By: Diane Benjamin The local purveyor of government propaganda has reported VenuWorks lost $674,000 in the 7 months since they took over. The only reason this story is out now is because Tuesday night the Coliseum Executive Director will make a presentation to the Council. _______________________________________________________________________ Side note: This is also Tuesday’s agenda: 2017 ends […]
By: Diane Benjamin It was WONDERFUL only having 3 of the 5 candidates show up last night, the audience got much more information from the candidates than would have been possible with all 5 there. The room was packed with people wanting to hear what the candidates had to say. If you didn’t attend or […]
By: Diane Benjamin This story is a follow-up to: https://blnnews.com/2017/01/04/does-media-violate-campaign-laws/ Prior to the Coliseum, the BCPA, and Uptown events the local media didn’t reap huge profits from government advertising. Should it be legal for the Pantagraph to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from government and then print editorials supporting their benefactors? If the Pantagraph […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight there is a mayoral debate at the Doubletree – 7:00pm. Come early, at least some candidates will be there early. Two candidates won’t be there: Diana Hauman and Robert Fike Either they aren’t serious candidates or they are afraid to answer questions, the debate is being held by Cities 92.9. Tari […]
By: Diane Benjamin This morning the archived video of last night Council meeting was still missing the first 35 minutes. At some point today the entire video was located! So who screwed up? (you will never know) One Public Comment you don’t want to miss is a dad who has coached his kid’s soccer team […]
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 Below is a brief recap of things I’ve written about previously: Comprehensive City Manger reports are no longer issued because Hauman thinks they are a waste of money. Now citizens have no idea how tax receipts are trending. See email HERE This email also sounds like she doesn’t care about speakers at […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night Mayor Renner is giving his “State of the City” address. I bet everything is wonderful and under his leadership Bloomington is making great progress toward bankruptcy, oops – I mean prosperity for all! I wonder if he will inform the people paying the bills why the financial reports from almost […]
By: Diane Benjamin It was way back in November of 2013 when Judy Stearns walked out of what she called an illegal Executive Session (Secret Meeting). She filed a Request for Review with Lisa Madigan’s Public Access office – they didn’t bother doing much with the filing until Judy was long out of office. She […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the local media is bought and paid for with government advertising dollars, you will never hear the truth. (Local Media Is Fake News) Did they ever tell you Connect Transit budgets a $12,000,000 loss per year so empty buses can drive all over Bloomington-Normal? I missed the bus fire at the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Macy’s store is closing while the Champaign store isn’t. The Internet is NOT the reason. If the Bloomington store was profitable, it wouldn’t be closing. Champaign is a lot like Bloomington (Champaign is a little bigger), but they don’t have a zoo, 3 golf courses, a Coliseum, a Pepsi Ice […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner was back on WJBC this morning claiming the challenge to his petitions was “much ado about nothing”. Listen Here Since Tari lives in an alternate universe, I got my hands on the actual tally sheets the Bloomington Election Commission used while reviewing signatures. Many were tossed because the Signatures didn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the report issued by the Bloomington Election Commission in this post: https://blnnews.com/2016/12/17/wjbc-please-stop-the-fake-news/ The document clearly shows Tari Renner submitted 785 signatures and after the line-by-line review he ended up with 581. That means 204 signatures were found to be invalid. Below is an email a citizen sent to […]
By: Diane Benjamin The assault on Bloomington taxpayers continues at Monday’s City Council meeting. The target isn’t on citizen’s backs – it’s on their wallet and their Quality of Life. Other people need your money more than you do – the City Council will gladly hand it over and claim Economic Development! Is Kroger really […]
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 I’ve been accumulating Renner quotes for a few days because they show his character. If his petitions looked legitimate they wouldn’t have been challenged. They didn’t. If Kevin appeals the Election Commission ruling to a higher court, I bet more signatures would be thrown off. They allow looking for patterns of fraud, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner still had enough signatures approved to stay on the ballot, but my sources say 204 were thrown out. That’s an invalid rate of almost 27%. Evidently gathering legitimate signatures wasn’t a high priority. My sources also say more many people were not registered to vote at the addresses them wrote […]
By: Diane Benjamin WJBC gives citizens a platform on their “Forum”. Since some individuals use this platform to spout lies, they need to be exposed. Eventually WJBC doesn’t care. The latest culprit is once again Mike Matejka. See his comments HERE Matejka claimed the challengers to Tari Renner’s petitions didn’t do the hard work: Those […]
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 […]
By: Diane Benjamin I did this story about illegal campaign signs two days ago: https://blnnews.com/2016/12/11/illegal-signs-all-over-town/ This sign appeared today anyway: There is a driveway behind the sign, it’s definitely obstructing traffic and placed illegally on City property. The person who saw the sign this morning reported it to Code Enforcement at 9:30am. At 4:00 pm […]
Update: A FOIA request has been filed for the original story By: Diane Benjamin The ISU newspaper recently did a story on the challenges to Tari Renner’s petitions: http://www.videtteonline.com/news/citizen-petitions-renner-campaign/article_13ba946a-bfb8-11e6-884d-7350b8e0cc9d.html Don’t bother clicking on the link though, the story has been taken down. The problem is they included lots of quotes from Renner and very little […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m getting reports of illegal campaign signs all over town. Per the City Code: Call and demand they be removed: . . Do you really want to elect anyone who breaks the law to win? . . .
