by: Diane Benjamin’
On November 14th Alderman Rob Fazzini did an interview with WGLT. This interview was early in his process of gathering petitions to put a referendum on the March primary ballot. Here is a link to the interview:
http://wglt.org/wireready/news/2013/11/06959_fazzini_qa_web_040842.shtml
What the Renner, Fazzini, Fruin and Black team hasn’t been making clear is this: Bloomington will lose 1 Alderman. The petition states the change would be to 5 Wards and 3 at large. Currently, Bloomington has 9 Wards.
Jump forward in the interview to 5:50. Fazzini clearly states his plan creates 6 wards and 3 at large. That is NOT what his petition says. Was he worried about getting signatures if the citizens knew the truth? Why would citizens sign to DECREASE their representation on the Council. The 5 Wards would be much larger making access to your assigned Alderman more difficult. He has never said how the new Wards would be drawn and which alderman would be drawn out of his plan.
Here are the facts:
- All 3 At-large Alderman could be elected from the East side.
- The Mayor could be elected from the East side.
- Add the Ward Alderman representing the east side, another 1 or 2, and every other side of town will have very little voice on the Council.
- The re-drawn Council will be 5 ward Aldermen, 3 at-large, and the Mayor – Total of 9.
- 6 of the 9 could be from the East side. Of course 6 of the 9 could also be from the west side!
- Equal representation for all citizens could disappear as special interests groups spend money to elect people for their agenda
Obviously the RFFB (Renner, Fazzini, Fruin, Black) plan could severely limit citizens’ representation on the Council. Currently all areas of the City are equally represented.
Rob, how exactly is this better for citizens?
.
.
.
.
.
One of the things Fazzini keeps harping about is that the last time this issue was up for vote it passed by a narrow margin. He seems to think this is enough to warrant putting it on the ballot again. Several questions must be asked to Alderman Fazzini. First, at what point are the results of an election valid? Secondly, now that his measure is headed for the ballot in a primary election when voter turn out is expected to be low, what happens if his ballot initiative passes by a narrow margin? Will he then declare the results invalid or concede that this wasn’t a solid enough mandate from the people to warrant a change in our form of government? Hardly!
Of course, I have many more questions for Alderman Fazzini, this is only the start. My hope is that people will start asking and more importantly, people will have the opportunity to ask. Perhaps the more pressing question that needs to be asked at this point is how is he not representing the City of Bloomington when he is gathering signatures as “Private Citizen Rob Fazzini?” Clearly this is a conflict of interest. As for his comments the other day in the Pantycrap, if you’re getting your petition signatures from your friends and family whose going to call you a “power hungry elitist?”
The way I see it, the more Fazzini talks, the worse things look for him, so I say, let him keep running his mouth. Give him enough rope and he’ll hang himself.
Big difference between eight or nine aldermen. The only time the mayor votes is to break a tie. With nine alderman, it is very rare the mayor would ever cast a vote. By reducing the number to eight, it obviously gives the mayor a much greater say so in every item. Is that part of the plan? I will let you decide.