He should just hang up any presidential ambition he had right now.
Boeing, Citadel, Caterpillar, Tyson Foods, Morton Salt, other small, medium, and large businesses, and now the iconic Chicago Bears – all lost under the weight of Democrat policies and inept leadership.
There are any number of football terms one can use to describe what just happened with the Bears’ announcement on Friday that they have selected Hammond, Indiana, “to advance our stadium development project.”
It’s a fumble. Pritzker punted the ball. The state needs a new QB; they couldn’t get the ball across the line. The jokes write themselves at this point. But it is no laughing matter to screw-up a massive deal like this.
Before we go any further, for the record, I have never been a fan of crony corporate tax handouts, but there was a chance to get a great deal for everyone in a negotiation to keep the Bears in Illinois. Their number one complaint was the amount of property taxes they would have to pay if they built in Illinois. The legislature could have come together on a deal to give property tax relief for the Bears and for every homeowner. They didn’t.
The Mega-project bill that passed out of the House in April included all development projects over $100 million and many requirements for project labor agreements, 20% diversity spending, and negotiations with every taxing body on property tax amounts. It was heavy with rules and unworkable for business.
That bill went nowhere in the Senate and in a Hail Mary pass on the last day of session some Democrats put together a Bears only plan that gave them some tax certainty and infrastructure money. The bill was put together by Sen. Cunningham at about 3 a.m. on Monday, June 1st, in the Senate and passed with two Republicans supporting it, but was not taken up in the House.
Democrats obviously thought the Bears would give them more time to put a bill together. But the Bears decided they had seen enough uncertainty, double-talk, and dysfunction from the Democrats. Talk of building a new Bears stadium in Chicagoland has been in the works for six years already and in earnest for the last three years. When the Bears signaled earlier this year that Hammond, Indiana, is a serious option, it only took the Indiana legislature and Governor Braun two months to move from start to finish on legislation to provide the Bears with a billion dollars in infrastructure improvements and tax certainty. The Illinois Dems sat there and still couldn’t pass a bill out, even while knowing the Bears had a deadline of Spring/Early Summer for a decision.
Democrats got their faces ground into the turf – and now they are trying to explain it away.
Speaker of the House Emanuel “Chris” Welch issued a statement saying that Indiana is going to raise taxes and promising $1 billion in taxpayer funds.
Welch then has the audacity to say in his statement that Illinois is focused on the “needs of working families who want relief at the gas pump… not taxpayer-funded stadiums.”
His statement is hypocrisy, topped with lies, wrapped in virtue-signaling, all to hide the complete and total ineptness of his, Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s leadership.
First, Democrats don’t care about the gas tax – they piled on, while IN Gov. Braun suspended their state gas entirely which now has pushed IN to the second lowest in gas costs.
Then, just imagine if the response had been that the Bears would accept the bill, HB910, that passed the House with his support. It would have easily provided the same $1 billion dollars in taxpayer support. See how they spin the narrative.
As it happens, on Friday, while we were interviewing Indiana Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith about the Bears deal, the Bears organization put out their announcement about proceeding with a stadium in Indiana and answered exactly how the financing would work.
In a nutshell, Lt Gov. Beckwith said the stadium will be built with revenue bonds paid for with ticket, food, and merchandise sales taxes at the stadium site. He noted that they funded the Colts and Pacers stadiums in the same way and in 40 years have never had to dip into other state funds to make a payment.
Listen to the Interview at this link: https://www.youtube.com/live/6jZ26kZknPk?
The entire interview was revealing. Indiana is a well-run state and can readily afford to invest in projects like the Bears.
A few more important facts about Indiana v. Illinois:
- Indiana budgets every two years, so there is much more consistency and longer-term thinking on what to spend money on.
- Indiana’s population is about 7 million; Illinois population is about 12.7 million. IN budget is $23 billion, IL is $55.9 billion. If Indiana spent as much per person as we do, its budget should be $41 billion – so it is much more fiscally conservative.
- IN spends 47% of its budget on K-12 education and offers a school choice voucher to nearly every student. IL schools complain that they need more state funding, but they elect legislators who can’t budget properly. And we do spend enough on state funding of education; it’s just that it all goes to pensions.
