By: Diane Benjamin
Evidently Tari is still reading this site contrary to his claims. Or maybe one of his minions contacted him about last night’s story: https://blnnews.com/2017/07/30/do-we-have-a-prosecutor/
He couldn’t stop himself from calling me a liar and threatening to sue:
He fails to explain how the charge for Margot’s ticket got on the PCard statement and paid by the City.
Tari, Margot is a teacher and a public employee. Both of you should know better!
Remember Scott Preston got investigated for the same thing? Maybe somebody should investigate all your “free lunches”, especially the ones with nobody else listed and therefore no City business purpose.
The only people I have contempt for Tari are those that abuse taxpayers. If the shoe fits . . .
By the way Tari, slander is spoken – libel is written. Maybe you could sue the City for publishing your girlfriend’s trip expense on a City document.
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His arrogance never ends. They need to stop living large on the tax payers dime. What gives him and the rest of these people the right to blatantly steal money from the public treasury?
If she really paid for her own expenses, then show us the proof! It shouldn’t have even been listed with other city expenses. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all have somebody else pay our bills.Let’s all go have lunch “on the city”.
I was hoping you had checked receipts to verify that she paid her way. Apparently it was not reflected in the city’s reports! Where is the payment I wonder?
the charge is a crime, that’s all that matters at this point.
Point One: He “avoids” your site. Yeah right. He can’t help his Napoleon little self from seeing what people are saying about him.
Point Two: Clearly, he hasn’t learned to be a big boy when responding to private citizens holding him accountable. The whiny brat comes out every stinking time he’s challenged. EVERY TIME.
I had a chance to visit with a few BPD and corrections (jail) officers this weekend. Oh boy did they have a lot to say!
Do they regret their union throwing money at him?
Absolutely, but that’s the least of their complaints. He treats them with complete contempt. Talks about individual cops behind their backs. Tells them what he thinks he knows…rather than listening and asking questions about what’s reality. Seriously treats them as if he was some teenage girl who can’t get her way.
I’d quote them directly, but they used language that’s unprintable.
Do you suppose he’ll (finally) put Nora to work to put out some lame response (obviously not an admittance of guilt or apology)…blaming “a certain blogger”…for making this a big deal.
Transparency indeed.
Bingo! My thought exactly.
According to the Pantagraph article, the Japanese city is paying for the mayors’ lodging. All other members of the delegation will be hosted in the homes of residents. If Renner didn’t arrange in advance, for his girlfriend’s housing and food to be paid for by the Sister City, that would be a breach in etiquette. Margo should be hosted in someone’s home with the rest of the delegation.
Hope they all enjoyed the radiation compliments of the Fukushima melt down. Nah, ya can’t see it at first. Ya just get to feel it later. Did ya all eat any fish out of the Pacific while you were over there? Any beef, rice or veggies grown on the island? Ya all jist ain’t too bright, are ya’s? Well maybe you’ll all get what you deserve.
Even if she or he later reimburses the city for the expenses, the city did pay for her travel, even if temporary, and also essentially provide an interest-free loan to pay for her travel.
Until I see proof that she actually paid for herself and there was good reason for the city to front the cost, I have to ask the States’ Attorney to look into criminal charges.
PCards are not to be used for convenience. Renner should have paid for both and be reimbursed.
Tari is bullying you again Diane with the threats he’s making! Where is Not In Our Town???
Didnt she accompany him on the trip to Cuba sister city last year? Who paid for that ticket?
Don’t know. Worth checking.
I think that payment went to Dan Rutherford since he organized the junket, might be harder to figure out. Probably need to FOIA the invoice.
This just proves two points. One, tari renner is so blinded by his own arrogance that he tries to pull off these actions (crimes) when he knows everyone is watching his every move. Two, That the city council is so incompetent or complicit which makes them an accessory in the crime. I would be satisfied if the mayor and the council all step down.
TWO lawyers on the council voted to approve this spending. What does that say about lawyers?
That they’re all a bunch of crooks like my old man told me when I was a kid?
