Larry Pack has a good reputation as an accountant and businessman, having operated an assisted living company until selling it off a few years ago. He was an active member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. He continues to be a respected Republican National Committeeman.

He moved on to serve as a senior advisor to former governor Jim Justice and easily slid into a vacancy as Department of Revenue secretary during Justice’s final year in office. Pack won election unopposed as state treasurer, taking office early in January so that former state treasurer Riley Moore could be sworn in as Congressman Moore.

There is no doubt that Larry Pack has the resume to be a good state treasurer, and his resume would also make him a good candidate for governor of West Virginia one day.

One day. Not today. Not yet.

We are not even to the candidate filing period for candidates wanting to run for midterm elections in 2026. We’re not even close to the 2028 elections, where Gov. Patrick Morrisey is up for a second four-year term. If that happens, I have no doubt Morrisey will be challenged from his right flank in the 2028 Republican primary.

I have no idea if Pack wants to run for governor. During a September sit-down interview I did with Pack, I asked him about this because I was constantly being asked – including by editors – about why Pack had been weighing in on issues that appeared to be outside his role as state treasurer and his near-constant traveling and touring the state.

“I’m very blessed in a lot of ways, but one of the ways is I could retire if I wanted to. God has really blessed me and my family,” Pack said. “But I’ve got a lot of fire in the belly, and in 40 years in the private sector, I’ve got strong views on West Virginia…I’ve got strong views of the direction I think government should go. And I don’t know any way to do anything but just go dead at it.”

Pack is doing the job of state treasurer, let there be no doubt. But he also sees his role as state treasurer as a soap box of sorts to weigh in on any number of issues, including issues not directly under the purview of the State Treasurer’s Office.

That was clear last week when Pack held a press conference to announce his legislative agenda. There is nothing wrong with a member of the Board of Public Works having a legislative agenda, and many do. But usually that agenda revolves around things they want for their elective office.

Pack’s legislative agenda includes items related to the State Treasurer’s Office. Defending the Hope Scholarship educational voucher program from reduced funding or any guardrails? Sure, as the State Treasurer’s Office manages the Hope program. A consumer protection component for the unclaimed property program? Again, makes sense. Term limits for Board of Public Works elected members? He can advocate for term limits for his office.

But using the State Treasurer’s Office to advocate for a temporary tax break on tips and overtime, changes to the school aid formula or loosening regulations on county school systems for firing and personnel decisions, and bringing the minimum teacher pay up to $50,000 per year? What role does the State Treasurer’s Office have with any of that other than signing the checks?

I’m not saying Pack can’t have an opinion on these issues, but will the State Treasurer’s Office be drafting the legislation for these things? Will the State Treasurer’s office staff be knocking on the doors of lawmakers to find sponsors and supporters?

Also, when someone tells me they have a legislative agenda, I assume they at least have the bones of what a draft bill could be. But when asked about his plan for reforming the school aid formula, Pack could only articulate the issues with the formula we all know need changed, but he didn’t have specifics on how a re-tooled school aid formula would work.

“When it gets down to those details, that’s probably not my strong suit, but I do strongly believe that once we do that calculation and we write that county a check for $10 million or $100 million, it should be up to them how they spend it,” Pack said.

Sure. And I can tell you that lawmakers, such as Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Amy Grady, R-Mason, agree. But so far, even lawmakers have been reluctant to dive into reforming the school aid formula due to its complexity. I’m sure they would appreciate any draft bill language to do those changes. But I didn’t get a sense that Pack has a comprehensive plan.

Look, I’m just a referee calling balls and strikes. And many people ask me whether Pack is A) considering a run for governor or B) simply trolling Morrisey as a representative of the prior Justice administration. Afterall, Morrisey has taken several swipes at his predecessor, not by name but certainly in a sub-tweeting kind of way. He did so most recently in his Energy Summit speech.

I don’t blame Pack for defending the honor of the previous two-term administration of now-U.S. Sen. Jim Justice. I just think that there needs to be some distance between Pack as state treasurer and Pack as the politician.

And look, I get many state officials use their offices as platforms and stepping stones. But I can’t say I’ve seen any past Board of Public Works member specifically try to compete with a sitting governor. Everyone is seeing it and everyone is noticing, and there can only be one governor at a time.

(Adams is the state government reporter for Ogden Newspapers. He can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)