- IN has a 1% cap on property taxes and ranks 29th in the U.S. with an effective rate of 0.76%. IL ranks 2nd in property taxes with an effective rate of 1.88%, per the Tax Foundation. Indiana’s NAEP 4th-grade reading scores are higher than Illinois’. I didn’t check the other scores. The point is that the outcomes are similar, but we spend a lot more, and it’s tied to your property.
- Even though Illinois has a per capita much higher spending level, Indiana’s rainy day fund is about the same as IL, $2.3 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively.
- Here’s a kicker – IN spends 4.9% of its state general revenue budget on pensions; IL spends 20%, and if it fully funded pensions at the actuarial amount, IL would spend 30% of its budget on pensions. Can anyone say 401ks NOW?
Budget mismanagement compounds on itself, and Illinois is proof of that on an extreme level.
As a new State Rep, after watching the terrible process and outcome of my first budget experience (I voted NO), I wrote an opinion piece for the Chicago Tribune titled, Illinois needs to get on a serious weight-loss program. I bring this up to illustrate that our budgeting has been terrible for the year. In that piece, I wrote:
Illinois has an unusual weight problem. State leaders’ appetite for grease-laden power and political control has led to a $100 billion crisis that is clogging the arteries and slowing the flow of blood to the heart of Illinois. Figuratively speaking, we Illinoisans can no longer button our pants. The state could eventually collapse into an unresponsive state. A strict weight-loss regimen is necessary.
The first thing a weight-loss coach would recommend is a multipronged approach. First, we have to develop a clear vision for results — perhaps, tape a picture of our slimmer, sexier sister, Indiana, to the refrigerator — followed by psychological counseling for our addictions. Finally, our goals need to be measurable and specific.
Nothing has changed, and Indiana – our slimmer, sexier sister – will now be the perfectly fit cheerleader for The Bears.
Regarding the Illinois budget, the Democrats are literally saying they passed a responsible spending plan in a “tight” budget year.
It is the largest general revenue budget in Illinois history and relies on $800 million in new taxes – that is, by definition, not a tight budget year! GOOD GRIEF!
The budget was 3,700 pages and passed at the wee hour of 4:13 a.m., June 1st. The record-setting $55.9 BILLION budget for fiscal year 2027 was largely financed by more tax hikes.
Here are the Democrats’ ‘solutions’ for raising revenue to cover their grotesque and irresponsible spending:
- $300 million corporate tax hike from capping net-operating-loss deductions
- $200 million in social media fees
- $60 million in digital asset taxes
- $50 million to $60 million from decoupling from the federal Qualified Small Business Stock Exclusion
- $5 million from taxes on ‘fantasy contests.’
- $200 million to more than $800 million from a Targeted Advertising Services Tax
- $185 million in fund sweeps
In addition, Democrat lawmakers gave themselves a 3.2% raise, increasing their salaries to over $100,000 (for a part-time job). This is in addition to the stipends they receive for leadership positions and ‘per diem’ pay they receive for travel when they are asked to attend work in Springfield.
The state budget will still remain fundamentally unbalanced, but you can read more about all of the terrible decisions that were made here:
This article puts Democrats’ disturbing addiction to taxes on full display:
And the Dems could be in trouble. According to reports many of those taxes will be challenged in court.
The digital ad tax has been found to violate free speech in Maryland.
The Democrats are counting on $200 million from a social media tax which would tax the companies for every user in the state. The Tax Foundation says Illinois’ New Social Media Tax Is a Shambles, saying, “the new tax opens the state up to costly litigation it has a very good chance of losing.”
Back to the Bears.
Like with all things sports, when you are emotionally tied to a team, hope springs eternal.
And the Democrats are hoping that they can still convince the Chicago Bears to stay in Illinois.
Kam Buckner put out a statement suggesting that the Bears are open to further conversations about keeping the Bears in Illinois. Read his X post HERE. Many doubt that however, and in this WGN interview, Marc Ganis, sports business expert, says Northwest Indiana ‘only option on the table’ for new Bears.
And then —- Other Democrats are already moving on – coming up with new ideas on how to use the Arlington Park property that the Bears bought.
Whacko Democrat State Senator Mark Walker wants it to be a place for Welcoming Centers for “New Arrivals” ie. Illegal immigrants.
Smart Bears fan has moved on.
My friend Rob Badgley. He claims to have won some bets over the Bear move to Indiana.
There is much more to report on about end-of-session bills and budget details. It is a ” grease-laden” budget set up for Democrat “power and political control”.
Stay tuned.