CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS TREASURER : Buchanan Asks Apology From Hayes

Angela M. (Bay) Buchanan, seeking the Republican nomination for state treasurer, released a personal credit report Tuesday that shows she pays her bills on time.

Then she demanded an apology from her June primary election opponent, Treasurer Thomas W. Hayes, for making her credit history a campaign issue.

“They have leaked that I have a bad credit rating. I have never had a bad credit rating,” Buchanan said during a breakfast meeting with Times reporters.

Hayes touched off the issue nearly a month ago by releasing his own personal credit report, along with his state and federal tax returns, and calling on other candidates for treasurer to do the same thing.

Even before Hayes did this, a top aide was speculating to reporters that Buchanan might have a spotty credit history.

The issue initially caught Buchanan, a former U.S. treasurer, off guard. While candidates for state office increasingly are releasing copies of state and federal tax returns in the interest of open government, it is virtually unheard of for candidates to release credit reports. Buchanan said she reacted slowly because she wondered whether Hayes knew something she didn’t.

But now, after going to TRW Credit Data Services and getting a clean bill of health, Buchanan said, she is incensed.

“I have never had a credit rating problem. I have never left a debt anywhere,” she said, criticizing the incumbent treasurer for suggesting otherwise. “Mr. Hayes owes me an apology. To release such a leak as that, which is absolutely without foundation, is entirely inappropriate.”

Brian Lungren, Hayes’ campaign manager, said no apology will be forthcoming.

“We feel there is no apology in order. We want to thank her for following our lead,” Lungren said. “The only purpose Tom Hayes had in releasing his tax returns and credit history was to let the people of California know he knows how to manage money.”

Kathleen Brown, the major Democrat in the race, has released her state and federal tax returns but not a credit report.

In other comments Tuesday, Buchanan--who as U.S. treasurer managed the federal savings bond program for small investors--said that if elected she would study the possibility of fashioning a similar program for the state. California each year sells billions of dollars in bonds. But they are issued in minimum denominations of $5,000 each and are not sold directly to the public. Investors who want the bonds have to purchase them through Wall Street brokerage firms or banks and pay a commission or fee.

Buchanan said her experience in Washington showed that senior treasury officials “had very little patience” with the savings bond programs. “They must have told me half a dozen times, ‘Just eliminate the whole thing, Bay, and let’s move on,’ ” she said.

But she said the program was a boon to small investors because they could have savings for bonds deducted from their paychecks and put away for such things as home purchases and college tuition for their children.

“There should be some convenient way for them (to purchase state bonds). It is something I will definitely be looking into,” she said.