by Diane Benjamin

A few years, the City of Bloomington was found to be over-paying for insurance – as much as $1.5 million per year!  Then mayor, Steve Stockton, and City Manager Tom Hamilton were on the board of RimCo, the company getting all your tax dollars.  Where was the multi-part Pantagraph investigation?  Did the Pantagraph ever report on their connections to your tax dollars?  How much went to them?  Since they didn’t investigate we don’t know.

How about the still empty Fire Station #5 taxpayers wasted million of dollars to build.  Where’s the Pantagraph investigation on who profited?  How about the concrete blocks that leak?  The useless building will eventually need torn down without ever being used!

Saturday the Pantagraph ran a front page story about a City employee from 2008!  Extremely timely reporting, not to mention it was very short of facts.  Is the City of Bloomington being sued by Leslie Lebel, the former employee accused of stealing $21,000.  Her criminal trial is coming up.  Or, is the City afraid of what she will say at trial?  Is the 2008 story meant to cover somebody?  Did David Hales write the story?  Just asking, why else would the Pantagraph waste the front page on a 2008 story?

Maybe they needed filler.

One more question:  Why was Tom Hamilton a great City Manager according to Pantagraph articles at the time, but now David Hales has saved the City from the mess he left? This was also part of the Saturday Pantagraph story.  Amazing how they managed to tie the 2 stories together!  If you didn’t get the truth about Tom Hamilton, are you getting the truth now?

Has the Pantagraph reported this information:

Total Unfunded Pension Liability as of 4/30/12:

Fire – $37,640,948

Police – $37,844,830

Other – $35,496,747

In addition, unpaid sick days can be accumulated and paid at retirement.  Bloomington’s liability was  $9,872,000!  http://blnnews.com/2013/01/24/bloomington-employees-pensions/

But, you are told everything is great!  The local press says it is.

This must be why they carry Associated Press stories since they don’t investigate either!  Did you know in 1933 Associated Press was reporting the recession/depression was over?   http://www.thedailysheeple.com/they-denied-that-we-were-in-a-depression-in-1933-and-they-are-doing-it-again-in-2013_092013  Today Associated Press reports our recession is over.  Sure, just like it was in 1933.