Note: The original version stated Doug Fansler is running for Normal Town Council, he isn’t. By: Diane Benjamin The new name for the local newspaper was coined by a resident of Normal with experience in the FAKE NEWS they report. Since other media outlets get their news from the paper, it’s easy in Bloomington-Normal to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Complying with the law doesn’t matter when citizens “interfere” with government’s ability to do whatever they want! Normal is the perfect example. The entire Council, Mayor, and City Manager are pretending they asked the Attorney General to rule on their policy. They didn’t. TWO citizens want Lisa Madigan’s Public Access office to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday the Pantagraph wrote this story: Normal Seeks AG’s Opinion On Public Comment I wonder where they got the idea for the story! Did Chris Koos call them and say “I’ve got a story for you”? Mark Peterson? The only reason Normal is considering changing their Public Comment policy is because at […]
By: Diane Benjamin At last night’s City Council meeting some aldermen were upset by a Public Comment where the person evidently tried to campaign or something. Alderman Fruin wants rules against it. No, you can’t see the comment in question. Meanwhile, Mayor Tari Renner evidently gave a campaign speech and called it the State of […]
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 1) Tari Renner was on WJBC earlier this week with Scott Laughlin. One of the topics was public comment. Scott wondered why they bother or why they don’t set ridiculous rules like Normal and the County. Tari played along. What Tari should have said is the County and Normal’s public comment policies […]
I need reader support to continue bringing you news the rest of the media ignores: Contribute Now If you appreciate the truth, please contribute! By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s Committee of the Whole had a missing alderman: Scott Black. Two citizens spoke during public comment. In an attempt to limit free speech, […]
By: Diane Benjamin The next Board meeting for Connect Transit is July 26th at 4:30. Meetings are held in the Board Room at 351 Wylie Drive, Normal. The packet for the meeting has not been posted yet, but Connect Transit’s year-end was 6/30/2016. This meeting packet will show the total operating losses for the entire […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was looking for something else when I did a FOIA for emails recently. It never fails to amaze me what some elected officials will put in writing when they think it’s a secret. Emails are part of the public record because State law requires all deliberations be done openly in front […]
By: Diane Benjamin Heartland Community College Board Policy: Board Policy Manual 6-17-15 POST to WEB See page 22. Part of the policy is something some citizens wish other areas of government allowed: The Board may at any time recognize members of the public for purposes of making formal presentations to the Board. Formal presentations shall […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last November the McLean County Board raised your property taxes. According to Board member Wendt, the County revenues were $1,000,000 higher than the previous year. It wasn’t enough. Something interesting happened before the final budget vote. An amendment was offered by member Erickson to use part of the reserves instead of raising […]
By: Diane Benjamin Opportunities for public comment tonight before the Bloomington City Council: Special Session – 5:00 Work Session – 5:45 Council meeting – 7:00 A large number of speakers usually show up to speak at 7:00. Attend one of the other times to make sure you get to speak. Get someone to video your […]
By: Diane Benjamin See: Gary Lambert again at 2:13:00 Donna Boelen at 2:13:00 Alton Franklin – MUST SEE – 2:21:37
By: Diane Benjamin Tomorrow at the Den: Public Comment – sign up before 8:00 http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9090 Monday night at Council: Public Comment – sign up before 7:00 http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9124 Same meeting – time undetermined: Public Comment will be allowed again on Raising the Sales Tax. If you want more of your money stolen by government, stay home. […]
By: Diane Benjamin If the Bloomington City Council hadn’t expanded Public Comment to 30 minutes a few weeks ago (when Renner was out of town), a lot of people wouldn’t have been allowed to speak last night. See the video below – Comments starts at 6:40. First up was Judy Stearns. Please please please listen […]
By: Diane Benjamin Thanks so much for the contributions! My computer broke, now I can get it fixed. It was a bad day yesterday made better by people who want information and are willing to stand up to the local abusive government. For now I’m using an ancient laptop. It wasn’t a surprise that Alderman […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight the Bloomington City Council is asked to vote on changes to the Public Comment policy. Mayor AttackMyOpposition will demand the right to declare a speaker out-of-order, thus terminating their time, if he deems them threatening or disorderly. This is the same Mayor who wrote this on my site: NO! Diane! It […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Coliseum will get a new video scoreboard for the low low price of $1,389,605! Less than 1000 people attend hockey and football games, the basketball team may not exist for long, but a new scoreboard is required. My sources tell me this board is not used for concerts, performers bring […]
