By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos recently spoke at a “State of McLean County” event. See the newspaper story HERE Koos thinks his job is reducing economic inequity, delivering opportunity, social equity and sustainability. If his claims were true, the Council wouldn’t be set to raise property taxes to fill holes in their budget. Stealing more […]
By: Diane Benjamin The second session of the retreat was 3 hours and 33 minutes. I DID NOT LISTEN TO EVERY SECOND! I jumped around and listened to more than half. It was obvious Quality of Life is not going to be in proposed cuts. The discussion involved real spending for the first time in […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m always suspicious when an article appears in the paper praising something when the data to back up the claims is unavailable. It happened again October 26th with this story in the Pantagraph: Normal TIF Districts Paying Dividends One has to wonder where the story came from. Did somebody at the Town call […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written before about the City spending resources to prosecute employees when arbitration reaches a different conclusion than the one the City wants. Remember Scott Oglesby? https://blnnews.com/2013/05/06/the-real-story-of-scott-oglesbys-firing/ Now they are doing it again. This time it’s a fireman, Jon Caponi, who was arrested in 2016 for domestic violence. See the newspaper story […]
By: Diane Benjamin The local paper has an article about the Cease and Desist email Bruce Meeks sent to the mayor. See it HERE I don’t know what the writer means saying Meeks is “raising questions” about the airline ticket to Japan, but I wonder why Renner chose to go after Bruce Meeks when I was […]
By: Diane Benjamin Anonymous Editorial writer published one today against Tari Renner: http://www.pantagraph.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-mayor-needs-to-change-his-ways-and-fast/article_5de7dedd-4ac6-5590-8ebe-f5c1c1f95d2b.html You can decide for yourself why they wrote it. Even though a comment by Bruce Meeks stating he had never sued the City was published in THEIR paper, the writer allowed Renner to claim yet again Bruce has been suing for 5 […]
By: Diane Benjamin February 20, 2015 The Council issued a Resolution, they did not censure Tari Renner for his remarks made on BlnNews.com. The entire video of the meeting is below, it doesn’t officially start until 8:49. Most of the meeting is Public Comment. (starts at 19:00). A copy of the Resolution they passed can […]
WJBC has posted the audio and a story: http://www.wjbc.com/2017/10/25/renner-council-spat-shouldnt-impact-city-manager-search/ Tari: Maybe the Aldermen who won’t return your phone calls understand the public business is required to be done in public. See the Open Meeting Act you frequently violate. Of course it could be they don’t want to hear more lies any more than citizens do. Did […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari has thought he is god’s gift to Bloomington since the day he got elected the first time. He planned to RULE, not serve. Every action he has taken from his first day on the job proves that. He has no concept of what most people think a mayor should be. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the VIDEO in this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/10/10/should-renner-be-back/ What Tari claims has happened is a FELONY. Were police reports filed? NO! Why was it denied? I originally tried to file for a longer time frame, but they told me it was too long. Then the City lost my response to a request to narrow […]
By: Diane Benjamin According to the paper, Tari paid $30 back to the City for his $28 charge while on “medical related leave”. He claims he didn’t want it to be an issue. Is it too difficult to not whip out the card to pay Tari? The controversy is YOUR fault. If the Council approves […]
WJBC posted the podcast: https://audioboom.com/posts/6384179-tari-renner-bloomington-mayor-10-11-17 I forgot to mention he thinks the local acrimony is a bigger story than CIAM! He also claims he did everything possible to get information from CIAM AND he decided not to renew the contract. Funny Tari – I remember you were shocked they pulled out of the negotiations. I was […]
The on-line version has been corrected. How are they going to correct all those printed copies? Are there enough to worry about? ______________________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin If anyone was expecting a hard-hitting editorial by the anonymous writers at the Pantagraph against Tari Renner for once again inflaming the local acrimony Monday night, you will be […]
