Marlo Oaks
Marlo Oaks (Republican Party) is the Utah Treasurer. He assumed office on July 20, 2021. His current term ends on January 1, 2029.
Oaks (Republican Party) ran for re-election for Utah Treasurer. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Oaks completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Marlo Oaks was born in Provo, Utah. Oaks earned a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University in 1994 and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2000. At the time of his appointment, Oaks was a managing director at Crewe Capital, an investment banking firm. His career experience also includes working as an allocator at Farmers Insurance Group and Intermountain Healthcare.[1][2]
Elections
2024
See also: Utah Treasurer election, 2024
General election
General election for Utah Treasurer
Incumbent Marlo Oaks defeated Neil Hansen and Miles Pomeroy in the general election for Utah Treasurer on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Marlo Oaks (R)  | 64.9 | 920,760 |
 | Neil Hansen (D) | 29.7 | 420,883 | |
 | Miles Pomeroy (Utah Forward Party) | 5.4 | 76,212 | |
| Total votes: 1,417,855 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Utah Forward Party primary election
The Utah Forward Party primary election was canceled. Miles Pomeroy advanced from the Utah Forward Party primary for Utah Treasurer.
Democratic convention
Democratic convention for Utah Treasurer
Neil Hansen advanced from the Democratic convention for Utah Treasurer on April 27, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Neil Hansen (D) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican convention
Republican convention for Utah Treasurer
Incumbent Marlo Oaks advanced from the Republican convention for Utah Treasurer on April 27, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Marlo Oaks (R) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Utah Forward Party convention
Utah Forward Party convention for Utah Treasurer
Miles Pomeroy advanced from the Utah Forward Party convention for Utah Treasurer on April 27, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Miles Pomeroy (Utah Forward Party) | 100.0 | 29 |
| Total votes: 29 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Oaks in this election.
2022
See also: Utah Treasurer election, 2022
General election
Special general election for Utah Treasurer
Incumbent Marlo Oaks defeated Joseph Geddes Buchman, Thomas Horne, and Warren Rogers in the special general election for Utah Treasurer on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Marlo Oaks (R) | 74.1 | 726,482 |
 | Joseph Geddes Buchman (L) | 9.9 | 97,171 | |
 | Thomas Horne (United Utah Party) | 9.6 | 94,265 | |
| Warren Rogers (Independent American Party of Utah) | 6.4 | 62,295 | ||
| Total votes: 980,213 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Marlo Oaks advanced from the special Republican primary for Utah Treasurer.
Independent American Party of Utah primary election
The Independent American Party of Utah primary election was canceled. Warren Rogers advanced from the special Independent American Party of Utah primary for Utah Treasurer.
Libertarian primary election
The Libertarian primary election was canceled. Joseph Geddes Buchman advanced from the special Libertarian primary for Utah Treasurer.
United Utah Party primary election
The United Utah Party primary election was canceled. Thomas Horne advanced from the special United Utah Party primary for Utah Treasurer.
Republican convention
Special Republican convention for Utah Treasurer
Incumbent Marlo Oaks advanced from the special Republican convention for Utah Treasurer on April 23, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Marlo Oaks (R) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Independent American Party of Utah convention
Special Independent American Party of Utah convention for Utah Treasurer
Warren Rogers advanced from the special Independent American Party of Utah convention for Utah Treasurer on April 23, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | Warren Rogers (Independent American Party of Utah) | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Libertarian convention
Special Libertarian convention for Utah Treasurer
Joseph Geddes Buchman advanced from the special Libertarian convention for Utah Treasurer on April 9, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Joseph Geddes Buchman (L) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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United Utah Party convention
Special United Utah Party convention for Utah Treasurer
Thomas Horne advanced from the special United Utah Party convention for Utah Treasurer on April 23, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Thomas Horne (United Utah Party) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Issues
ESG
| Environmental, social, and corporate governance |
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| Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more. |
As treasurer, Oaks took positions in opposition to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), an approach to investing and corporate decision-making. [3]
State financial officers, including treasurers, auditors, and controllers, are responsible for auditing other government offices, managing payroll, and overseeing pensions. In some states, certain SFOs are also responsible for investing state retirement and trust funds.
