Pat Gardner

[Matthew Nichol @MatthewNichol5]

Dictator Pritzker sucks! He said if you want to leave, then leave. There is no way other states will pick up a county that wants to leave the People's Republic of Illinois. We need to stop these commies. Make Illinois great again and flip it red. Vote for Darren Bailey and a straight Republican ticket.

[Darren Bailey @DarrenBaileyIL]

Higher tolls. Higher taxes. Higher fees. Automatic inflation hikes forever.

It's death by a thousand cuts, and Illinois families are the ones bleeding.

[Darren Bailey @DarrenBaileyIL]

Pritzker says Democrats should be judged on affordability.

Challenge accepted.

Illinois has some of the highest property taxes, gas taxes, and overall tax burdens in America.

Nobody has done more to make life expensive for Illinois families than he has.

[Darren Bailey @DarrenBaileyIL]

Suspend the gas tax for 6 months. Repeal every gas tax hike since 2019. Cut vehicle registration fees in half.

That's a real plan to lower costs for drivers.

[Zach Kwasny @ZachKwasny]

Beyond thankful for the opportunity to continue my career at Xavier University.

[Darren Bailey @DarrenBaileyIL]

Illinois needs a governor comfortable saying no.

No new taxes.
No corporate welfare.
No special deals for insiders.

I will put homeowners and working families first.

[Brian Costin @BrianCostin]

Cheers to Gov. Pritzker for being the best Governor in America. Illinois is #1!

#1 in Highest Property Taxes
#1 in Property Tax Task Forces
#1 in Highest Combined State and Local Taxes
#1 in Highest Cell Phone Tax
#1 in Highest Proposed Corporate Income Tax Rate
#1 in Units of Local Government
#1 in Fiscal Instability
#1 in Lowest Bond Rating for 13 Consecutive Years
#1 in Lowest State Pension Funding Percentage
#1 in Most Public Corruption in a Federal District (Northern Illinois)
#1 in the Biggest Gas Tax Increase Since 2019
#1 in Eliminating School Choice Programs for Families

@GovPritzker is proudly presiding over the most taxed, least solvent, and most dysfunctional state government in American history - he's #1 where it hurts the citizens of Illinois the most.

[Paul Vallas @PaulVallas]

Governor JB Pritzker signed his $56B budget yesterday, bringing the number of tax and fee increases in his two terms to 63.

In his two terms, his tax increases have taken a cumulative $77 billion more from taxpayers, and this does not include an additional $8.5B a year higher property taxes since 2019.

Illinois residents now pay the highest state and local taxes and fees in the entire nation. Pritzker’s tax policies have throttled Illinois economy, which has produced less than 10K private sector job growth since Pritzker became governor.

[Brady Davidson @brady_davidson9]

Blessed to announce my commitment to Missouri State University.🐻#GoBears #WeAreMoState

[TONY™ @TONYxTWO]

The National Anthem at the White House was absolutely epic!!! 🇺🇸🔥

Wait for the flyover!!!!

[Mike Ramczyk @mikeramczyk17]

So, a team I cover was down 8-0 in the 1st and rallied to win 13-8.
A kid hit THREE BOMBS including a grand slam. Been doing this 23 years, never seen that!
Congrats @PaddyDavidson9 how did you do this my guy? #LancerFam https://t.co/tnK3oe265J via @Kenosha_News

[Patrick Gardner @paddyg2215]

6’4 Left-Handed Portal Arm

FB 85-88
CT 79-82
CH 80-83
SL 76-79

JUCO Stats at Heartland:
107.1 IP
108 K
40 BB
2.73 ERA (2025)
1.10 WHIP (2025)
.204 BAA (2025)
6-0 Record (2025)

630-750-1840

[Yogi @Houseofyogi]

Chicago lost the Bears this week. A team that's been in the city since 1921.

They didn't lose them to a bigger market or a better deal. The Bears decided they'd rather be a tenant in Indiana than deal with Illinois for one more year.

Think about how badly you have to run a place for that to be the smart move.

They lost them for two reasons.

The people running Illinois would rather villainize a builder than keep one. And they're bad at their jobs.

In 2021 the Bears spent $197M on the old Arlington Park racetrack.

Before they could break ground, Cook County valued the empty lot at $192M (Bears said $60M). They were salivating at the chance to extort a building that didn't even exist yet.

That fight dragged on for years.

The Bears were ready to put $2B into the stadium. All they wanted was a promise the county wouldn't reassess them into oblivion, plus $855M for infrastructure everyone uses. Roads, transit, utilities. A $3B project, two thirds of it private money pouring into Illinois.