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 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday’s paper had a front-page story concerning a filing by Jason Chamber’s office with the Attorney General for Open Meeting Act violations. He has been waiting 17 months for a determination. The story claims his office can only prosecute violations for 18 months. First, Welcome to our world Jason! The request filed […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve talked to numerous people about what is really going on at State Farm. One felt Ed Rust protected Bloomington-Normal, but he is no longer there. The new management has no reason to be loyal to Bloomington-Normal. Another person told me State Farm has serious internal problems that are making them un-competitive. […]
Guest Editorial Hey Pravdagraph, News flash! Skip Crawford and Mike Matejka have been off the Council for more than a decade! The people voted them off after multiple terms because they were the ultimate insiders voting for a union agenda (Matejka, union official) and Crawford (pretend Republican) who loved dem Karen Schmidt (see campaign letter) […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Joliet Herald News was attacked by the City of Joliet for reporting the truth about their new City Manager: David Hales. The Herald isn’t cowering in a corner, they are putting the facts in front of the citizens. They are probably getting a tons of reads, people want real news – […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is the Pantagraph story announcing CIAM (John Butler) would not be renewing the contract to manage the Coliseum: http://www.pantagraph.com/entertainment/u-s-cellular-coliseum-to-receive-new-management/article_194a2f7c-d482-5d82-8885-7e5eafddb2b4.html That was March 8, 2016. Tari Renner is quoted saying CIAM might get a short-term contract to help with the transition – maybe 30-60-or 90 days. Obviously Renner had no urgency to remove […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal’s Bills and Payroll for tonight: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2730 You work hard for a paycheck. The CornBelters are failing, as evidenced by a league change, because people aren’t attending games. They attempt to make money from concerts, Normal helped them out with your money: More entertainment: Grounds maintenance at Rivian: Consultants must get a cut: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Real journalism isn’t dead yet! The Joliet Herald News just proved it with this story: http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2017/09/29/da82d31d3ccc4697970889c2a58349a5/index.xml?page=1 This paper isn’t done writing because my interview is not in this story! See this story for context if you missed it this morning: https://blnnews.com/2017/09/29/hales-if-a-perfect-fit-for-joliet/ Some tasty bits: “That’s the guy you want,” Regis said. “If somebody commits […]
By: Diane Benjamin I didn’t think it was possible to find people with even less desire to serve the people they are supposed to represent than the local propagandists. But, they do exist – in Joliet. Speaking with no facts is acceptable operating procedure. Believing every word uttered by people playing CYA is required. Then, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Today the dead tree, as Ben Yount calls it, stated the City hired the Bronner Group back in 2015 to audit the Coliseum. Instead of “there’s an app for that”, my new saying is “I’ve got a story for that”. From September 17, 2015: https://blnnews.com/2015/09/17/bronner-group-getting-your-money/ Bronner “discounted” their rate to $145 per hour! […]
By: Diane Benjamin Attn: Council If your information on ANY topic, especially the Coliseum, is from David Hales or Tari Renner you are getting “Fake News”. Jamie Mathy is quoted in today’s paper saying the Management Agreement with CIAM “literally forbid the city from having access to the raw numbers”. SOURCE Jamie, why did the City […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are some of the stories I’ve written about the Coliseum. Some are opinions, some questions, and some proven facts. This isn’t everything, but it’s enough to prove the 5 Coliseum employees would NOT be under indictment of I hadn’t started investigating in 2013! Each link has a quote from the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The oldest story I wrote about the Coliseum is from December 2013: https://blnnews.com/2013/12/11/coliseum-bleeding-bloomington-taxpayers/ But, look at this story from February 2014: https://blnnews.com/2014/02/06/is-coliseum-management-giving-bloomington-their-share/ First lines of the story: Operations of the Coliseum are extremely complicated. Management hired by the City is operating some functions without any over-sight or accountability. The taxpayers deserve to […]
