December 6, 2016
BLOOMINGTON, IL. (ECWd) –
In a day when adherence to the law is a revolutionary act, this one drives that message home.
An objection was made to the nomination petitions for Bloomington’s Mayor, Tari Renner – and he accused those wanting the law followed of being “fringe right-wing” people who are “trying to cheat to get on the ballot“.
So Renner blames the objector for pointing out petition irregularities, calling the person wanting to eliminate the cheating, a cheater for wanting the law followed. What a piece of work.
To top that off, the Bloomington Electoral Board attempted to hold a public hearing to hear the objection, only to be confronted by us and others for alleged violations of the open meetings act for having a meeting without it being properly posted.
The board’s attorney tried badgering and belittling citizens, the board tried to ban videotaping the public meeting, and the Bloomington police were called to the scene. It is clear from the below video, Attorney Robert Day’s only reason for wanting the police present, was because we were “interrupting” their meeting and he wanted to make sure we were sufficiently intimidated. I guess he didn’t realize we cannot interrupt a meeting that is not a legal meeting to begin with.
The board should demand a refund on all monies paid to their attorney for his actions in attempting to justify and hold an illegal meeting.
People might wonder what the big deal is about properly posting a meeting. It is simple. The law requires it, and in recent history, this electoral board, with this attorney, had a decision overturned by the Court and a name placed back on the ballot…because…the objection hearing was conducted in violation of the open meetings act. You would think they would learn from their mistakes – but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Renner also stated that voters have the right to sign petitions, and nobody has stated otherwise. What he failed to also mention in TV news interviews, was that voters also have the right to ensure all petition signatures are valid and actually signed by the voter of the political subdivision concerned – and not some other random person.
Continue reading: http://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2016/12/bloomington-electoral-board-not-their-first-time-violating-open-meetings/
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Why does Bloomington have their own election commission when everyone else in McLean County goes through the county? This seems to me to be a doubling up of services and a waste of money.
I’ve been to their web site and while this time their posting does have the time it does not have the location. Under December 8, it says 9 am, but when I click it for more information, it shows the address, but it says on the Google calendar that it starts at 10 am Central Standard time. It looks to me as if they still haven’t gotten it right! And we’re going to trust them to make an objective judgment on Tari Renner’s petitions!
Ignore that last post, I finally got the information I needed and it appears to be correct. But, it is confusing!
The Thursday meeting is still illegal – working on it AND abolishing the commission. It’s another layer of government that is NOT needed!
It would appear that the lawyer representing the BEC would and should fully understand the open meeting law. As an officer of the Court he is bound to the rule of law. I am sure Mr. Day has been out of law school for a while and the ink on his law license dry, so why would he want to jeopardize it by trying to bully the citizens of Bloomington and violate the law?? It is curious…..
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He SHOULD have his law license “yanked” if he’s ignorant of the LAW, which it’s HIS job to know.