Rutherford wants to discuss economy on Quincy stop

10 months, 1 week ago by Jamie Busen and Denise Donley

The state treasurer is in town Wednesday and Thursday

State Treasurer Dan Rutherford held a meet and greet Wednesday evening at Tony's Too, and is meeting with members of the media and local civic leaders Thursday morning.

He wants to discuss the economic issues in Illinois, address concerns as well as touch upon the "positive things we have going on."

"Small business is the backbone of the employment base for America," said Rutherford Tuesday afternoon during an interview with WTAD. He said larger corporations are a tremendous asset to the state, but small business "is where it's all at."

"I want to hear what they have to say, particularly in regards to jobs and job creation," he said.

Rutherford is also touting his ICash program, where people can go to search unclaimed property. He said lately they've added an additional 780,000 names to the database. That can be found at icash.illinois.gov

He said he has other programs - like the Linked Deposit one - that he's trying to make well-known.

"People can take advantage of government resources that help the private sector," he said.

Rutherford said the biggest concern about Illinois in his opinion is the "debt we are carrying. We still have issues with the state public pension system ... unfunded liability."

However, he continued, he doesn't want to sound like a pessimist. Because these things can be fixed.

"We are going to need to have true leadership step up out of Springfield and address this," he said. "I have supported the Governor's efforts to try to do it. It was supposed to be done at the end of May ... it's time for some leadership to step up and get this thing resolved because it continues to be a drain on where we are on economics in the state of Illinois."