I hear a challenge has been filed to Julie Emig’s petitions.
By: Diane Benjamin
Since yesterday was the deadline, this is what the April Bloomington ballot will look like. These are the only Wards being elected in this cycle.
Amelia Buragas was the last rat to jump ship. She has been hurriedly replaced.
The starred names are Renner’s handpicked “yes” people.
Petitions for Julie Emig were circulated by Tari Renner, Jeff Crabill, Justin Boyd, Michael Gorman, Shayna Watchinski, and Julie.
These people make up the far left-wing of local politics. Mike Gorman is president of the Greentop Board and the reason seldom used bike lanes are painted on streets. Gorman didn’t complete his petitions right:
Justin Boyd made the same mistake:
45 signatures could be thrown out if a challenge to the petitions is made. It would have to be made by a resident in Ward 4 within the next 5 business days.
The cover sheet has errors too, the Bloomington Election commission staff might be responsible for these however:
It was up to Julie Emig to make sure the paperwork was right. If she relied on advice from Tari Renner, she must have forgotten he almost didn’t make the ballot last time he ran for mayor because of errors on his filings. Once filed, petitions can not be changed.
See the Emig filing here: Emig Packet
Tari is counting on the usual very low voter turnout. If people in these wards stay home, spending and taxing will accelerate. He will mobilize the IWU kids to get his candidates elected.
The latest way municipalities are raising money is charging a transfer fee for real estate. If it moves, tax it – courtesy of the local democrats.
One more note:
Jenn Carrillo is evidently running under an assumed name. She filed using this:
The far-left in Bloomington has a strong ground game. They get people mobilized and to the voting booth. What angers me is that the students, who live here for 4 years or less, vote for more spending and bigger government because their professor told them to and/or because they want more “things to do” Downtown. Yet, these same voters don’t stick around to pay the bill in the form of higher property taxes, fees for everything, and a declining economic base. Koos and Renner have historically tried to sell their candidates indirectly by suggesting that we need a Council that works together to get things done. Roughly translated, this means a Council where everyone agrees on everything the mayor puts forth and there are no differing viewpoints or obstacles to the mayor’s agenda. While it’s true that more will get done. People should be worried about what will get done when there is no check against the mayor’s power. Gridlock is a good thing…at least our framers of the Constitution thought so.
A couple of observations from all of this:
First, the really important question of the day. Was Tari trying to win the ugly Christmas sweater contest at last night’s Council meeting?
I find it interesting that Tari’s former hand picked candidates, Hauman and Buragus are not seeking reelection. There seems to be trouble in paradise with him and the other one to bail on him who is not up for reelection is Joni Painter. All of this clearly points to Tari’s deficiencies as a leader. He has no coalition other than the radical left and IWU students to help enact it. Hauman, Buragus and Painter are clearly to the left of me, but so are a lot of people. My point is, they’re not far enough to the left for Tari. This is a radical slate of candidates that should strike fear in the minds of anyone in Bloomington and beyond. The only sane one is Donna Boelen and should she win what an up hill battle she will have over the next four years.
I’ve known Donna for a very long time. She is a strong woman with even stronger convictions. She has common sense, is smart and knowledgeable. The combination of those characteristics is formidable.
Conversely, she shows empathy and respect. Something that has been lacking recently.
Agree. We need more people like Donna running for public office.
Gorman needs to find a way to keep his cushy government-financed jobs. He’s probably doing more to help Renner than his failing grocery store. Why perform an honest day’s work when you can get your friends elected in government to give you “work”. Does anyone doubt we’ll see a bailout for Green Top? Especially, if this cast of characters gets elected.
I wish I owned a house or property in another state, a sane state, and in a sane town or WAAAAY out in the boonies where they leave me alone – I do own 2 houses, but both are in Illinois…Mobilizing voters and preventing the apathy here might help I know there has to be more of “us” than there are them even with their little student minions army.
The population isn’t paying attention.
IWU kids or not, this campaign can be won. Outsmarting the Renner group isn’t that difficult imo.
Nero is warming up his fiddle, and Tari is buying the matches and pig fat… Rivian is a joke, Green Top is doomed and State Farm won’t put up with strong handed politics, high taxes and such. They ARE a WORLDWIDE company & BANK, and unlike the Peter Gabriel song, they don’t have small minds and use small words.. They are BIG TIME!
As another poster said recently, we need to whine less and do more. Do a get-out-the-vote drive early and anybody who says they don’t vote, ask something like “On a side question, would you be interested in a part time job, mostly set your own hours, that makes $5000/hr?” (*see below for numbers) Politics is boring, and tedious, and inconvenient, but if you keep in mind that everything they promise, you’re paying for either in higher taxes, higher fees, lower wages, higher rent, more car repairs, higher prices etc, and you get a lot more bang for your buck if you do things privately…
*$5K is based on total gov’t debt and liabilities at all levels, approx national per capita number, spread over an estimated 100 hrs/voter-life spent actually voting plus doing bare minimum research. If you recrunch the numbers using just what you think the next two years’ per capita local overspending will be, you’ll likely still come up with something north of $100/hr. Saying “It’s too much trouble to vote” is like saying it’s too much trouble to close your windows when the weather turns cold or it’s too much trouble to turn off the water when you’re done with your shower – a little bit of lazy can really cost you!
VERY good commentary CONCERNED CITIZEN! Or, as a former client of the company I worked for, who owned his own business used to say “WATCH your pennies and the dollars will watch themselves”!