By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Election Commission has a long history of failing at their one job: Elections. Just in November they couldn’t tell candidates for Bloomington Council how many signatures they needed on petitions because of redistricting. In 2022 BEC requested and increase to their budget of $550,000. BEC has had a hard time […]
By: Diane Benjamin Kathy Michael was notified over the weekend of water damage to her office. The office is open today, the front part and vital records did not sustain damage. Most of the damage is confined to election rooms toward the rear. Crews are in the offices now assessing the damage. Desktop computers are […]
By: Diane Benjamin Voting 6 weeks before the actual election date is merely a ploy to bank votes from uniformed voters. Do not vote now, the ballots aren’t even available yet to preview before you vote. The ballots were likely delayed by petition challenges. Only those who want to be uniformed vote before campaigning even […]
By: Diane Benjamin Did you notice the Democrats weren’t crying “Voting Suppression” when BEC shut down early voting for days to fix their ballot problem? What would they have said about Republican Kathy Michael if the County would have shut down early voting? Did you also notice there is no one voters can hold accountable […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last week the Kathy Michael, McLean County Clerk, and Tim Mitchell, Executive Director of the Bloomington Election Commission, issued a joint Press Release. Note: If you had voted to abolish BEC when you had the chance there wouldn’t be TWO now! (No, I’m not letting you forget) You will be getting a […]
By: Diane Benjamin JB might have bought the governorship, but it didn’t work in the McLean County Clerk’s race. The final contribution numbers to candidates are not yet available. I can tell you what contributions are listed to date on the Board of Elections website. Nikita Richards received $20,720 Nikita Richards Here’s a few […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you haven’t decided who to support in the McLean County Clerk’s race, this article in the paper should make it crystal clear: https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/mclean-county-clerk-hopefuls-push-improvements-bemoan-bitter-race/article_b4244ca0-16a0-5910-8666-00349ca6c74e.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-2 If you live in the County (not Bloomington-Normal) are you under-served by the Clerk’s office? Nikita Richards thinks you are and plans to spend more money to serve […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tim Gleason is following in the footsteps of David Hales who didn’t see a problem with the Coliseum. Hales was fired from Bend Oregon, and is being fired from Joliet. The Bloomington City Council adored him. The problem has been identified! Quote: http://www.wjbc.com/2018/10/04/city-hopes-richards-ethics-complaint-to-receive-swift-outside-review/ City Manager Tim Gleason said an internal investigation […]
6-7 pm at Heartland Community College – Community Commons building. Kathy Michael – Nikita Richards Should be fun!
By: Diane Benjamin At least 2 Peoria TV stations and WYZZ covered the lies told by Nikita Richards in a local church last Sunday. The local Republicans asked her to apologize for claiming Kathy Michael broke the law by delaying the start of early voting. If you missed that story, see it here: https://blnnews.com/2018/10/01/mclean-county-republicans-news-release/ Nikita […]
Press Release: 10/1/18 Statement by Connie Beard, Chairman McLean County Republicans. “It has been brought to my attention through various sources that Ms. Nikita Richards, Democratic candidate for McLean County Clerk, appeared at a local congregation and during her campaign presentation accused Kathy Michael of breaking the law by delaying the start of early voting. […]
By: Diane Benjamin If breaking the law by campaigning in churches isn’t bad enough, Nikita Richards must think congregations will fall for anything – including lies. Nikita really has nothing to run on, so she has created division and racial tensions by claiming discrimination and voter suppression. She has to create her own fact to […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve been sent this information by a LOT of people, so it’s time to share it. Yes, McLean County is being community organized using Chicago style campaigning with Chicago residents being bused here. I wonder if they will be bused here to vote too? Since Chicago is the poster city for high […]
By: Diane Benjamin The video of Dickie at ISU this morning is on Nikita Richards Facebook page. He was here to endorse her. The college Democrats plus Erik Rankin were there too. The crowd didn’t look overwhelming. Dickie came, in his own words, to support a Democrat “traffic cop” to elections. Yes, Dickie, we’ve seen […]
By: Diane Benjamin Think back. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are vying for the Democrat nomination for president. The Illinois primary election was held on March 15, 2016. The Town of Normal has 30 precincts. The entire County picked Hillary Clinton, 26 of Normal’s 30 locations picked Bernie Sanders.
Press packets proving many of the points made were distributed to all members of the press there.
