by: Diane Benjamin
The email below was received under the Freedom of Information Act. More people were listed in the TO: section, but it’s going to take another FOIA request to get an accurate printout. Read it carefully. Has Mayor Renner ever said in public that he helped WRITE the petition to change the Ward system in Bloomington? The citizens are being manipulated in SECRET by sitting members of the City Council and the Mayor of Bloomington! First the President lied to citizens, you know the “If you like your insurance you can keep it”, now local government is following the same game plan. Bloomington: How does it feel to be LIED to? Mayor Renner has always said “Let the people decide” when asked if he supported the effort. Since the PEOPLE never asked for a change, why should they decide? The citizens are being set up to lose representation!
On October 24th, I received the following email from Mayor Renner on a Freedom of Information Act request I filed wanting the number of City employees – it wasn’t close to accurate. Renner claims to want “transparency”, but he sure isn’t transparent on who is behind the Ward change! The Mayor now has about as much credibility as the President. The question is WHY keep it a secret? There’s more, stay tuned. You will find out soon.
And in case some folks haven’t noticed, the change to this system will eliminate one alderman making eight, giving a vote to the mayor. Re: Currently the mayor only has a vote in case of a tie, which is rare due to the current nine sitting alderman. Yes the probability of Renner to have an ulterior motive in this case is quite obvious.
Hales is THE problem. When is anyone going to realize that ? Bloomington needs an ELECTED Mayor/Council form of government that is accountable to the voters. Currently we have Hales -elected and accountable to NOONE ! Before that we had Hamilton ! These over paid, underworked beauracrats run our lives and we have no power to un-elect them. I would rather the Mayor have at least a voice (preferably a strong one) than to continue to suffer under the incompetence of a beauracrats like Hales ! Hales has 4 assistant city managers + staff and STILL has to outsource almost every major decision he is PAID to make to an outside consultant firm. The citizens and taxpayers are paying and not having any voice.
I don’t disagree. If Hales was elected he’d be gone by now.
Don’t be fooled y the Hales-Renner, good cop-bad cop routine. Take a closer look. They “compliment” each other. Do not give Renner the vote or you’ll have another Town of Normal council on your hands.
I just hope the Attorney Generals office goes after them for violating the Open Meetings Act. You would also think that they could be charged with some type of criminal act. It’s obvious that this whole scheme came about from the elected officials themselves and not the grassroots movement by the citizens of Bloomington.One could possibly conclude that there was a conspiracy amongst certain members of the City Council and the Mayor to change the form of the city government in order to retain power and to deprive certain classes of citizens the opportunity to run for office. Where is the IL Ag or the US AG office and we need media besides the City Hall controlled Pantacrap and WJBC to get involved in investigating this.
Contact Rachel Wells at the Pantagraph or write a Letter to the Editor.
Everything Progressives do are based lies and decption.
Can someone say Saul Alinsky – Rules for Radicals!!!
I have MUCH more. They will comply with the law or face the consequences.