By: Diane Benjamin
It’s time to review Tari Renner’s history as Mayor:
- Tari is the only mayor in Bloomington’s history censured for his foul language on this site. See the comments to this story: https://blnnews.com/2015/02/10/does-tari-know-that-judy-isnt-running/
- Tari has an extensive history of attacking anyone who doesn’t agree with him – especially women. See this story for a partial list: https://blnnews.com/2015/02/15/freedom-of-speech-matters-just-not-to-tari/
- Tari has been found guilty by the Attorney General’s Office of Two Open Meeting Act violations involving Executive Sessions (Secret meetings of the Council). The audio of both meetings were ordered released but haven’t been. (Judy Stearns and MetroZone) More violations could easily exist, but since the Council decides not to release minutes – citizens will never know.
- The Public Comment policy was changed at a meeting Tari didn’t attend. He opposed increasing the length to allow citizens to speak. It was expanded to 30 minutes after the previous policy was ruled illegal.
- Over 200 signatures were thrown of his nominating petitions for reelection because they were not properly completed. https://blnnews.com/2016/12/17/wjbc-please-stop-the-fake-news/
- A supporter of Tari’s was banned from registering voters after he post a video – and Tari copied it to his Facebook page – of him illegally registering voters while handing out Renner campaign signs. Renner even thanked him for his illegal activity! https://blnnews.com/2017/02/22/illegal-unethical/
- Tari vacationed (business trip) in Cuba at taxpayer expense last summer: $2,783 which doesn’t include airfare. https://blnnews.com/2017/08/01/how-much-did-cuba-cost-you-2/
- Tari is vacationing (business trip) in Japan at taxpayer expense now: At least $3,631 for him and his girlfriend. The City hasn’t rushed to answer FOIA requests for proof she paid the City back, so any claims she did are immaterial.
- Tari announced at a Council meeting shortly after his first election that artwork in his City office was for sale – a new Art Gallery! Jason Chambers refused to prosecute, even though some of the art was by campaign contributors and it’s illegal to sell anything for private citizens from a government office: https://blnnews.com/2014/05/05/pay-to-play-okay-if-nobody-prosecutes/
- Tari dumped $1.4 million (taxpayer money) in a property on North Main. It was bought from guys who later donated to his campaign and was arranged by his eventual campaign treasurer: https://blnnews.com/2017/02/21/renners-ethics/ His plans for the property are a secret.
Laws and ethics are immaterial to Tari. He is the perfect example of why corruption is rampant in Illinois – people like him can get away with doing anything they want. Some Council members are already justifying his actions – just like some did before citizens demanded consequences to his actions back in 2015.
The State Police need to know your feelings. Nothing will happen to Tari is citizens don’t demand it, laws are for us, not the powerful.
http://www.isp.state.il.us/districts/districtx.cfm?DistrictID=6
Meanwhile,
if citizens expect their elected officials to have integrity – they need to elect people who have it.
The Edgar County Watchdogs published another story this morning with the entire timeline – a Must Read: http://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2017/08/bloomingtons-mayor-renner-and-co-circling-the-wagons-and-making-up-excuses/
Why can’t we get our s#!t together and find a candidate to get him out of office? You know he’ll run for another term. Lower and Bayne were awful candidates.
Lower was a very good candidate, I suspect that Bayne was a plant to deflect Lower support.
Lower couldn’t put together a sentence. AND he certainly didn’t have a message that resonated with voters.I simply didn’t vote. Sorry.
Ian Bayne was not a plant and the mere idea of it is ludicrous. Explain your reasoning for such a claim. I bet you couldn’t come up with a scenario where your claim would make sense to the average person. While Lower had SOME good qualities, he was his own worst enemy. He said things he shouldn’t have said, posted ypthings he shouldn’t have posted, & he had this entitlement mentality that he was owed the mayorship over another candidate because he was a ” home boy”-it was his turn. The end result was he gave fodder to his opponent and teams of supporters that beat him over the head with his own words and actions. The vitrole aimed at Bayne was ruthless and unnecessary.
Why would a serious candidate skip debates?
Kevin, the low-lifes who first bashed Baine and then Lower are a group of extreme, leftist activists who used social media to paint the picture they wanted disseminated. They continue to do the same to further their agenda. Granted, Lower should have monitored his online presence, but he is at least honest. Lower doesn’t pander to a group and stab them in the back once elected. Baine was HIS own worst enemy and rightfully lost in the primary. Funding was a major issue as well. Renner spent at least double of what Lower spent. And, remember, less than 50% of the voters voted FOR Renner in the primary.
Facts matter.
It wasn’t just radicals and leftists who were against Bayne. People who supported Fike didn’t like him as well as Lower supporters. Fike suspected that Bayne was behind the anonymous website that bashed him. Renner must have been laughing at the nonsense of it all.
The “at least he was honest” mantra misses the point regarding Lower. Saying African-Americans should go back to Africa to escape racism–on the Marcus Garvey Society Facebook page nonetheless–is tone deaf. Then to pass it off as a joke was disingenuous. Marcus Garvey made speeches thanking whites for Jim Crow and is a pretty controversial figure in the civil rights movement. He was disliked by other civil rights leaders because he was viewed as capitulating to white supremacy groups.
It may be honest, but it is wrong nonetheless.
Seriously?–you have been hoodwinked by Bloomington’s social media “whores.” Did you speak to Lower about his comment regarding Africa? Did you listen to him when asked about that comment during the WGLT forum? The local Twitter junkies use standard “confirmation bias” to frame their conclusions. Most people are too dumb or lazy to do their own research to find the truth. Both Fike and Lower were honest candidates, just not seasoned politicians.
