Chris Slusser, Republican candidate for Madison County Treasurer in IL
Name: Chris Slusser
Political party (if applicable): Republican
Age as of June 28, 2022: 44
Campaign website or social media page: www.slusser4treasurer.com, @chris.slusser.treasurer
Office seeking: Madison County Treasurer
Are you an incumbent? Yes
Previous offices sought: Madison County Board in 2008, 2016; Madison County Treasurer in 2018
Occupation: Madison County Treasurer
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Please list highlights of your civic involvement: My civic involvement includes service as Madison County Treasurer; on the Madison County Board, 2008-12, 2016; Riverbend Family Ministries: Board president from 2008-14, treasurer in 2019-20, advisory board member from 2020-present; Baptist Children’s Home & Family Services: Trustee from 2018-present; Wood River Township Hospital Board: Chairman 2013-14; Baptist Foundation of Illinois: Trustee from 2008-10; SIUE Alumni Board of Trustees: Vice president of finance from 2004-10; First Baptist Church Bethalto: Deacon, assistant treasurer, safety team member, youth leader; and Rape & Violence Ends Now (RAVEN): Board president from 2007-11, vice president from 2005-07, volunteer group facilitator from 2010-12.
Who are your top three campaign contributors? My top three campaign contributors are Bold Enterprises: $2,000; Friends of Tom Haine: $2,000; and Kurt & Julie Johnson: $1,000.
Why are you running? I have a passion to do right by other people and serve them with excellence. I’ve enjoyed every single day I’ve served as Madison County treasurer and I have an excellent staff that I treat like family. I take my job very seriously, we’ve gotten outstanding results, and I enjoy meeting and interacting with the taxpayers who I serve on a daily basis. Not a single day goes by that I forget who I work for: The taxpayers of Madison County. I want to serve in a way that always maintains the trust of the taxpayers and will make my young daughters proud of their dad.
What is the top issue in your race, and how would you address it? The County’s investments. When I took over in December 2016, the county’s investment portfolio was grossly underperforming, earning an average of just $826,000 per year in income (just $4.1 million over the previous five years) and was largely invested in CDs and money market accounts. Utilizing my 15 years of investment experience, I overhauled the entire portfolio, diversifying the investments, adding municipal and corporate bonds, in addition to mortgage backed securities.
We’re now on pace to earn a record $5.2 million in investment income this year. We’ve averaged nearly $4 million per year in income, totaling nearly $20 million from 2017-22, an increase of nearly $16 million. The huge increase in investment income has provided a lot of additional revenue to help fund the county’s budget, and allowed the county board to cut or freeze the county’s property tax levy five years in a row. Our investment portfolio has been the top performing portfolio of any county in the state for the past four years.
My opponent worked as chief deputy treasurer under my predecessor from 2013-16. He also served as the chief investment officer and his inexperience led to the worst investment returns in our county’s history. Incredibly, he is actually pledging to return the county’s investment portfolio back to the strategies he employed six years ago. This would be disastrous and lead to mass layoffs and/or property tax increases to cover all of the lost revenues. Those losses would be in excess of $4 million per year.
Why should people vote for you? I’m a staunch conservative and I have run my office with honesty, integrity, free of politics or scandal and we’ve achieved record results that have earned us recognition statewide. I cut the treasurer’s office budget five years in a row and returned money to the general fund each year. We’ve quadrupled the county’s investment income and have the top performing investment portfolio in the state — four years running. I helped root out corruption in county government by reporting wrongdoing of some bad actors, including my opponent, who was then suspended by County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler and fired by the Republican-controlled county board by a vote of 26-1. And, unlike many treasurers in the past, when you come to the Madison County Treasurer’s Office to pay taxes, you’ll likely see me there working, taking payments and answering your questions. I’m always accessible and accountable to the public.