Moore

Moore

ELKINS — Riley Moore is campaigning to be the state treasurer for West Virginia, but he doesn’t want to hold the job indefinitely.

“I believe in term limits,” Moore told The Inter-Mountain during a recent visit to Elkins. “If you know you’ve got no more than eight years to do something, then your feet are going to be put to the fire to get this stuff done.”

In the Nov. 3 general election, Moore, the Republican nominee for treasurer, is running against incumbent Democrat John Perdue, who has been in the position for the past 24 years.

“I’m not trying to make a career out of being the treasurer,” Moore noted. “I want to help the state, get it on a clear path to fiscal responsibility and success, and leave it better than I found it.

“If you can be in office for 30 years, what’s the rush?” Moore said. “I think it should be two terms and you’re out. The governor is two terms. Let’s make all the executive offices have a limit of two terms.”

Moore, a former delegate from the 67th district, also believes the Treasurer’s Office should be more transparent.

“When the market goes down as it has during the pandemic, it then affects the investments for the state,” Moore said. “(Perdue) did not say one word about the state of the investments here in West Virginia. I want transparency, accountability and modernization in that office. People deserve to know. That’s their money.”

Moore is also proposing what he calls a “Blue Collar Savings Plan.”

“In West Virginia, 25% of our adults have a college degree, but the rest of our population doesn’t,” he said. “There is a college saving plan in place for college students, but I think we need to something to help the other 75% of the population.”

Moore said he will push for the creation of a Jump Start Savings Plan, an educational savings account for non- college learning.

Moore earned an apprenticeship certificate in welding from the C. S. Monroe Technology Center, a bachelor’s degree in government from George Mason University, and a master’s degree in strategic security studies from the National Defense University. He also served as a staffer on the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Moore’s grandfather, Arch A. Moore Jr., served as governor of West Virginia from 1969-1977 and from 1985-1989. His aunt, Shelley Moore Capito, is a Republican representing West Virginia in the U.S. Senate.

Moore and his wife, Guillermina, live in Harpers Ferry. They have two children.