by:  Diane Benjamin

I hear Rob Fazzini already has people going door-to-door getting petitions signed to steal the City Council.  He wants a modified Ward system where some members are elected at large, the remaining Wards would be huge.  The effect is to take away your alderman, the one person who represents your section of the City.  Fazzini is joined by Jim Fruin and Scott Black in this effort.  In addition to limiting your representation on the Council, the cost of winning elections would increase dramatically.  At-large candidates would need to run in the entire city, Ward candidates would have a much bigger area to campaign.  So who is going to fund candidates?

This is where the Obama policies have filtered to the local level.  The policy of Government creates economic activity is clearly visible in Normal.  Uptown is supposedly a destination now, but that ignores the fact the people simply changed where they go!  If economic activity was generating more income to the Town of Normal, they wouldn’t need to raise property taxes.  I feel no sorrow for the residents of Normal who allowed Mayor Koos and the City Council to spend $90 million to create their vision and then most of the town stayed home on election day.  The private sector is always better at creating economic growth than government.  All Normal has done is enslave the citizens with debt.  Now the residents will pay.  Congratulations.

The same people who think government’s job is to create jobs are now focused on Bloomington.  Why did Mayor Renner receive a lot of campaign money from Unions?  Unions want government to fund projects so they have jobs.  Also involved in the take-over of Bloomington is the Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Council.  They want downtown Bloomington to be another destination.  Mayor Renner wants the city to focus on downtown and away from the east side.

How is Obama involved?  Remember stimulus?  Shovel-ready jobs?  Close to $1 Trillion dollars was spent for jobs.  Do we have jobs?  The unemployment rate is still astronomically high, millions of people have quit looking for jobs, welfare payments are at record highs, and so is the country’s debt.  Government generating economic activity is a myth.

Back to Fazzini, who is funding his effort?  The Chamber and the EDC want to Obama Bloomington.  Luckily you already have the model – look at Normal.  The Normal City Council is entirely elected at large.  Anyone wanting a seat has to campaign in the entire city.  Residents don’t have a representative who answers only to them.  That’s how they spent $90 million without fear.  That’s how your property taxes are being raised.  Fazzini, Fruin, and Black want to make sure Bloomington can do the same thing.

Remember the radio commercials during the 2012 election?  The Chamber of Commerce ran ads telling you what candidates to vote for.  How much money did they give to “their” candidates?  How much will they pour into local elections when it takes a lot more money to run?  Special interest groups with money will control Bloomington, and it’s all by design.

Government uses your dollars to create jobs they want created.  Their ideology isn’t based on free-market principles where the private sector makes decisions based on the potential for creating wealth.  The free-market is allowed to succeed or fail based on the merits of their investments.  Government uses your money and they can’t fail because they can always raise taxes.

So, Bloomington:  Do you want to be Obama’d?  Do you want your city to be Normal?  Let the city council know:  [email protected]

If you allow Fazzini, Fruin and Black to succeed, I have no sympathy for your debt and increasing property taxes.  Common sense says making elections more expensive is ridiculous, but the result is much more dangerous.