Ald. Gardiner’s Foul Language Not Just for Women at Block Parties Anymore

UPDATE: After being reported by *someone*, in order to comply with Medium’s TOS, we have removed all screencaps of texts from this story. You can read more about this story in the citywide press, including Block Club and WTTW.

Newly obtained texts reveal Ald. James Gardiner (45) disparaging his colleagues and their staff. In July, we reported on several texts in which Gardiner refers to women in the area as “b — — ” and “c — ”, often tied to his experiences with them at neighborhood block parties.

Now we see Gardiner uses similar language to refer to at least one of his colleagues in City Council as well as another alderman’s chief-of-staff.

In one text exchange between Gardiner and one of his aides, Gardiner refers to Ald. Tom Tunney (44) as a “b — — ” and ends with “f — him”.

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In another text exchange, Gardiner refers to an aide of Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) as a “his b — — ”. Gardiner goes on to tell his aide to cancel a meeting about The Point development project at Six Corners, because an unnamed person who had organized the meeting “was on social media blasting me.” Gardiner ultimately delayed approval of the project for nearly a year.

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We redacted the remaining texts from Gardiner’s aide since they are no longer employed with the City and do not hold public office.

Block Party Texts

Other texts from Gardiner previously shared on social media revealed him saying “This b — — on kildare will pay…” following a block party on Kildare.

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He made similar comments about a woman on Kenneth following a block party saying “1 of our regular haters I believe lives on Kenneth. I am guessing that b —- was his wife maybe?”

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In another instance from Saturday, July 27, 2019, when a ward resident asked for help on her block in preparation for their block party, Gardiner specifically told his staff not to help her because she supported another candidate in the campaign, writing “Vicky came in on Ward night asking for a favor. I specifically told Gina do not help her until u talk w me 1st.”. He went on to say “I told Dan, I do not forget the sh — she pulled w me during the campaign”, ending the text similarly to his Tunney text with “F — her!!!!”

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It’s clear that Gardiner was not happy that his aide at the time, Gina Munoz-Hahne, had provided constituent services to Vicky despite his admonition to withhold services. In response to learning that his office delivered on Vicky’s request for services, Gardiner writes,, “I specifically told Gina do not help her… Gina helps her get a tree trimmed, water leak, etc for her f — — BS block party next week. F — that c — .”

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The text thread continued to discuss Vicky’s complaint about water leaking with Gardiner asking where she lives. Gardiner makes it clear that his desire to withhold services from Vicky are based on a personal grudge saying “I told Dan [Vicky’s brother], I do not forget the shit she pulled w me during the campaign.” Gardiner concludes the conversation with, “These people deserved to be reminded of their petty ass behavior just months ago”. Reportedly Vicky donated to one of the other aldermanic candidates in the 2019 race.

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Munoz-Hahne, who had helped Vicky, was reportedly fired by Gardiner the following summer. Sources familiar with the situation say Gardiner cited “disloyalty” as the reason for termination. Gardiner’s office has been a revolving door of staff, with eight employees either terminated or who resigned to escape a toxic work environment in his first two years.

Gardiner has frequently retaliated against those who are critical of him on social media in the form of administrative harassment, hundreds of dollars in bogus citations, inspectors dispatched to homes and businesses, bricks through windows, and even publishing critics’ home addresses on his official Facebook page, one of whom suffered property damage at the hands of a Gardiner supporter.

We verified the number which sent the texts as matching that listed on the Cook County Democratic Party’s website for the 45th Ward Committeeman, James Gardiner.

Gardiner is paid a salary of $123,000 in his role as alderman and given a nearly $100,000 taxpayer-funded expense account.

Gardiner could not be reached for comment.