Prairie State Wire

Democratic gubernatorial candidates sat on the sidelines as Cook County repealed its controversial sweetened beverage tax, according to the Illinois Republican Party.

"The Cook County soda tax was nothing but a lie from the very beginning,” GOP spokesperson Aaron DeGroot said in a press release. “Even the tax's most ardent supporter, Toni Preckwinkle, admitted that the tax was just for the money and never really about public health. Thanks to the efforts of taxpayers across the county, Preckwinkle's absurd money grab is finished." 

The penny-per-ounce tax that was instituted in August will end in December after the Cook County Board voted overwhelmingly Oct. 11 to repeal it.

Toni Preckwinkle

Leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates Jay Pritzker, Jay Biss and Chris Kennedy never publicly weighed in on the issue, which included several lawsuits, the GOP asserted.

“While the victory should be lauded as a grassroots effort, it should not be overlooked that the Democrats running for governor sat on their hands while residents paid the price for Toni Preckwinkle’s lies,” DeGroot said in the release. “Today's repeal is a major blow to Preckwinkle and the rest of the Chicago Democrats' tax-and-spend ideology. Now, they will have to work together with Cook County Republicans and find smarter ways to utilize the taxpayers' money.”