Advertisement Many undecided voters in race for Bay State treasurer 3 Democrats running for office Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Three Democrats are vying to succeed state Treasurer Steven Grossman, a Democrat who is running for governor, but polls suggest many voters remain undecided.State Rep. Thomas Conroy, state Sen. Barry Finegold and Deborah Goldberg, a former chair of the Brookline Board of Selectman whose family founded the Stop & Shop grocery chain, face off in Tuesday's primary. The winner goes on to face Republican Michael Heffernan and Green-Rainbow candidate Ian Jackson in November.The treasurer oversees the state's $60 billion pension fund as well as the state lottery and other operations.Recent polling suggests a significant portion of likely Democratic primary voters are still unfamiliar with the candidates and remain undecided.The three Democrats all support divesting the state pension fund from fossil fuel companies. They tout the importance of using the treasurer's office to promote "financial literacy" to Bay State residents. And they are all committed to protecting state lottery profits - a portion of which are passed on to cities and towns - if casinos are allowed to open in Massachusetts.Goldberg, 60, of Brookline, has lined up a number of labor union endorsements, from the United Food and Commercial Workers to the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts and the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts.An unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor in 2006, she also registered the largest amount of donations this year: $1.3 million as of Aug. 31, a figure that includes nearly $600,000 from her personal wealth. Finegold raised $786,339 and Conroy raised about $302,703 over the same period.But Goldberg, who holds an MBA from Harvard University and a law degree from Boston College, has also had to address her involvement in two charitable foundations that lost millions of dollars to Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff.Goldberg, who sits on the board of directors for the Goldberg Family Foundation and the Sidney & Esther Raab Charitable Foundation, has said that the two foundations' investments were handled by an outside manager.If elected, Goldberg says she'll advocate for higher pay for women and push for establishing a state-owned public bank to provide financing for transportation, schools and other infrastructure projects. She also wants to create a college savings plan and offer free tax preparation services for low-income families.Conroy, 52, of Wayland, says his experience in the state legislature, where he chairs the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, as well as his years working in the financial sector as a management consultant makes him the best fit for the job.He points to legislation he sponsored and that passed into law allowing the state to manage investments for municipal pension funds, a move he says has helped "increase returns, lower long-term liability and protect retirees." Earlier this year, Conroy, who holds master's degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Boston University, also helped pass legislation raising the state's $8 per hour minimum wage to a U.S.-leading $11 per hour by 2017.As treasurer, he says wants to boost the amount of cash the state deposits into Massachusetts banks as part of a partnership meant to encourage the issuing of more credit to local small businesses. Conroy also wants to see if the treasurer's office can offer low-interest loans for college students.Finegold, 43, of Andover, has emphasized his middle-class upbringing, as the son of two public school teachers who worked two jobs - including one unloading grocery trucks - to pay his way through law school. He proposes programs meant to help women, minorities and veterans access financing to start small businesses.Finegold, an attorney with a law degree from the Massachusetts School of Law in Andover and a master's degree from Harvard, was elected to the state senate in 2010 after serving in the state House of Representatives for 14 years. The chair of the legislature's Joint Committee on Election Law, he touts his role in helping pass legislation to overhaul state elections, including providing for early voting.