By: Diane Benjamin The GOP met tonight to hear presentations from Bloomington Election Commission head Paul Shannon and County Clerk Kathy Michael. The purpose was to determine if the GOP should support a referendum to combine BEC with the County Clerk’s office. After the presentations, the precinct committeemen voted unanimously to support the referendum. I […]
By: Diane Benjamin The State of Illinois has way too many units of government now. Corruption is rampant because there aren’t enough watchdogs to watch every one of them. (Hopefully news soon about another huge case) Media decided it wasn’t their job either. The LAST thing McLean County needs is a separate Election office created […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m only writing because I received a ruling from the Attorney General yesterday regarding the Bloomington Election Commission’s violation of the Open Meetings Act. It still stands that I am not going to work for mostly free. If everything I have exposed the last five years isn’t worth $5 or $10 a […]
By: Diane Benjamin A few weeks ago I wrote about an Open Meeting Act violation Lisa Madigan’s Public Access office was asked to review. It was filed in 2014 against the Bloomington Election Commission and evidently lost because no ruling was made until I asked for the resolution. First they claimed the number I provided […]
By: Diane Benjamin From WJBC website: Article and News Reports Tari submitted 785 signatures, the election commission found 581 valid. Not only did Tari Renner turn in over 200 fraudulent signatures, WJBC choose not to report that! See below. The reporter ignored the conclusions reached by the Bloomington Election Commission. Isn’t the conclusion the most […]
By: Diane Benjamin Back in 2014 one of the guys that filed challenges to petitions for candidates in Bloomington knew the Bloomington Election Commission wasn’t following the law as required by the Open Meetings Act. Bruce Meeks filed a Request for Review with Lisa Madigan’s Public Access Office. In February 2014 the Attorney General decided […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday a hearing was held on Kevin Gerrard’s challenge to Tari Renner’s petitions. WJBC has a report on their website: HERE As usual, they left out some facts. The email below was sent to the writer last night by Kevin Gerrard: . Eric, It always amazes me that you and other reporters […]
This video should be done processing around 2:15. See this story for what the video is: https://blnnews.com/2016/12/09/3-of-4-hearings-canceled/
By: Diane Benjamin I attended the 9:00am hearing this morning on the challenge of Bruce Meeks to the petitions filed by Tari Renner. As I reported earlier (HERE), Meeks was incorrectly served for his 4 hearings today. This appears to be the fault of the Sheriff’s Department. Paul Shannon reported BEC gave them 4 packets […]
December 9, 2016 These hearing are scheduled for today: Bruce Meeks objections to Tari Renner petitions – 9:00 am Bruce Meeks objections to Diana Hauman petitions – 10:00 Bruce Meeks objections to Joni Painter petitions – 11:00 Bruce Meeks objections to J Balmer petitions – 12:00 Bruce was served the wrong documents for the Renner, […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader sent an email to Paul Shannon at the Bloomington Election Commission detailing Bloomington’s Public Comment policy. He asked Paul why the Election Commission doesn’t have the same policy. This was Shannon’s reply: We are not funded through the city of Bloomington, but operate from funding with an intergovernmental agreement between […]
By: Diane Benjamin The integrity of elections matter. The reason for filing petitions to run for public office is to show support from voters. If any part of the petitions are falsified, signed by citizens not registered to vote, or not properly notarized the election becomes a joke. The Bloomington Election Commission is required to […]
Update: The challenge to Tari Renner’s petitions has been rescheduled for 2:30 Friday. Hopefully, this meeting will be posted in their office by 2:30 today. Thanks everybody who called or emailed. __________________________________________ I sent the email below to the Bloomington Election Commission this morning. Their office phone number is: 309-888-5136, demand this meeting be canceled […]
December 7, 2016 BLOOMINGTON, IL. (ECWd) – We have already pointed out two recent examples of the Bloomington Election Commission violating the Open Meetings Act, and have also found another one – from 2014. The Commission admitted in a letter to the Attorney General’s office that it had violated the Open Meetings Act in February 2014 by […]
December 6, 2016 BLOOMINGTON, IL. (ECWd) – In a day when adherence to the law is a revolutionary act, this one drives that message home. An objection was made to the nomination petitions for Bloomington’s Mayor, Tari Renner – and he accused those wanting the law followed of being “fringe right-wing” people who are “trying […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is the video shot by John Kraft of Edgar County Watchdogs at the meeting to hear the protest to Renner’s petitions. John kept the video running after the meeting was recessed. At 6:48 Jason Chambers, State’s Attorney, announced he was not going to intervene because his office would be responsible for […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is the video from the beginning of the meeting – up until when the police were called. Almost everything you need to know about what happened this morning at the Bloomington Election Commission hearing is in this video. I have more video I may post later. The Edgar County Watchdogs also […]
By: Diane Benjamin Before the hearing this morning at the Bloomington Election Commission started, Kirk Allen of Edgar County Watchdogs informed the Commission that the meeting was illegal because it violated the Open Meetings Act. The meeting time was not posted on the BEC website and no agenda was posted. The agenda was important because […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader has done an extensive investigative look at the petitions Tari Renner filed with the Bloomington Election Commission. They are riddled with addresses that look like the same person completed the address part. He thinks it is worth his time to compare the signatures with the ones BEC has on file […]
