By: Diane Benjamin
Normal’s candidates were much more interesting than Bloomington’s because all 6 showed up. Two of Bloomington’s in the only 2 contested Wards did not. More on them later.
Since I have a lot of video I decided to start with the opening remarks from all 6 candidates. There is a stark difference between the 3 Koos wants to see elected as reliable YES votes, and the 3 who know they answer to the taxpayers.
I might not have it on video but I thought Karl Sila had the line of the morning. Debt was being discussed and how Normal has plans to pay it down to a manageable number when the Uptown TIF expires. I still don’t know what the plan is because the TIF isn’t going to provide the money. Karl’s line was something like “it’s nice Normal has a plan, but the real question is why was a Town of 50,000 people ever in $100,000,000 debt?” Good question since the TIF will never pay if off meaning taxpayers will.
The first 3 videos are the YES people. See if you can spot the difference between them and the next three. Pardon the video, especially when the candidate was short and a tall person blocked the shot.
I was able to ask one question, I chose to ask what the current Council members think of the Rivian sitting in Koos’ driveway. Karyn defended the purchase and even though Kathleen voted against the purchase she wasn’t upset. I think both thought the vehicle was part of the fleet. I told the whole room it doesn’t have government plates and therefore isn’t part of the fleet. It’s Koos’ personal present from taxpayers. I might post that video at some point.
Kathy 🤮
Karl did great, so educational, everyone should hear this.
The candidate blocks are:
King Koos Legacy Klan
– Kathleen Lorenz
– Andy Byers
– Karen Smith
vs.
Resident Representatives
– Stan Nord
– Marc Tiritilli
– Karl Sila
I had the luxury of going last. When I asked why Normal ever hit $100M in debt I was actually repeating/referencing a line from Marc’s speech.
My daughter was nice enough to join me and made two observations afterwards. One, she was the only minor there. And secondly, the Normal incumbents were very good at using a lot of words to Not answer the question(s).
Stan Nord, Marc Tiritilli, & Karl Sila, Thank You so much for running for Trustees of Normal. We really appreciate you.
Excellent coverage, very informative.
It was so easy to make a decision on who my choices will be. It was clear who would work as hard as Stan for the people.
I only wish that more than 3 of these candidates could lose . Is this the best we can come up with to even run ?
Normal has 3 great candidates. If you love tyranny don’t vote for them.
As I’ve posted Many times here – Support good candidates; if there aren’t any (or enough), then Recruit good candidates; if there still aren’t any or enough, Become good candidates.
The reason you see me up there is because I’m practicing what I preach.
If you think you would be better, or know somebody who would be, I’ll gladly help you with basic information on procedures etc. If you/they are actually a good candidate, I’ll gladly support you/them. And I’m up there as a public servant, not for my own ego as some seem to be – if the slate of available candidates were to make me my own 4th choice, that support would include dropping out to avoid splitting the vote.
And I expect Stan and Marc feel similarly.