In April 2022, he said ESG was “about controlling and forcing behaviors” and an effort “to do through capital markets what activists and their government allies have been unable to do through democratic processes.”[4]
West Virginia letter supporting financial system access for fuel industry (November 2021)
Oakes was a co-signer on a November 22, 2021, letter sent by West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore (R) and addressed: “To Whom It May Concern in the U.S. Banking Industry.” The signatories were the treasurers, auditors and comptrollers from fifteen states. The letter identified them as the “fiduciaries and stewards of more than $600 billion” in combined investment capital.
The letter began: “We are writing to notify you that we will be taking collective action in response to the ongoing and growing economic boycott of traditional energy production industries by U.S. financial institutions.” The signatories wrote their individual actions would be tailored to fit each state’s unique laws and economic position, but that the coordinated objective would be “to select financial institutions that support a free market and are not engaged in harmful fossil fuel industry boycotts for our states’ financial services contracts.”[5]
“Traditional energy plays an important role in Utah’s economy, particularly in rural Utah,” said Oaks. “Cutting off financing for businesses engaged in economically essential activities to advance a radical social agenda destroys livelihoods, increases costs and does little to advance the desire we all have to breathe cleaner air and improve the environment.”[6]
Opposition to U.S. Department of Labor ESG rules (December 2021)
In December 2021, Oaks and 35 other state financial officers and attorneys general submitted a public comment to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in opposition to a proposed DOL rule that would encourage financial managers to consider ESG factors when selecting investments for private sector pension plans.[7]
Titled the “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights,” the rule would state that pension plan managers “can make investment decisions that reflect climate change and other environmental, social, or governance (‘ESG’) considerations, including climate-related financial risk, and choose economically targeted investments (‘ETIs’) selected, in part, for benefits apart from the investment return.”[7]
Oaks and the other officials wrote that the rule “would allow employers and investment managers to invest employee retirement savings in a way that benefits social causes and corporate goals even if it adversely affects the return to the employee” and that it would permit “proxy voting in ways that support ESG investment goals contrary to shareholder interests.”[7]
The state officials wrote that they were “opposed to investment managers and employers being encouraged or mandated to consider ESG factors and protected from legal action when they do” and that the DOL’s proposed rule “makes what should be a financial decision into a political one.”[7]
“The proposed rule would politicize retirement savings plans rather than preserve the fiduciary loyalty owed to plan participants who are counting on financial returns to fund their retirement,” said Oaks in a news release regarding the letter. [8]
Opposition to Federal Reserve Bank appointee (January 2022)
In January 2022, Oaks was one of 25 members of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) who co-signed a letter to President Joe Biden, asking him to withdraw the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to the Federal Reserve Bank Board of Governors.[9]
In a May 2020 New York Times commentary titled “Why Is the Fed Spending So Much Money on a Dying Industry?” Raskin wrote that Federal Reserve policy decisions should oppose investments in fossil fuels and support investments in the renewable energy sector: “The decisions the Fed makes on our behalf should build toward a stronger economy with more jobs in innovative industries — not prop up and enrich dying ones.”[10]
Oaks and the signatories on the SFOF letter wrote that they were concerned Raskin “would use the supervisory authority as Vice-Chair for Supervision at the Federal Reserve Bank to disrupt the private banking sector, reliable energy supplies, and the U.S. economy.”[9]
In March 2022, Raskin withdrew her name from consideration for the Federal Reserve position.[11]
Letter regarding use of ESG criteria by S&P Global Ratings (April 2022)
In April 2022, Oaks and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R) organized a letter sent “on behalf of the State of Utah” to the leadership of S&P Global Ratings, opposing the firm’s policy of publishing “ESG credit indicators as part of its credit ratings for states and state subdivisions.” The letter was co-signed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, the leadership of both the Utah House and Senate, and the entire Utah Congressional delegation.[12][4]
In a statement regarding the letter, Oaks said S&P’s policy represented “a political score that, intentionally or not, can result in market participants using economic force to drive a political agenda” and that the “focus on ESG when evaluating state and local governments threatens to obscure real investment risks, undermine faith in the impartiality of credit ratings, and penalize states whose politics do not align with the political interests behind the ratings system.”[4][13]
Campaign themes
2024
NOTE: Oaks' campaign on April 4, 2024, added additional information to the question "What responsibilities of this office do you personally consider the most important?"
