Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

My lawsuit against Bloomington goes on

by:  Diane Benjamin

I was in court again this morning.  Nothing exciting happened, the case got continued until November 14th because the original judge was busy with another case.

I do have many of the emails the City redacted in violation of the Freedom of Information Act.  They gave them to me because they obviously don’t qualify for redaction under the law.  Of course, they claim it was out of the goodness of their hearts.   Some other emails they are still not giving me.  The City doesn’t understand they lost the right to decide whether the emails qualify to be withheld or not.  When I filed the lawsuit that responsibility got transferred to the judge.

Tari used to believe transparency was important.  He still claims he is very transparent.  I found this while looking through old emails:

Tari Renner <[email protected]>
4/12/13
to me
Thanks so much for filing the complain against the City  on transparency!!
Way to go – we all owe you a debt of gratitude.
Best,
Tari
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This has to do with another case filed with Lisa Madigan’s Public Access that went nowhere.  Her office is a joke.
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Tari thinks transparency is a must for other people, but not for him.  Why was I forced to file a lawsuit Tari?   Laws, like the Freedom of Information Act, don’t need to be followed at the City of Bloomington?  It’s a sad day when a private citizen has to file a lawsuit to obtain information that belongs to the citizens.
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This morning I talked to the City Attorney about settling the case.  She thought we should get together and discuss it.  Meanwhile, I have 3 FOIA requests outstanding.  One is very past due, another one is due today, and another one is due next week.  Two of them request information vital to understanding how government works (or doesn’t).  Since the City has not proven they will comply with the law in future, I don’t see any reason to settle the case.  I may file another amendment to my lawsuit to show the judge they continue to violate the law.  Meanwhile, the taxpayers of Bloomington are paying THOUSANDS of dollars in lawyer and clerk time to not comply with Illinois law.  My expenses, which I am asking the judge to make the City pay, are also climbing.   If you pay taxes in Bloomington, send the Mayor a thank you letter!
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I received this stack of documents yesterday.  It contains the exactly same emails over and over and over.  I don’t know if this was an attempt to impress the judge or what the purpose was.  I’ve now got until 11/14 to go through them thoroughly.  What a waste of trees!  Not to mention the $5.49 it cost to mail.
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Late Sunday afternoon I will be printing one of the emails I received.

You will be able to see the real Tari.  The rest I will print later.

Hint:  Tari doesn’t believe the words of Hillary Clinton:

“I’m sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and disagree with this administration, somehow you’re not patriotic. We need to stand up and say we’re Americans, and we have the right to debate and disagree with any administration.”

 Saul Alinsky may be involved! Stay tuned!

Contributions to the cause welcome!

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