By: Diane Benjamin
The most interesting parts of tonight’s festivities by the Bloomington City Council won’t be the Council business at 7:00. The pre-meeting David Sage led discussion of Renner’s PCard usage will be enlightening. I wonder if anybody will ask why Tari still has a PCard?
Will Sage ask Tari how this PCard lunch is a business expense taxpayers should be paying for: https://blnnews.com/2017/09/22/august-pcard/
I doubt it since facts don’t matter to this Council! The City already has a PCard policy – Renner has violated it frequently, but hey – he’s the mayor and obviously above the rules.
See the PCard Policy HERE
According to a story in today’s paper: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/city-council-to-discuss-city-credit-cards-and-bcpa-management/article_8e221b27-4573-5c48-9ff6-44c239f75e25.html#tncms-source=home-latest-2
Ward 2 Alderman David Sage asked for discussion of a proposed ordinance that would identify allowable expenses and enact a reimbursement procedure for elected officials.
No discussion needed David:
That is from the Illinois Constitution. Seems pretty clear David!
The article also has the honorable mayor back to claiming Margot was a delegate. See that “credit” in the Finance statement? Margot’s ticket money wasn’t paid back for close three weeks. That’s called “credit” Tari and obviously why Margot suddenly became a delegate even though she has never been listed in the Sister Cities minutes as attending a meeting!
The first discussion isn’t necessary, and neither is the second. Yank his PCard and make Tari fill out expense reports with what the IRS demands:
https://www.lmc.org/media/document/1/irsauditsofcitypayroll.pdf?inline=true
A big improvement would be just requiring receipts since past FOIA requests have shown Tari doesn’t always have them. If he has to turn in an expense report, the rules are already there: No receipt and business purpose – no reimbursement.
That was easy and it didn’t take 30 minutes of Tari trying to declare himself innocent and his lackeys chiming in support. I bet the discussion doesn’t turn out so magnificent. This could be the Council version of pretending they are holding Tari accountable.
I bet the Coliseum comes up during Public Comment.
WGLT has another story today, unfortunately they are claiming the fraud was discovered by VenuWorks: http://wglt.org/post/blame-auditors-coliseum-fraud-case-isn-t-clear-cut
Citizens have it figured out, they know if I hadn’t written about CIAM for years AND filed a lawsuit – CIAM would probably still be protecting their golden goose. I wonder how many people will show up to tell the Council?
The Council’s first mistake was not demanding accountability in 2014 when they had the chance. Parroting Hales and Renner is all they know how to do. Renner and Hales would never lie to them to get what they want! (cough) (cough) So instead of standing up for taxpayers, the Council thinks fleecing taxpayers in the name of progress is the road to success. See the State of Illinois folks. Bloomington is now Illinois.
Here’s a story worth reading: http://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2017/10/bloomintons-mayor-tari-renner-must-answer-questions-posed/
The council AS A WHOLE IS A COURT OF JESTERS! They have NO _NONE REGARD for the workingman’s money and just spend, spend, spend. How about that JOHNEE! Amelia-who has the smile of the cheshire cat. and the other clowns!
Didn’t think so. We NEED and should ACQUIRE real representation on our council/mayor/manager status! VOTE these DUMB***** OUT!
NO excuse for letting the BALL drop on YOUR watch JOHNEE!!! Or any of the others!
I hope some people attend the 7:00 Regular Council meeting to share their concerns with the Council.
Did I see a reporter at 5pm today on channel 25 reference the investigation in Renner’s P-Card use? Yes I did and he indicated more at 6pm. Could this be investigative journalism by a local TV station. (Not really, they didn’t reveal the facts that was done here but at least they are acknowledging there is an issue).
Also a bit off on a tangent. In another story on this blog it was indicated that Renner and his squeeze elected to P-card a hotel in Japan as opposed to the offered and pre-planned stay at the homes of their Japanese guests. Having studied Oriental customs as a class in college,
I can safely say Renner doing this was considered by the hosts as an INSULT.
He wasn’t supposed to stay in homes, they agree to pay hotel bills. We don’t know why the charge was made
Okay, I misunderstood. I agree why was the charge made. Could it be the main squeeze was not a recognized ambassador (ie not noted as such to the hosts and therefore not to be paid for by host….). This would further prove his (Tari’s) lie to the public. Of course he would stay with her….so, I am overthinking this wanting to nail the SOB.
LMAO love the Edgar county piece. Sounds to me like tari bought a whore, then a room on his P card got to drunk and passed out in the lobby. This chit couldn’t have been scripted any better. Thanks for the laugh. Hell I would of taken 30 days off myself. I wonder if she still lives with the jackass!