By: Diane Benjamin
Since last night Tari called comments made by citizens about the Japan trip lies, I have no problem calling his statement lies.
Just hit play below to hear him.
First, he claims the Chief Legal Officer said he did nothing wrong. Who is the Chief Legal Officer Tari? Jeff Jurgens or somebody you don’t want to name?
Second, he claims no laws or policies were violated BECAUSE Margot was an official delegate of the Sister Cities Committee. I have the minutes for at least two years of meetings – since January 1st they are on the website now: http://www.bnsistercities.org/about/
Margot didn’t attend a single meeting and isn’t mentioned in any of the minutes. She isn’t a member of the Committee. Delegate? Seriously?
Remember the Renner post from Japan thanking Margot for being willing to pay her own way to join him?
Does it sound like Renner considers her a delegate or a travel companion?
Renner then goes on to explain how good people won’t run for office just to be trashed. Tari – you lied to me the very first time we met. Your minions trashed Kevin Lower – a truly good man. Liars deserve to be trashed. Leaders who tax their citizens to death because they want to spend and spend and spend deserve to be trashed.
Citizens deserve Public Servants – people who think more about the taxpayers than their legacy. You aren’t even close to that description.
My favorite is his claim the Sister Cities people were upset by FOIA requests. If people spending taxpayer money without posting agendas and minutes on their website (as required by the Open Meetings Act) are upset, they need to be trained properly.
Finally, Tari claimed he was in Japan for 4 1/2 days. He claimed it takes 2 days to get there and two days to get back. I guess he didn’t notice gaining time and losing it going back in the opposite directions.
According to a Pantagraph article he left on a Sunday. He was back very jet-lagged a week later on a Tuesday. That’s 10 days. Maybe you can get this one right – so how many days were you really gone Tari? Was 4 1/2 days just Sister Cities events and the rest a tour? Tari? Tari?
From the minutes, official events were August 4th and 5th: Minutes 2016-08-01
Then there is this in the minutes: Minutes 2016-10-03
IACE is the company that got paid almost $60,000 and labeled “tour”. Is that what you did the rest of time?
We still don’t know what this payment to IACE is for either:
Did the tour really cost more than $80,000 and how much did the participants pay – including Margot? My FOIA didn’t get a reimbursement from her on that part.
I tried to pick up a FOIA request yesterday that your Clerk said I needed to pick up. It might have cleared up some issues:
I received the notice on Friday. Yesterday they couldn’t find it!
If the Council falls for Margot being an official delegate, they aren’t public servants either.
A quote from Abraham Lincoln seems appropriate here:
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Accusing a citizen of speaking lies during public comment when the PCard policy was read out loud is appalling. Attacks just support the idea of misconduct. Renner or his assistant misused the card. He should admit that. The Council can decide what should be done as a result.
ENOUGH is ENOUGH! Diane, from WHAT my friends tell me, you WERE a backer of Taris at FIRST, then as he Defecated on everyone, you took up a defensive stand-CONGRATULATIONS! Now Tari has taken it upon himself to attack most ANYONE who has a SHRED of DECENCY and the “Public be damned”! MY “council woman” won’t answer emails and from WHAT I see There NEEDS to be a LOT of things looked into!
PCard spending for one..
WHEN did his FWB become a “delegation member”
WHY does he get to buy lunch for Curly, Larry and Moe at his WHIM?-on OUR $
WHY does he NEED a $50K “assistant”
et al!
Care to respond Tari, as I’d REALLY like to hear WHAT you have to say in YOUR defense!!.. MAybe Nora can come up with something “cute’ for ya. And DOES she make $50K ? If NOT why not, as she seems to be your spokesperson.
Mr Hales, must be packing for Topeka just about now, as I don’t hear HIM expounding on this!
And I could go on! Give me a reason.
Let’s talk about Springfield strippers!!!
NEVER backed Tari! When he lied to me the 1st time we met, it was over!
Great article Diane! I know I’m going to forward it to the ISP anode demand that they open a criminal investigation if they haven’t done so already. The additional unexplained cost is bothersome. What else is going to pop up on down the road about this trip? What else are they hiding? The public trust has been broken and law enforcement needs to investigate. Alderman need to step up to the plate and start holding this liar accountable or they will be held accountable. Enough is enough with this guy.
