By: Diane Benjamin
Below are P-Card (like a debit card, except billing is once a month) charges for the month of January (scroll to the bottom): http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8213
________________________________
Jimmy John’s # 1408 $ 181.44 Working Dinner D. Hales, T. Renner, City Council, 5 Other Staff‐ 01/12/2015
Monicals Pizza $ 45.75 Working Lunch for Finance Department‐ 01/07/2015
Lucca Grill Inc $ 14.95 Business Lunch D. Hales and D. Sage‐ 01/13/2015
Cub Foods #219 $ 38.88 Beverages For Meeting‐ 1/16/2015
Jewel #3116 $ 12.00 Beverages For Meeting‐ 01/21/2015
Jims Steakhouse $ 20.60 Business Meal For D. Hales with J. Fruin‐ 01/20/2015
Rosie’s Pub $ 11.50 Business Meal For D. Hales with M. Mwilambwe‐ 01/21/2015 A
Avanti’s Italian Rest $ 21.15 Business Meal for D. Hales and P. Silva‐ 01/29/2015
Ihop # 5429 $ 15.26 Business Meal For D. Hales‐ 01/26/2015 (With Who?)
Hansen Center 10019966 $ 8.51 Business Meal For D. Hales‐ 01/27/2015 (With Who?)
Stolfas Pizza 309‐828‐232 $ 117.75 Pizza for PD Second Shift personnel on 1/24/15 (Employee Celebration)
Stolfas Pizza 309‐828‐232 $ 281.45 Pizza for 6 Fire Stations on 1/24/15 (Employee Appreciation)
Rosie’s Pub $ 34.04 Business Lunch T. Renner and E. Kelahan
Rosie’s Pub $ 32.00 Business Lunch T. Renner and J. Jordan‐ 01/13/2015
Station 220 $ 24.00 Business Lunch T. Renner and D. Letsa‐01/16/2015
Biaggis $ 53.96 Business Lunch T. Renner and L. Smith, D. Latson‐ 01/19/2015
The Garlic Press Cafe $ 20.30 Business Lunch For T. Renner and K. Gordon‐ 01/26/2015
Ihop # 5429 $ 15.26 Business Meal For D. Hales‐ 01/26/2015 (With who?)
Hansen Center 10019966 $ 8.51 Business Meal For D. Hales‐ 01/27/2015 (With who?)
____________________
Tari attended the US Conference of Mayor in Washington DC
From last month:
US CONF OF MAYORS $ 625.00 Registration for 83rd Winter Meeting for T. Renner‐ 12/03/2014
AMERICAN AI 0012396351594 $ 324.20 T. Renner Airfare to US Conference of Mayors ‐ 12/15/2014
Total last month – $949.20
From this month:
Hilton Hotels Capital $ 1,133.80 Hotel for US Conference of Mayors‐ 01/20/2015
Arlington Blue Top Cabs $ 24.45 Conference Transportation‐ 01/20/2015
Curb $ 12.71 Conference Transportation‐ 01/20/2015
American Airlines $ 25.00 Baggage Fee for Conference Transportation‐ 01/24/2015
DC Taxi F773 $ 19.15 Conference Transportation‐ 01/24/2015
American Airlines $ 25.00 Baggage Fee for Conference Transportation‐ 01/24/2015
American Airlines $ 200.00 Airfare Change Fee‐ 01/22/2015
TARI RENNER INV 02/23/2015 WSHNGTN DC CHECK TOTAL 117.00
Total This month – $1557.11
Total – $2506.31
This email was part of a Freedom of Information Act Request. Note: the National Conference of Democratic Mayors met at the same time. Their agenda items are listed, see “build to the 2016 elections”. Renner reported at a Council meeting that he spent 6 hours in the White House in meetings.
Why should the city pay for Renner to attend a partisan function that does fully represent the views of all the citizens of Bloomington? Perhaps he should write a check to the city for attending this! Also, there should be an ordinance passed prohibiting the Mayor and City Manager form expensing meals with Alderman and city workers. Most companies don’t allow for this type of expense unless there is out of city travel or group training/group meetings involved. I’d like to see the ordinance also preclude the Mayor and City Manager meeting with Alderman in onesies and twosies because we KNOW WHAT THAT”S ALL ABOUT- COLLUSION AND GETTING AROUND THE OMA!!