By: Diane Benjamin Local elections pretend to be non-partisan. I remember Renner claiming that everybody wants to make Bloomington the best it can be (or something to that effect). The problem is that his ilk think government, more taxes, and more spending will make Bloomington great. Most citizens believe IT’S THEIR MONEY and they make […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 Since I’m still appalled at the comments made by Tari Renner on WGLT, I want to make sure you saw them too. See the WGLT story here: http://wglt.org/post/update-attempt-filed-knock-bloomington-mayor-ballot#stream/0 “I think it’s unfortunate that some people, frankly on the extreme fringes of the right, want to cheat their way into elections,” said Renner. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Keep in mind Cuba is a communist country. Keep in mind human rights don’t exist in Cuba, especially if you are gay or oppose the government. Keep in mind most of the population makes less than $20 a month. Keep in mind, Cuba would love to have our tourist dollars – but […]
By: Diane Benjamin I started BlnNews 4 1/2 years ago because the local media has an agenda. Items against their agenda aren’t allowed. I’m sure I’m not saying anything you don’t already know. In case you need an example, WGLT made the case for me this week. They did a story about Tari Renner’s petitions […]
By: Diane Benjamin The hearing will be Monday 9:00 am at the Government Center – Room #403 This hearing is open to the public. Kevin Gerrard will appreciate your support. So far only WGLT has covered the story: http://wglt.org/post/attempt-filed-knock-bloomington-mayor-ballot#stream/0 Renner called the review frivolous. Kevin and his team have flagged over 300 signatures as well […]
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 […]
By: Diane Benjamin One more note from last night’s Council meeting. Renner lied – how many times does this make? Of course, he wouldn’t even recognize lies anymore. The topic was Sick Leave Buy Back again. The City policy was changed in 2012 to make any new hires not eligible for this benefit available nowhere […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner believes in the top down approach to government. He wants total control of local economic development. Think about his hotel plans in downtown Bloomington that will steal business from existing hotels. HE wants to decide who succeeds and who fails. Understand now why he didn’t sign the loyalty oath […]
By: Diane Benjamin The 2016 fiscal year for Bloomington ended April 30, 2016. The only financial information issued so far is the treasurer’s report: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=36 Issuing financial reports normally takes a ridiculous 6 months. That would be October. It’s now the end of November and still nothing. Did the City finance department screw up the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The daily rag has a new story about pension spiking at the City of Bloomington. In an effort to deflect from the City’s unethical practice of allowing employees to spike their pensions with unused sick days, they even call the practice legal. It is legal because Bloomington’s Mayor, City Manager, and Council […]
By: Diane Benjamin Although optional for some unknown reason, this statement is usually submitted with candidate petitions: See the candidate filings here for Bloomington: http://www.becvote.org/wordpress/electiondatesandoffices/petitions-filed/ Two candidates did not sign this form! Does that mean they aren’t citizens? Or, does that mean they ARE associated with the communist party? Or, does that mean they will […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari’s signature on a City of Bloomington document – PDF page 8: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11529 Another City Signature from September PDF page 5: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11309 Below are various pages from the petitions submitted by Renner. http://www.becvote.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/TariRenner.pdf Look at the printing. Sometimes the A’s are capital, sometimes they aren’t. The same applies to E’s. Now look […]
