The “war” has been going on for more than 1 year. Biden has prevented peace talks. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/08/biden-admin-nudging-led-ukraine-to-drop-putin-condition-for-peace-talks-00065679 Meanwhile, we are funding salaries and pensions for people in Ukraine – I believe the total is up to $130 billion with no accountability or transparency on who’s pocket our money ended up in. Ukraine is a corrupt […]
By: Diane Benjamin This will be the first meeting with nobody representing taxpayers. Andy Byars replaces Stan Nord. https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4628 Remember when Dan Brady and Rodney Davis rented a building in Uptown for $1? https://blnnews.com/2021/05/03/normal-subsidies-brady-and-davis/ That was 104 North St. The documentation for tonight claims that building will soon be unavailable due to development. Darin Lahood […]
By: Diane Benjamin Earmarks were abolished for awhile by Republicans because they explode the budget. Evidently both parties no longer care about the debt your grandchildren and beyond will be paying off. From Adam Andrzejewski of Open the Books: “Earmarks are member pet projects doled out to legally bribe congressmen for their votes on large […]
By: Diane Benjamin PDF page 7 – The budgeted loss for the year is $16,350,921. That means Connect should be losing $1,362,577 a month. In September they only lost $1,148,129. The budgeted loss increased $2,593,421 this year. See last fiscal year, PDF page 7 https://www.connect-transit.com/file/686/08%2023%202022_Board%20of%20Trustees%20Meeting%20Packet.pdf Over $13,000 was spent on Travel and Meetings, of course […]
By: Diane Benjamin PDF page 8: July 2022 PDF page 15: August 2022 Fixed Route ridership was down in August by .04% from the same month last year/ Mobility ridership was up 45% during the same time period, of course the policy changed so the price on either is the same. Video of the meetings […]
By: Diane Benjamin Earmarks are a way the elected officials in Washington DC claim to bring federal dollars back to their district. Often bills can’t get passed unless these “gifts” are tacked on to bills. House and Senate members tell leadership they will vote for some ridiculous bill is you give me X. Earmarks were […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Pantagraph article on the Normal Town Council meeting: https://pantagraph.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/watch-now-mural-controversy-raises-new-questions-about-disconnect-in-normal/article_9ea2ebcb-99b6-55e9-8798-76e5962bb873.html Excerpt: Did the reporter watch the meeting? A “number of people” were disrupting the meeting. Was the reporter told not to mention the only reason Public Comment was moved is because Stan Nord made a motion to let them speak? It wasn’t […]
Earmarks are back! Earmarks are out of control spending for petty projects locals should pay for themselves instead of asking the feds to print money for them. Democrats resurrected them when they took control of the House. https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/columns/tom-kacich-congress-brings-back-earmarks-one-illinois-rep-isnt-on-board/article_449a248d-57e6-5943-9d76-1cea915585df.html A Champaign columnist printed the facts. Excerpts: Among those representing central Illinois, Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, has […]
By: Diane Benjamin McMIllan has this pinned to the top of his Facebook campaign page: Even though Ray Lahood lied to the FBI, the justice system has laws for the well connected and different laws for the rest of us. Brad McMillan was right by Lahood’s side. He didn’t know Lahood failed to disclose a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Maintenance seems to be lacking at the wind farm east of town. I wonder if Darin LaHood saw the mess when he visited last week? Did sound like it since he praised wind energy. The black is OIL! Many of the turbines look just like this!
