SPECIAL REPORT / ELECTION PREVIEW : DECISION ’94 / A Voter’s Guide to State and Local Elections : Statewide Offices : A look at the major candidates in contested races. : TREASURER

The officeholder is the state’s banker and pays out whatever state funds the controller authorizes. The office administers and clears an average of 400,000 state checks each day. Taxpayers rely on the treasurer to protect and nurture the state’s $26-billion investment portfolio. In addition, the treasurer administers the sale of state bonds and services outstanding bonds. The treasurer is also a member of dozens of state financing boards, committees and commissions, and as a result has a voice on a wide range of topics. The salary is $90,000 a year.

MAJOR CANDIDATES

A fight between two Democrats: state Sen. David A. Roberti of Van Nuys and Phil Angelides, former head of the California Democratic Party.

Matt Fong is running unopposed for the Republican nomination.

ISSUES

The real issue is who will best manage the state’s investments and bonds, but Angelides and Roberti have picked out some side issues to try to distinguish themselves. Angelides says his main focus is on investing and creating jobs, but he also highlights his views on abortion rights. Roberti, who opposes abortion rights, reminds voters that he fought off a recall by groups that were angry over his assault weapon control bill. He casts himself in the role of a tough crime fighter and says he would bring decades of government experience to the job. Fong says that as treasurer he would oppose new taxes and blow the whistle on wasteful government spending.

HISTORY

Before the incumbent, Kathleen Brown, brought her celebrity surname to the office, the late political powerhouse Jesse M. Unruh held a lock on the seat through four election victories.

PROFILES

PHIL ANGELIDES

* Age: 40.

* Residence: Sacramento.

* Current position: Real estate developer.

* Education: Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

* Career highlights: Chairman of the state Democratic Party for two years, until April, 1993. He was credited with helping candidates get elected through his efforts at fund raising, recruiting volunteers and registering 1.2 million new Democrats. Angelides took the party’s helm after gaining attention for building a large-scale planned community in suburban Sacramento. The housing development was part of a wave of new communities designed to get neighbors mingling again, with a town center, front porches, bicycle paths and access to mass transit. Before that, Angelides worked in state government for eight years, first for the state Department for Housing and Community Development and later as chief of staff for the Assembly majority leader. This is his first campaign for public office.

* Family: Married, three daughters.

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DAVID A. ROBERTI

* Age: 55.

* Residence: Los Angeles.

* Current position: State senator.

* Education: Bachelor’s degree Loyola University, law degree USC.

* Career highlights: A senator representing the San Fernando Valley, Roberti headed the Legislature’s upper chamber for 13 years as Senate president pro tem before voter-approved term limits forced him to hand off the post earlier this year. Roberti has served 28 years in the Legislature, first as an assemblyman. He became known as a consensus-builder on contentious issues such as the state budget. Roberti authored legislation in 1989 to stem the sale and distribution of military-style assault weapons in the wake of a Stockton schoolyard shooting. Firearms rights advocates led a recall effort against him, but Roberti held on to his seat after a costly local campaign. Before winning an Assembly seat in 1966, Roberti was a deputy state attorney general.

* Family: Married, no children.