By: Diane Benjamin I knew the lies were going to be instant! The City of Bloomington did NOT uncover the fraud at the Coliseum. They were warned many times. David Hales did not do his job – I hope Joliet is thrilled with their choice for City Manager. The fraud could not have happened if […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph Opinion Page continues to be an endless source of entertainment. Orchestrated Letters to the Editor are claiming voting rights locally have been violated. The election is more than a year away and normal everyday people are writing letters asking you to vote for their candidate? Keep in mind: Repeat a […]
By: Diane Benjamin If I hadn’t been out of town this weekend, I would have written A LOT more on the Pantagraph story that attempted to make you believe the Bloomington roads are getting better. It’s really difficult to compose story on a cell phone, so I left a lot of details to readers: https://blnnews.com/2017/09/24/more-pantagraph-conspires-with-city/ […]
By. Diane Benjamin Today the Pantagraph lauded the $3.8 million Bloomington is spending on streets. Seems like rewriting history so people think the streets are getting better is the goal of both Bloomington and the so called press. Why? Because both want downtown spending, not silly things citizens want like the roads fixed! See their […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the Pantagraph appears to do a study of anything, it usually means Bloomington is up to something and using them to gauge public opinion. Today it was legal expenses and justifying the outrageous amount the City sends to Springfield every month while telling you not to buy on the internet – […]
By: Diane Benjamin It looks like Bloomington has to be destroyed by government spending before people realize local elections matter. Or, maybe only the people who can’t move will be left paying the bills which are about to get much bigger. Monday night the Bloomington will see the results of doing “Wants” before Needs. MANY […]
By: Diane Benjamin When you pick progressives to run your City you will pay more in taxes. You picked their vision to “keep moving Bloomington forward”. Fiscal responsibility and Needs before Wants aren’t ever discussed. Send this article to the local leftists so they know what progress looks like: Why Are Liberal Cities So Unaffordable Alderman […]
The writer is reflecting on the Editorial printed by the Pantagraph September 7th. See it HERE Do you ever hold out just a speck of hope that there is some integrity left in the Pantagraph? Find it a bit hard to relegate it to the graveyard of American institutions dying a tortured death? Well the […]
By: Diane Benjamin I did finally receive my FOIA for the General Ledger entries to the Sister Cities accounts. Travel expenses is sometimes in “Travel” and sometimes in “Community Relations”. The accounts are full of transfers and memo entries that make it difficult to determine what is happening. The Sister Cities program is supported by […]
By: Diane Benjamin Media is reporting a slight drop in enrollment at ISU. Here’s the proof that numbers lie and liars use numbers. Incoming freshman – down 342 students (9.3%) Transfer students – down 239 students (11.7%) Those are huge percentage drops, the source is WGLT which happens to be part of ISU: http://wglt.org/post/freshman-enrollment-falls-illinois-state-university#stream/0 Incoming […]
By: Diane Benjamin Today an editorial writer is attempting to rewrite the history of Japan, Tari Renner, Margot Erhlich, and PCards. I have the minutes of the Sister Cities Committee. Margot is NEVER listed as a member or attending a meeting! The editorial claims she is a member and everybody should ignore the law! If […]
By: Diane Benjamin Nothing coming from this Council or Tari’s Downtown Task Force should surprise anybody. Vote for Big Spenders and you get the same policies that has the State with $15 Billion in unpaid bills! (after the tax increase) The people Tari appointed to plan downtown spending think just like him. (Are any on […]
A Facebook poster reported seeing Tari at Target Sunday moving along quite briskly. _____________________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin The story broke on July 30th of Renner’s personal use of a government Purchasing Card. https://blnnews.com/2017/07/30/do-we-have-a-prosecutor/ On August 16th WGLT did this story of the Council being concerned about Renner’s erratic behavior. Reading the story though shows them […]
By: Diane Benjamin Wasn’t it only a few weeks ago Tari Renner was so overworked as mayor he wanted a full-time assistant? He must have been exaggerating since now he thinks he can take a leave of absence for some “medical related” reason for an indeterminate time. Since the Council did nothing when Tari Renner […]