By: Diane Benjamin From Nikita’s website: https://richardsmcclerk.com/issues/ Read through the whole website, it’s obvious who was a contributing copy writer! Who claimed the Clerk shouldn’t be counting their own votes? (Like they do) Tari Renner! One of Nikita’s goals – in her own words – is to take elections away from the County Clerk and create […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the story here: Democrats Local Candidates – Cheri Bustos Some stories have too many lies to ignore. This is one of them. Excerpts: A public relations consultant? Why does the City of Bloomington call her an Employment Coordinator? The truth is too embarrassing? State Officials (Democrats of course) are supporting her? I […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Code has a section on ethics for employees, it is patterned after the State Ethics Act: http://www.cityblm.org/government/codes-ordinances/city-code Excerpt: To find out what activities are prohibited, see the State Ethics law: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs5.asp?ActID=2529&ChapterID=2 This is the definition of Prohibited Political Activities from that link: There is more, but that’s enough […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Part 1 here: https://blnnews.com/2018/08/24/please-explain-why-nikita-richards-has-a-job/ See Part 3 here: https://blnnews.com/2018/08/30/part-3-nikita-richards/ If Nikita is still employed at the City of Bloomington after obviously accessing political websites from a City computer, maybe the new City Manager can explain why. Tim Gleason? After reading the information below, he REALLY needs to explain why she is still […]
By: Diane Benjamin I find it hilarious that Democrat Tari Renner threw and continues to be upset that his petitions were challenged. Tari thinks he should not have been challenged, even though 204 signatures were found to be fraudulent. Meanwhile another Democrat, Board Chair of the Bloomington Election Commission, is challenging the petitions for a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Part 1 See Part 2 here: https://blnnews.com/2018/08/30/part-2-nikita-richards/ See Part 3 here: https://blnnews.com/2018/08/30/part-3-nikita-richards/ This was the job Nikita used to have, maybe still does: Nikita’s LinkedIn page shows NDR and Running for McLean County Clerk, but doesn’t mention she works for the City of Bloomington: There is a description of what NDR Communications does […]
By: Diane Benjamin Nikita Richards wants to be the next McLean County Clerk. She has a problem with facts however. See this post from her Facebook page and try to spot the problem: Spot it yet? Should I wait? waiting . . . waiting . . . Nothing? She claims she met a guy in […]
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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 Supreme Court did rule yesterday on Ohio’s procedures for keeping the voting roles clean. Purging non-active voters is essential to fair elections. Some counties in Illinois and some states have more people on the voting roles than citizens. McLean County isn’t one of them. That didn’t stop Nikita Richards from putting […]
By: Diane Benjamin Frequently we look at elected individuals and wonder who in the world would vote for them? Worse, who in their right mind thinks elections should be held for 40 days? In Illinois, that would be democrats who think it’s a hardship to get to the polls. Voting was once a sacred duty […]
No More Comments Will Be Approved On This Story By: Diane Benjamin Nikita Richards wants to be the next McLean County Clerk, She evidently wants to divide people. See the post below from her personal Facebook page. How did BHS ever survive until 2018 without a Black Student Union? Why stop there? Short people […]
By: Diane Benjamin All elected and appointed officials are required by law to file a Statement of Economic Interest. They all have to file by May 1st of EVERY year. Filing is not only required by law, it’s vital so citizens can see the people supposedly working for them don’t have undisclosed conflicts of interest. […]
By: Diane Benjamin This picture was taken from Nikita’s Facebook page. Nikita must not know Illinois Law requires County Clerks to clean the voter rolls! Claiming that “cleaning” dramatically impacts low-income and people of color implies these people aren’t intelligent enough to vote. Not voting in six years means NOT voting in at up to […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed a FOIA request for all Statements of Economic Interests filed by candidates in 2017 with the County Clerk’s office. This is the file I received: candidates SEI 2017 filings I compared the people who filed the SEI with the candidate list on the County Clerk’s website: http://www.mcleancountyil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/10946 Only one candidate is missing: Rebecca […]
Update: Candidates have to file a Statement of Economic to run for office. If they are elected they are required to re-file. Bray may not have re-filed and that’s why the County doesn’t have it. By: Diane Benjamin A confirmation that Kimberly Bray’s Statement of Economic Interest was filed was found by Bruce Meeks. […]
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 […]
From: Kathy Michael McLean County Clerk Phone: 309.888.5183 See the law here: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/001000050K24B-9.htm . . . . .
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