(Edgar County Watchdogs) Bloomington, IL. (ECWd) – I recently conducted a survey of cities similar in size to Bloomington, IL., including cities with a population of between 58,000 and 108,000 residents. Bloomington has 76,610 according to the 2010 census, and fall in the middle range of this survey. So this is a good sample of […]
By: Diane Benjamin The bird-cage liner and Tari Renner don’t want to listen to citizens – unless the citizens agree with everything they do. Walking hand-in-hand, the Pantagraph and the City tried to stifle speech they don’t want to hear. Finding out their vile plans were illegal, Renner’s campaign daddy, Steve Vogel, is now encouraging […]
Bloomington, IL. (ECWd) – http://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2015/06/bloomingtons-pantagraph-should-shutter-its-doors/ The Pantagraph newspaper is doing the citizens of Bloomington, IL. a disservice by advocating for the City of Bloomington to violate the free speech rights of everyone that attends a city council meeting (read how they betray the trust of their readership here). Newspapers have a fundamental responsibility to the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Most of you probably didn’t see the bird-cage liner story on Monday’s Council meeting. That means you don’t know what they left out – the Edgar County Watchdogs! A few comments from citizens were included, but nothing from the guys who drove 2 hours to defend the rights of citizens to speak. Nice […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader found this video on-line. Thanks Mike. Tari wants the ability to terminate comments from citizens if he doesn’t approve. Watch the video – this is Bloomington’s future. A lady on the Council leaves the chamber and asks citizens to join her outside so they can petition their government for a redress of […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is the video of Kirk Allen, John Kraft, and Judy Stearns speaking at the 5:30 meeting yesterday that was not live streamed. Kirk and John drove 2 hours to be in Bloomington to address the Council on the proposed changes to the Public Comment ordinance. Note, I intentionally filmed non-verbal reactions to the […]
By: Diane Benjamin At the Bloomington City Council meeting last night around 50 minutes was spent discussing the best way to take away your right to speak. I have no idea what they actually voted on, it sounded to me like the changes to the ordinance were tabled until July. But that wasn’t the motion […]
By: Diane Benjamin I wonder if Renner is going to make it back from San Francisco in time for tonight’s meeting. Maybe he will pass out souvenirs since taxpayers paid for the trip. By changing the public comment rules tonight, Tari thinks he can limited public complaints. Most of the speakers chastise the Council for their […]
By: Diane Benjamin If the potted plants agree citizens should have no voice in their government – it will happen Monday. Tari attempted to shut down Judy Stearns while she was on the Council. Tari attempted to shut me down with his vile comments on my site. I made a big mistake by not pressing charges against him […]
By: Diane Benjamin Each speaker at public comment is given three minutes. Time allotted is a total of 15 minutes. Previously if more than five citizens signed to speak the rules were suspended. Not tonight! Karen Schmidt has always supported suspending the rules. Crickets from her tonight as Renner skipped asking for a motion. Kevin […]
By: Diane Benjamin On Monday night the City of Bloomington will hold another Council meeting. Lots of you have commented on this site about the Dukowitz-Renner-Hauman attempt to silence the Press. I STRONGLY encourage you to speak at Public Comment. Too often the Council sees the same people at every meeting. The Council can ignore your […]
By: Diane Benjamin After I spoke at Council last week, Mayor Renner made a comment implying that public speakers aren’t necessarily telling the truth. Since he made that statement directly after I spoke, I inferred he was talking about me. I went back yesterday to set the record straight. I’m on the video below at […]
By: Diane Benjamin I found the following while reading the mountains of emails I received from the Town of Normal via the Freedom of Information Act concerning Paradigm. First email is from Rober Fazzini. Koos’s answer: Tari’s response, can he say any clearer “I don’t care what you say”? […]
by: Diane Benjamin 3 very short clips from last night’s City Council meeting: 1) Renner sets the rules for Public Comment . 2) If Renner doesn’t like the public comment – he breaks the rules . 3) Renner has a woman REMOVED from the Council chamber Some background: If a taxpayer has never attended a […]
by: Diane Benjamin Want proof? See this link to their policy for speaking at Board meetings: http://www.mcleancountyil.gov/index.aspx?nid=663 Get on your knees and beg permission Hope the County administrator doesn’t “misplace” your request 5 days before the meeting Then hope Matt Sorensen (chairman) doesn’t cut you off because you aren’t worthy to waste their time on […]