Skunk–what difference does it make if I personally ask Lower what he meant by some comments on Facebook? Heck, Tari finally accepted responsibility for his actions and we are still talking about a little over two years past. The result was that both said and did things that were the result of bad choices. I ended up voting for Lower but it took me a lot to come to that choice. I wanted Tari out.
I wouldn’t say most people are dumb and/or lazy for the simple fact that they voted for someone different than you. I could say the same thing about Trump supporters, but we both know where that discussion would end up. No one is 100% objective but when compared with Renner, Lower was only marginally more acceptable to me. I could do thousands of hours or research and probably come to the same conclusion.
Nice summary!
reimburse |ˌrē-imˈbərs|
verb [ with obj. ]
repay (a person who has spent or lost money): the investors should be reimbursed for their losses.
• repay (a sum of money that has been spent or lost): they spend thousands of dollars that are not reimbursed by insurance.
~ So it would seem that one cannot reimburse something that has not ALREADY been spent. What say you Mr. Mathey?
What else can be expected when you have a full blown socialist in a position of power where he can dip into the till/trough at any time for his own personal pleasure, and is essentially seemingly above the law, just like his socialist progressive elite counterparts in other parts of the world. Tari probably dreams of being Nicolas Maduro, livin’ large and ruling over a starving populace, but he would make sure there were plenty “quality of life” venues for him and the other “haves” to enjoy.
Why would a serious candidate skip debates? Ask him. The same could be said for Kevin, why did he say and do the things he said and did?
Actually, I know the reason why from Ians own lips but it’s not up to me to put it out there. ButI will say this, I agree with him wholeheartedly.
I did ask him. He said he didn’t need the liberal media asking him questions. How did that work out? Especially when he told people not to vote!
I believe it’s a bit more complicated than that, and he didn’t want to go into the weeds. Be fair now Diane, Lower threw up all over his shoes several times, not to mention stepping on his you know what a half dozen times by saying and posting outrageous things and how did that work out for him?
Being a flashy campaigner makes for a horrible representative. Kevin wouldn’t have tax and spent Bloomington into poverty.
Kevin–What exactly are referring to when you say…why did he (Kevin) say and do the things he said and did? Kevin ran an honest campaign. Kevin is not a seasoned politician. Renner had no platform. Renner sounded like a broken record–same talking points over and over, many not even true.
I’m not going to go back and rehash the campaign, but the statements he made and posts he made that were racist or discriminatory in nature- the claims that the protestors opposing Kevin’s candidacy claim he made, Kevin did in fact make. Now,I don’t have the information in front of me, but you can research it yourself. He said, and posted, some pretty stupid things. In fact , a few years ago I personally complained to the. Mayor and City Council about a discriminatory article he was posting expousing offensive, prejudicial, and inciteful information against a particular class of people. I never heard back from anyone. Yet, the knives come out for Ian Bain because he chose not to participate in a few debates that obviously would be unfair and even detrimental to his campaign? Give me a break..
Kevin–that same group of radical protesters ran Baines’ primary campaign into the ground. He made outlandish public and online comments then blocked the responses of those who challenged him. I don’t support racist or discriminatory comments, however “political correctness” has gotten to the point that no matter what someone says it can be construed as racist. And, like it or not, the last I heard everyone in this country is protected by the First Amendment. Have you noticed that same group of radical protesters are now attacking the BPD.
I have a theory I have been developing lately (others probably have thought of first), but it goes like this. The only people who vote are those that strongly want something from their government. The conservatives want the government to leave them alone to their own choices and the consequences of those choices. Liberals want free stuff which is always promised to be paid by some mythical rich people. The majority simply doesn’t care either way. But guess which side has an easier time convincing people in that uncaring majority to vote for their candidates.
I think the majority didn’t know an election was taking place. Local elections are purposely scheduled right after November so people are burned out on blah blah blah
Skunk, I’m in no way, shape , or form supporting those radical protestors so don’t even go there. I know exactly who they are and what they do and I merely made the point that Lower gave them them fodder by doing those things. Furthermore, what he said would not of been tolerated in any work environment. Look to Lower for doing that, and not to me for pointing it out. I could point out a few other things that were done during his Aldermanic campaign, but I won’t. It’s past history. Is he an evil guy? No, and I think he gave his best as Alderman. But to paint him as the one and only truly outstanding candidate is wrong. Ian Bayne made some mistakes no doubt about it. But the level of nastiness leveled at him outside of that group of protestors supporting Renner was over the top. He didn’t deserve that treatment . The one thing I have learned since moving to this city 26 yrs ago is that the good old boy network does exist and that there is an entitlement attitude amongst some of the people who grew up around here. Lower had that quality, I witnessed it myself. Well, I bet it really surprised Lower to learn that the self pericievef entitlement notion did not really work out well for him.
Your perceived entitlement accusation of Lower is way off base. Never seen it as his years as an alderman. You couldn’t be further from the truth. Quite frankly I’m viewing your posts as a complete waste of time Kevin.
That’s your prerogative Justin Time. This home boy attitude never raised its head during his tenure as Alderman so your statement is non sequitor. It happened during the primary campaign and perhaps your goo goo eyes for Lower missed it. Again, I’m not criticising his tenure as Alderman. He tried to the best of his ability. But I didn’t vote for him back then as Ward 1 Alderman because of some underhanded things he and his campaign did. But once he was elected he did a good job given what he was up against with the rest of the Council. So, you can hold onto your view- that’s ok. Tangible facts
prove otherwise, but let’s not let the facts get in the way of the truth. Oh yea, despite all
of this, he received my vote in the General Election.
Kevin, after reading through your ramblings it’s clear as to why you don’t understand.
Another sycophant heard from. Now run along and look that up in Websters, then come back and make a logical explaination for your statement and do try and keep your man crush on Lower out of it. Now run along now…
Enough folks. I’m deleting personal attacks from now on!