Rockford Sun

Republican state House candidate Kathie Hansen argues Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s unyielding push to see his progressive tax plan become law tells you everything you need to know about who he is.

“Pritzker should be ashamed of himself for spending $10,000 to create a fake Twitter account in order to promote his progressive tax,” Hansen said. “This is the kind of governor we have. He’s a damn liar. He should apologize to us all.”

Hansen’s outrage stems from reports the Vote Yes For Fairness group the governor is a major supporter of recently used a fake Twitter account to promote the tax he has been selling his days as a candidate. According to The Center Square, the group recently shared a screenshot on Facebook of a tweet from @Liz_Uihlein. The Uihlein family owns Uline, one of the largest companies in Illinois. Later, Vote Yes For Fairness paid up to $15,000 to promote the fake tweet on social media, where it could have reached upwards of 1 million people.

The fake Twitter account has since been removed. In all, Pritzker is reported to have invested as much as $56 million of his own money into the Vote Yes For Fairness campaign.

Running against incumbent state Rep. Maurice West Jr. (D-Rockford) in the 67th District, Hansen has long been a vocal opponent of the tax Pritzker continues to insist will only mean higher rates for the state’s richest residents.

“You’ll see even more businesses closing and residents fleeing,” she told the Rockford Sun. “I fear older people will also have more money taken out of their pockets, with all of it coming at the worst time possible with pretty much everyone financially hurting right now.”

Voters across the state get their chance to be heard early next month when the measure is set to appear on the ballot in the form of a referendum question.