Springfield had since 2021 to get this done. They dragged it to the final night of session, passed it through the Senate at 3:39AM, and the House went home without voting.

So now it's all gone.

The funniest part? This started because Cook County tried to grab the tax early. They knew a built stadium would pay $53M a year. Now they get under $4M on a vacant lot. No jobs, no buildout, no new anything.

Congrats on fighting for scraps and losing the whole prize.

Pritzker: they're "an $8.5B valued business" that doesn't need propping up.

But be smart for a second. Almost every NFL city throws in public money for a stadium. Not charity. The return is real. Tourism, hotels, restaurants, jobs, game days, property tax on a huge development. The math works.

Indiana did the math. While Illinois sat on it for years, Indiana passed a bill in months, put up $1B, and took the team.

And the Bears took a worse deal to get there. In Illinois they were going to own their stadium. In Indiana they rent it from the state. A team that wanted to build its own home gave up ownership just to escape Chicago.

Nobody won but Indiana. The Bears lost their stadium. Illinois lost the team, the $2B, and $53M a year in taxes.

Pritzker after they left: "I wasn't willing to give up billions of dollars of taxpayer money to give it to a billionaire-owned family or team."

There it is. "Billionaire-owned."

That's how Democrats talk about any business right before they run it out of town. Call them a billionaire, act like you're saving working families, take a victory lap while the tax base drives across the state line.

Meanwhile they're running the whole state into the ground. And you already know how this ends. You're living in it.

Pensions are $143B in the hole, worst in the country and not close. You pay $6,285 a year in property taxes, double the $2,969 national average, for a city that's $1.15B in the red. The mayor called its finances "the point of no return."

When you run things this badly, you sell what's left.

They leased the parking meters for 75 years to Morgan Stanley and a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi. Took $1.15B and burned through it in two years. The investors already made it all back, with 58 years left to collect.

Sold the Skyway. Sold the downtown garages. Every asset that made money, gone for one check.

But a fixed property tax rate for a team that's been here 106 years? That's "propping up billionaires."

Companies are leaving. Boeing for Virginia. Caterpillar for Texas. Citadel for Miami. In 2023 alone Illinois lost 56,000 people and $6B in income to other states. The ones who left earned a third more than the ones who moved in.

Indiana didn't outbid anyone. AAA credit, 16 years straight. A $676M surplus. Fourth-lowest debt per person in the country. They just weren't a disaster.

Illinois could have collected $53M a year. It chose zero. Ignore all the bad management but make sure to stick it to those evil, pesky billionaires.

[Patrick Gardner @paddyg2215]

Highlights from Northwoods League outing VS Richmond

6’4 Left-Handed Portal Arm

[Patrick Gardner @paddyg2215]

I’m grateful for my time at Ball State University, but I will be entering the transfer portal with 1 year of eligibility remaining.

6’4 LHP
3.787 GPA
FB 85-88
FC 81-84
CH 80-83
SL 76-79

JUCO Stats at Heartland:
107.1 IP
108 K
40 BB
2.73 ERA (2025)
1.10 WHIP (2025)
.204 BAA (2025)
6-0 Record (2025)

630-750-1840

[Patrick Gardner @paddyg2215]

Highlights from Northwoods League Outing:

6’4 Left Handed Portal Arm

FB 85-88
FC 81-84
CH 80-83
SL 76-79

[Patrick Gardner @paddyg2215]

I’m grateful for my time at Ball State University, but I will be entering the transfer portal with 1 year of eligibility remaining.

6’4 LHP
3.787 GPA

JUCO Stats at Heartland:
107.1 IP
108 K
40 BB
2.73 ERA (2025)
1.10 WHIP (2025)
.204 BAA (2025)
6-0 Record (2025)

630-750-1840

[Brady Davidson @brady_davidson9]

I want to thank Ball State for the opportunity. I am entering the transfer portal with 1 year remaining.

LHH INF | 3.5 GPA
33 games
129 PA
0.415 BA
1.033 OPS
25 RBI
2025 @ Heartland CC:
0.405 BA (251 PA)
1.075 OPS
2024 @ Heartland CC:
0.354 BA (252 PA)
0.980 OPS
262-948-9069

[MACtion @MACSports]

2 runs on 4 hits gives the Cardinals an early lead after the top of the first ♨️

@BallStateBB | #MACtion

[Nick shirley @nickshirleyy]

@NYCMayor I know a few teachers and New Yorkers who would benefit from less waste and fraud in the government.

Why not cut waste, fraud, and abuse before taxing anyone more?

A homeless person in NYC receives more funding than the salary of a single mom working a 9-5, maybe start there.