Dept. Heads should NOT allow the city to pickup the cost for working lunch’s. Take up a collection or brown bag it folks. Same thing for the Council meetings. The taxpayer, isn’t your feedbag.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is non-partisan organization, I guess you just don’t want your mayor going anywhere or networking with anyone else.
This list is pretty petty. Stop the press!!!!! The mayor spend $32.00 and $24.00 for a lunch. I guess Kevin or Ms. Benjamin don’t understand the concept of a business lunch. The city spent $117 to reward their firemen. Oh,the horror!!!!
Maybe you should see some earlier posts – before I started watching them. This is considerable less than normal.
R. Kennedy, perhaps I misread, maybe not. The document above says “National Conference of Democratic Mayors”. Does that mean just the Democrat faction of the Mayors Conference, or is it another conference just for Mayors belonging to the Democratic Party? Either way, it does seem like a waste of time and money to me. We don’t need the federal government involved in local government. We don’t need grants because grants always have federal requirements attached to them. Btw, Rahm Emmanuel didn’t attend. Why should Tari? To be Chris Koos dance partner? What’s the tangible ROI Kennedy? Be specific!
Kevin:
From the NCDM website:
◦Serve as the structure through which Mayors who subscribe to the principles of the Democratic Party can communicate and promote the goals of the party as they relate to cities;
◦Act as a liaison between the nation’s Democratic Mayors, the Democratic National Committee and other Democratic Organizations; and
◦Create a political network of Mayors to affect local, state, and national elections and to aid in the reelection of incumbent Mayors who are members of the Democratic Party.
http://democraticmayors.org/about
If our city elections are non partisan, why are we paying ‘his Most Rebuked Honor’ to go to an obviously partisan conference?
As an aside, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that Obamaroid to give you straight answers. In other words, he’s just another ‘progressive’…LOL.
Renner is enough of a hard core, doctrinaire Left-Wing ideologue that I doubt that he would often willingly eat at restaurants where he believed the owner’s disagreed with his political ideology–even on the taxpayers’ dime. Notice he returns to the same establishments with great regularity. Maybe we Conservatives should stop eating at those places–making very clear to the owner’s our principled reasons for doing so. Let’s smoke out some of the powerful closet Leftists and RINOS that dominate (and have nearly destroyed) our Community! Win-win. Hit his supporters in the pocketbook and not have to breath the same air as such a vile and evil man.
Perhaps Cities 92.9 would be kind enough to name them! Add in Desthil, that’s where Tari and Carlo like to go all the time! Hmmmmm, funny thing, where all the receipts for their January dining? They sure pigs of themselves all last year! Maybe Tari stopped turning in his meal tickets with Carlo when he was called out on it by Diane last month!
And that would do what to the city’s businesses and city at large? Gee, you people like to cut off you noses despite you faces!!! You actually don’t have the city interest at heart, this whole thing is so petty.
Although I may disagree with Maggie’s comment about not eating at Renner’s preferred restaurants it does not absolve the mayor from his out of control bad habits of being a bully.
Just because Renner eats there doesn’t mean they support him. Maybe the cooks in the back are spitting in his food for all you know.
Are you advocating for restaurants to spit in the Mayor’s food? Dude that is really petty. I don’t wish that crap even on my worst enemies. I hope anyone who eats at Destihl or any other local restaurant gets treated with respect, no matter what their political affiliation is.
Ridiculous that again, taxpayers are footing the bill for food for our mayor who is obviously morally opposed to bringing his lunch like normal people. Or using his OWN debit card to pay to stuff his face!!
Every time I drive over a pothole now, I think to myself “Tari’s lunch could have paid to fill that in”.
Realist @ 2:17,,,settle down dude, it was just a little joke. The key word being “maybe.” Geesh! Get real!