting income taxes.

Lathrop said that any money borrowed under such a provision should have to be paid back within 120 days.

He also wants the treasurer's office to do more to help people learn about their personal finances, saying that home budgets can be a source of anxiety.

"It's the unknown that scares people," he said. "How we educate people about finances is important."

He offered a program that he is helping to set up in the North Kingstown schools, where students are put in charge of investing $50,000 of town money. At the end of the program, the students would split any investment gains in the form of scholarships, giving them a real stake in the outcome.

"You can do it with each individual school department," he said.

Lathrop: Politics has no place in treasurer's office

Though he is running as a Republican, Lathrop described himself as a "purple guy," blending the blue and red colors often associated with Democrats and Republicans.

Besides, he said, politics really should have no role in the treasurer's office, whose primary job is managing the state's finances, especially its $10-billion state and municipal employee pension fund.

He said he would manage the pension fund to get the best return for the state's retirees, not to support or oppose any cause.

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"The treasurer's office should not be making social statements," he said. "The office needs to be back [to being] about the treasury."

Though he supports a ban on assault weapons, he said he would invest in a firearms manufacturer if the numbers lined up.

"If I can get 8% instead of 6%, I'm always going to go for the 8%," he said. "If it's a legal entity and it's a good investment, I feel I have a fiduciary responsibility" to get the best return.

Former Central Falls receiver, state employee union endorse Lathrop

Former Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice Robert G. Flanders Jr. has endorsed Lathrop, saying the candidate has the necessary financial experience to be general treasurer.

What may be most surprising about the former jurist's endorsement is that he served as the state-appointed receiver when Central Falls went through bankruptcy, ending as Diossa became mayor.

Flanders told The Journal that the only criticism of Diossa connected to the endorsement of Lathrop is that Flanders thinks Diossa lacks the financial background needed to be treasurer.

In the five statewide races and two congressional races, the largest union for state workers, Council 94, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, endorsed Democrats in every race but one, picking Republican Lathrop over Democrat Diossa.

"Our decision was based on the fact that [Lathrop] is a CPA instead of a politician and wanted to just be treasurer, not use it as a stepping stone," Council 94 President J. Michael Downey said at the time. "That was refreshing to us."

Downey added that the union also had some reservations about Diossa's level of "transparency" about managing the Central Falls pension when he was mayor, and the temporary transfer of $500,000 out of the fund into municipal coffers.

Lathrop's background, unusual hobby

Born in Norwich, Connecticut, he grew up on an 11-acre farm in the nearby town of Bozrah, where his father operated several businesses and his mother was a church secretary and an office manager for the Norwich Bulletin, a newspaper now owned by Gannett, the parent company of The Journal.

Lathrop joined the Army Reserves to pay for college and served six years. He has a bachelor's degree from what is now Bryant University and a master's in public administration from New York University.

Lathrop has been married for 18 years to Mildred "Meme" (Sherman) Lathrop, who works as a buyer for Kenyon Consumer Products and as a certified occupational therapy assistant.

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James Lathrop has a daughter from a previous marriage, Sarah Lathrop, 25, who is a licensed counselor in the Philadelphia school system.

When he's not curling up with a good financial statement, you just might find Lathrop doing a different type of curling.

Lathrop is a member of the Ocean State Curling Club, which pursues the sport involving sliding large stones toward a target on an ice rink while one player uses a broom to influence how the stones slide.

"When you watch it on TV, everybody thinks. 'I could do that,' " said Lathrop, adding that reality doesn't match that expectation.

He joined the club to expose himself to people who don't think like accountants.

"I found myself hanging around too many people like me."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Where Republican candidate for RI treasurer James Lathrop stand