By: Diane Benjamin While the Councils in both Bloomington and Normal cheer Connect Transit as a great community asset – the streets citizens are forced to pay more for are being destroyed. They weren’t built for huge buses. Imagine how much worse the damage would be if more than 3 people were on them! Remember […]
By: Diane Benjamin US representative Darin Lahood must know about the BILLIONS the federal government is throwing at public transportation. The local bus services only loses $900,000 every month, but many cities lose more. The federal government is wasting our tax dollars evidently for votes. Seriously folks, people can’t be transported locally for less money […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this previous post: https://blnnews.com/2016/10/28/connect-transit-tears/ I made the list in that story quickly this morning – chances are good I missed some! The list was to make a point, not get exact numbers. I saw many other items I could have added, like THOUSANDS spent on HVAC. Isn’t the facility pretty new? […]
See this story for the totals: https://blnnews.com/2016/10/28/connect-transit-totals/https://blnnews.com/2016/10/28/connect-transit-totals/ By: Diane Benjamin I didn’t attend the Connect Transit meeting last night, but I have reports from people who did. Of course people spoke that rely on buses, but people also spoke about BUDGETING a $12,000,000 loss when the country and the State of Illinois both have no […]
By: Diane Benjamin The August Connect Transit report has been posted. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4zAZemF_qQuOUc3ckRxVGZfUWM/view Celebrate now – Connect Transit had a company picnic – and it only cost you: See PDF page 2: Last August Connect had 216,299 riders. This August Connect has 175,700 riders. Last August an average of 28.8 people per hour boarded a bus. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Connect Transit July loss report is out. This is before the route changes were enacted in August. July is the first month in their fiscal year. Of course they lost money: All of this information is in the 8/23/16 packet: http://www.connect-transit.com/about/trustees/packet.asp Note that Connect Transit PLANS to lose more than $12,000,000 […]
By: Diane Benjamin First, remember how Darin Lahood told us he was a conservative? Didn’t he say he would stop Common Core? He voted YES on the massive Education funding bill this week without reading it. Nobody in Congress had time to read it. The same games played by John Boehner continue under Paul Ryan. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Is the GOP still breathing? It’s hard to tell since nothing they promised to win elections has happened. The GOP won the House in 2010. What have they done since? The House is supposed to be the “People’s House”. They control spending – the power of the purse. The GOP has yet to […]
By: Diane Benjamin This comment by Mike Flynn is one of my favorites from last night’s debate. Darin LaHood refused to say how many terms he would serve. After the debate Fistbump tried to ask LaHood again for a number instead of rhetoric about supporting term limits – he got shoved by LaHood campaign manager.
By: Diane Benjamin Darin LaHood was defeated when he ran for Peoria County State’s Attorney. This editorial in the Peoria Journal Star calls LaHood’s campaign tactics “improper” and perhaps “unethical”. http://www.pjstar.com/x1657300363/Our-View-A-question-of-judgment LaHood went to the home of a young rape victim trying to get dirt on his opponent. Nobody seems to know how he found out the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Don Rients is a really nice conservative guy. He is smart and the kind of guy who should be in government. In the 18th District he doesn’t have a chance, he has no major backers and not a lot of money. I really hope he stays in politics and runs for his County […]
The Flynn open house is THURSDAY, not Friday By: Diane Benjamin Hillary Clinton announced she is running for President about 6 weeks ago. She has yet to do an interview with the press, instead she has staged events with supporters only. Coronation? She demands it – mainly because people flee when she opens her mouth. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Donations to Darin LaHood from Political Action Committees: Source: http://fec.gov/fecviewer/CandCmteTransaction.do BILL PAC See who donates and receives contributions from this PAC here: https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2014&strID=C00412288 The Founder of this PAC is a career politician and heads the Transportation Committee in the House. Bill Shuster took over his dad’s seat after a scandal involving a […]
By: Diane Benjamin If Darin LaHood is a TEA Party conservative, why is a group founded to defeat TEA Party candidates giving him money? Source: http://fec.gov/fecviewer/CandCmteTransaction.do See this story: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/04/us/politics/tangled-role-in-gop-war-over-tea-party.html?fb_ref=Default&_r=0 “In the year since he stepped down from Congress, Steven C. LaTourette, a Republican from Ohio, has emerged as one of the top generals in […]
Why was a State Senator raising money in Washington DC? Why was a California Congressman involved? Maybe because he had a powerful position in the House?