Time for this clown to be taken down. Our mayor is a serial law breaker as well a liar, bully, thief, and cheater. The States Attorney places his personal friendship with Renner over enforcing the law. He has failed to execute his duties against Renner more than once because of that friendship. Other avenues must now be seriously pursued. Other government officials and employees have been sent to prison for a lot less than what Renner has done as Mayor. Those free lunches were a scam, and only designed to get around the OMA.they were also used as opportunities to meet with Alderman of the same political persuasion, and to conspire to agree in private about items and issues before the Council so that their voting position would stand up against any opposition. Not once during Tari’s tenure did TWO conservative Alderman ever get invited to a free tax payer paid lunch. Then there was the pattern of Renners favorite cronies from the local press in addition to his friends that he liked to wine and dine on the pubic dime. I wonder if this guy ever ate at home? Did he claim these free meals on his federal taxe? He should, because I obtained numerous, and I mean numerous copies of his receipts and expense slips, and none contain any synopsis of of what city business was discussed at these lunches/dinners. No referances to the purpose of the meeting, what was discussed, etc. Many times, no receipt was turned in. Looks like a Renner should be paying taxes on these meals as a benefit as well as the City Manager. They can’t prove the business necessity of having the taxpayers paying for their meals.
Last, but only last for this posting. and not the last of Renners crooked shenanigans, let’s not forget his petition debacle. There was a lot more to that story, but the BEC’s full time Director either purposely gave misleading information on how to draft the form of the complaint or he didn’t know what he was doing. The result of his giving the wrong information was that the Petition was not drafted properly, and therefore quite a few signatures could not be challenged. Despite that though, slightly over 200 were thrown out anyway and Renner blew that off as a simple error on the part of the signer. BS Tari, maybe in a few cases, but not enough to matter. There was a concerted effort on the part of a few signature gatherers, to commit fraud. In fact, one of Renners campaign workers admitted under oath while giving testimony before the BEC., to frauduantly signing another persons name on Renners nomination petition. I believe the States Attorney was in the room at the time. Nothing was done. This is why need an outside Prosecutor, to ensure that justice is done.
Oh, one more thing, I’m tired of having my FOIAs ignored an not responded to. It’s not by accident either. I understand the subject matter is “touchy” and maybe embarrassing, but those aren’t good enough reasons for denial. I’m also tired of a close relative of mine who works for a unit of government, being harassed over minutiae only after I openly challenge Renner on something or whenever I start pushing for a FOIA Request that they never respond to. “There’s old saying, I was born at night, but not last night.”
The next time I see him at Barnes and Noble or Scnucks I’ll ask for a date. What a deal!
Was it first class or economy?
I can see paying for a spouse or partial payment but a girlfriend. Give me a break.
You probably can’t blame her. She may not have even known who paid for the ticket.
Someone in the administration should have spotted that and denied paying. A charge for that amount isn’t like a $18.95 meal.
What gall threatening to sue. No lawyer would be that dumb to even take it.
It goes without saying that I find it repellent that we pay for all of Tari’s little vacations with his g/f, (and of course all of his feed, and yes I mean feed, not food) but what REALLY sickens me is that Tari Renner represents Bloomington to other cities and even countries. Of course his buddy Koos went as well, another embarrassing Beta male post turtle that has managed to hoodwink a bunch of people into thinking he should be a leader of anything. Somehow, this proclivity of people to fall for these charlatans has to end. The only answer is to resolve to vote them out. As my dad used to say “HOW can anyone even LOOK at these geeks and think it would be a good idea for them to have any control over anything? You can NOT have guys like this in positions of power and expect anything positive to come of it” I wish people would open their eyes and REALLY take a long hard LOOK at Renner and Koos.
Renner does not possess the proper amount of class necessary to interact with the more conservative norms of Japanese culture.
A few years back did not a certain county employee charge a few things to a gov’t card and the Slantograph make it a big news story? Lee Newcomb did this and they could not report it enough. While I feel he was wrong (Newcomb) in doing this where is the Slantograph coverage of this with Tari….could it be the (R) after Newcomb’s name was a green light to pursue at all costs? …and dear Tari, you are a rookie thug who can’t cover your tracks and even get your threats right….
The story also turned out to be false. Matt Sorensen came out a few days before the election (FINALLY) and cleared him. I’d have to look it up, but the story had more to do with not buying travel and lodging the County Auditor approved. He always looked for cheaper places.
Just remembered – The Auditor included mileage in some report for his required travel to Springfield. It made some number she was reporting look bad.
It was nothing more than a smear campaign before the election. It is a shame the way Lee was treated. A good man. Gone too soon.