Dan Rutherford

Illinois Given Negative Credit Rating

Rich Egger — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 23:53:42 +0000

Moody's Investors Services downgraded the credit outlook for the state of Illinois from stable to negative. The service cited the "severe pension funding shortfall."

Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford said Illinois has the worst credit rating of any state in the US.

“If this doesn't get fixed, then I would hope that those out there that look for services of their Illinois government, to understand that there will be absolutely no ability to increase or even perhaps sustain their funding level," Rutherford said.

Congressman Aaron Schock and Political Centrism

Bill Knight — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 18:14:55 +0000

Congressman Aaron Schock shouldn’t have it both ways. The two-term Republican from Illinois’ 18^th District has been mentioned as a possible GOP candidate for governor in 2014, and after last month’s election losses, the 31 year old has been quoted as saying his party should move toward the middle of the road.

Although Schock was easily re-elected, his opponent was neither well-funded nor strong, and within Schock’s district, 8 of 10 counties between Peoria and the Quad Cities voted for President Obama.

Illinois Bond Rating Takes a Hit

Rich Egger — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 23:30:18 +0000

Standard & Poor's downgraded Illinois' credit rating Wednesday, citing concerns over the state's inability to address its massively underfunded employee pension plans.

The action was taken less than two weeks after a special session in which Illinois lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on changing the state pension systems. Illinois still ranks 49th among the states, better only than California.

State Treasurer Wants to Return Unclaimed Property

James Lenz — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 21:07:06 +0000

Illinois' state treasurer is holding more than $1.5 billion in unclaimed property. Treasurer Dan Rutherford says his office is “aggressively” trying to find the owners.

He says, “Each week we add new inventory to the searchable database. And I strongly encourage people to look for both their name, a family member's name.”