Pritzker, Kennedy Still Refuse to Take Position on Tax

It’s now been confirmed – Toni Preckwinkle’s punitive, universally derided soda tax was never about making the public safer or plugging a budget gap.

It was about giving out government benefits to political supporters.

And Democratic candidates for Governor – J.B. Pritzker and Chris Kennedy – refuse to say anything about it.

Just weeks after Preckwinkle’s soda tax went into effect, one of Cook County’s “top unions is bragging about all the good things Preckwinkle is giving its members in a new contract.”

Crain’s Chicago Business writes that Preckwinkle is giving Teamsters Union Local 700 lavish benefits, including “a new payment for attending roll call, lifting a cap on use of personal time, a raised uniform allowance and expanded shift differentials, a $1,200-per-person signing bonus and, most notably, a zero percent hike in health care premiums at a time when workers all over the country are being asked to pay more.”

Preckwinkle’s spokesman had the gall to call it “a good, responsible deal for everyone, including the taxpayers.”

But as Crain’s notes – Teamsters Union Local 700 is one of Preckwinkle’s largest campaign donors, giving her campaign fund “at least $68,000 since 2014.”

It’s just another example of Cook County Democrats using taxpayer dollars for political benefit.

It’s time for leading Cook County Democrats like J.B. Pritzker and Chris Kennedy to stand up and say where they stand on Preckwinkle’s tax-and-spend scheme.

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