LAKE BARRINGTON… State Representative Martin McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills) released the following statement after discussing Senate Bill 850 during yesterday’s Revenue and Finance Committee meeting.
State Rep. McLaughlin said, “Springfield once again came forward with more dumb ways to spend your tax dollars. When we continue to see national brands like WholeFoods and Walmart fail to make a financial go of it in urban areas with failed social justice policies, what makes politicians with no business experience think they can do better?
“Well, they care… so there is that. After all, government food stores worked so well in the Soviet Union and Venezuela. Let us now do it in Illinois to solve these “food deserts.” Who are we kidding here?
“Each private business who has invested millions into stores around Cook County “food deserts” were met with outrageous profit loss, theft, and rising crime from a failed criminal justice system decimating our communities.
“I keep asking my Democrat colleagues how many more “Deserts” they will create across Illinois before they realize the root cause has been their own terrible social and economic policies put into place over decades of one party control.
“Economic freedom is achieved when Government gets out of the way of the people’s innovation and hard work. I understand this concept is hard for some of my colleagues to comprehend, but I really hope the other side decides against creating yet another failed government-spending program, that will ultimately create more tax burdens on the communities when the grant money runs out.
“Democrats with well-intentioned bad policy ideas continue to drive people out of our state. We all know that there is nothing so permanent, inefficient and unnecessarily expensive for taxpayers as a “temporary” government program. The road to more “deserts” in Illinois is paved with good intentions.”