Chicago City Wire

Silence can say a lot, the Illinois Republican Party suggested recently as it called out Democratic gubernatorial candidates J.B. Pritzker and Chris Kennedy for failing to address the Democrats' failure to pass a budget in the spring legislative session.

Illinois GOP spokesperson Steven Yaffe sent out a press release pointing out the harsh criticism of the General Assembly from business groups in the state and the corresponding silence of Pritzker and Kennedy. The Illinois Manufacturing Association, Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Business rebuffed the legislation that the General Assembly did pass and called for policies to grow the economy. The groups characterized the approved legislation as job destroying and the session as “one of the worst for employers," Yaffe said in the release.

Yaffe said Pritzker and Kennedy, who would not speak about House Speaker Michael Madigan’s (D-Chicago) failure to call a vote on budget legislation, have already made it clear that they favor increasing taxes. Pritzker has told Democratic members that he supports a state income tax increase, and Kennedy has said that he stands with Madigan against reforms proposed by the Republican Party, Yaffe said.