Chambers is quoted in the Pantagraph as saying he won’t do anything about this. He says complainants should go to the police and file a report. Many more people need to contact ISP.
Lt. Greg Cavanaugh he is at 815-844-1500 ext 2303.
It needs to be made clear that the ACT of charging the airplane ticket on a government issued credit card is against the law, not the amount or whether or not it was paid back. The PCard Policy is a detailed itemization of Article VIII, Section 2 of the State Constitution. Management of PUBLIC funds are handled differently than PRIVATE funds, rightly so.
That is certainly the point! Tari’s made-up excuse about Margot is only an attempt to keep from being in a lot of trouble.
Legal council advised Renner with his “excuse.”
Diane’s readers should visit the WGLT site (ewwww, gross) and listen to their interview of Tari. He is absolutely off his rocker. How anyone can seriously support this guy is beyond explanation.
Mike McCurdy worked on Renner’s campaign…the interviews a slanted…apparently, questions are submitted to Renner in advance…enough said.
Renner is dead wrong when he says he did nothing wrong. It shows how far off his moral compass is.
As Skunk alluded to, McCurdy and Renner are pals. WGLT is owned by ISU, a state Univerisity. McCurdy is a state employee and has been and continues to be used by a Renner for Renners own political purposes. This violates the state ethics laws. He knows what they are. The University does a pretty good job educating their employees. Enforcement, or shall I say , selective might be a problem there. If you’re tire of your tax dollars always be used by WGLT as Renners personal. Bully pulpit and as forum for only the progressive left, then please file your complaint with the Office of Executive Inspector Generals Office in either Springfield or Chicago. Here are instructions from their website:
Complaints regarding allegations of misconduct, fraud, waste, etc. related to entities under the jurisdiction of the Office of Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor may be submitted by anyone. Complaints may be submitted anonymously; however, a complaint must relate to the official conduct of:
an employee of an executive branch state agency, board, or commission, or state public university under the jurisdiction of the OEIG;
an employee of the the Regional Transportation Authority, the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, or Pace; or
a person or entity (such as a vendor) doing business with an entity under the jurisdiction of the OEIG.
Anyone who files a complaint should have a reasonable belief that the allegation being reported is true. In addition, anyone filing a complaint must provide sufficient detail concerning the allegation in order for an investigation to be initiated.
Examples of allegations of violations by public employees that may be investigated by the OEIG include, but are not limited to: fraud, abuse of authority, corruption, theft of state property, improper use of state time, property, or other resources for prohibited political purposes, bid rigging, improper time reporting, and other forms of misuse of public property, equipment, or other assets.
Complaints may be filed orally or preferably in writing. Forms for this purpose are available at the OEIG website, OEIG Complaint Forms.
To report a violation you may:
Call the OEIG’s toll-free hotline at 866.814.1113
Contact the Office via telecommunications device for the disabled (TTY) at 888.261.2734;
Mail a completed complaint form to:
Office of Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor
Attention: Complaint Division
69 West Washington, Suite 3400
Chicago, Illinois 60602
Fax a completed complaint form to 312.814.5479
Visit the OEIG’s Springfield or Chicago offices to obtain, complete, and submit a complaint form
Chicago Tokyo
13h 5m
ANA All Nippon Airways
ANA All Nippon Airways Flight 111 Boeing 777-300ER
5:25p
Chicago, IL
ORD O’Hare Intl Airport
8:30p
Tokyo, Japan
HND Tokyo Intl (Haneda) Airport
13h 5m *
Economy
Saturday, October 28
Tokyo Chicago
11h 50m *
ANA All Nippon Airways
ANA All Nippon Airways Flight 112 Boeing 777-300ER
10:50a
Tokyo, Japan
HND Tokyo Intl (Haneda) Airport
8:40a
Chicago, IL
ORD O’Hare Intl Airport
11h 50m
Economy
By the price of Tarry’s ticket it was a nonstop – note * the flight times for this RT non-stop – yes I know I used Tokyo, the flight times would be similar to other Japanese airports OR Tarry could have flown into Tokyo and taken a short local flight or train if he had any sense. – Tarry, if you are reading this, you might need to learn how to fly better, you also could have gotten by with around 500-600 bucks had you actually taken something like 24-31 hours to get there…
The media didn’t care enough to fact check. But that’s normal.
Well, of course, whatever Tarry SAYS is enough for them.