State Sen. Lager stumps for state treasurer in Cape Girardeau

Missouri can use state funds more effectively to promote small business, state Sen. Brad Lager said Thursday during a visit to Cape Girardeau promoting his campaign for state treasurer.

Lager, R-Maryville, is unopposed in Tuesday's primary election. He will face the winner of a four-way Democratic contest between Mark Powell, Arnold mayor, state Rep. Clint Zweifel of Florissant, former Kansas City mayor Charles Wheeler and Andria Simckes, the former director of the Greater St. Louis Regional Empowerment Zone.

The state treasurer oversees a program that links deposits of state money to lowered-interest loans to small businesses. Lager praised outgoing Treasurer Sarah Steelman for pushing participation in the program, but more could be done, he said. Of the $720 million in authorized deposits, only $250 million has been used, Lager said.

It is one of the few state economic development programs that targets businesses with fewer than 50 employees, Lager noted. The changes he's proposing would make the paperwork associated with the loan program less burdensome, he said. "We have the opportunity to restructure the program to make it more user-friendly," he said.

The treasurer has two main responsibilities — balancing the state's checkbook and investing the state's tax money. The treasurer also sits on several state boards, including the Missouri State Employees Retirement System and the Missouri Housing Development Commission.

Lager said he would continue in Steelman's footsteps on those boards as a watchdog over programs that use tax money. Steelman discovered and helped stop a housing contractor using illegal immigrant labor on a project funded in part with state tax credits, Lager noted.

"That is the type of stuff that should be happening," Lager said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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