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Marlo Oaks completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Oaks' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Strengthening Utah's AAA credit rating.
- Defending Utah's economy.
- Championing economic freedom and self-sufficiency.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2022
Marlo Oaks completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Oaks' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Treasurer Oaks has been an outspoken defender of Utah’s unparalleled credit rating, the importance of economic freedom, and is the only state treasurer with institutional investment management experience. In 2022 he worked with state and Congressional elected officials to push back against credit rating agencies publishing political scores that could harm Utah’s ability to borrow money in financial markets. His efforts have garnered national attention and inspired other states to address similar issues in protecting their state credit ratings.
- Marlo is fighting to protect Utah’s triple-AAA credit rating, a critical asset of the state. Outside interests are developing political scoring mechanisms that undermine sovereignty and harm borrowing costs. Marlo is fighting to protect Utah’s ability to borrow money at the lowest rates in the capital markets.
- Marlo is a champion for economic freedom. He understands this is the foundational right from which all other freedoms emanate. Marlo is fighting to protect and defend our free enterprise system from those who would seek to coerce behavior using economic force. He has spoken and written extensively about this critical issue both locally and nationally and is a recognized expert in defending competitive markets.
- Marlo has successfully managed multi-billion dollar investment portfolios. He understands fiduciary standards and is working to protect and defend beneficiaries of state investment monies to ensure their interests are protected from politicized investing. Having institutional investment management experience is critical and Marlo is the only state treasurer in the country with this background.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
| Utah | State Executive Elections | News and Analysis |
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External links
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Candidate Utah Treasurer |
Officeholder Utah Treasurer |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 9, 2022
- ↑ Utah Governor, "GOV. SPENCER J. COX NAMES MARLO OAKS AS NEW STATE TREASURER," June 29, 2021
- ↑ Daily Caller, “Tucker Carlson Guest Exposes How Wall Street Wokeness Is Making Inflation Way Worse.” June 15, 2022
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 State of Utah, “State of Utah letter to S&P Global Ratings RE: ESG Credit Indicators - State of Utah. From Gov. Spencer J. Cox, et al.,” April 21, 2022
- ↑ West Virginia Office of the State Treasurer, “Letter: To Whom It May Concern in the U.S. Banking Industry,” November 22, 2021
- ↑ Utah State Treasurer, “State Treasurer Marlo M. Oaks and State Auditor John Dougall join fellow state financial officers in push back against bank boycotts of traditional energy industries,” December 1, 2021”
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 State of Utah, “Comment to Department of Labor, Office of Regulations and Interpretations, from Utah and undersigned states. ATTN: Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights,” December 13, 2021
- ↑ State of Utah, “Attorney General Sean Reyes, State Treasurer Marlo Oaks and State Auditor John Dougall Lead 23 States in Letter Opposing Proposed Department of Labor Rule That Puts Retirement Savings at Risk,” December 15, 2021
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 State Financial Officers Foundation, “Letter to President Joe Biden from State Financial Officers Foundation,” January 31, 2021
- ↑ CNBC, “Republicans grill Fed nominee Raskin over past views on climate and big energy companies,” February 3, 2022
- ↑ New York Post, “Sarah Raskin withdraws Federal Reserve nomination after Joe Manchin blocks Biden pick,” March 15, 2022
- ↑ State of Utah Office of the Treasurer, “Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks Statement: Congressional Delegation, State Officials Send Letter Blasting S&P Global for Publishing ESG Credit Indicators,” April 21, 2022
- ↑ State of Utah Office of the Treasurer, “Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks Statement: Congressional Delegation, State Officials Send Letter Blasting S&P Global for Publishing ESG Credit Indicators,” April 21, 2022
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