Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Another tyrant has slipped into public office.

BLOOMINGTON CITY HALL GOING After reporter FOR QUESTIONING MISUSE OF TAXPAYER MONEY. They want a restraining order preventing him from asking any more questions, his FOI card and his guns. Is this nuts or what?

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By Ulysses Arn - 
An extremely troubling assault on the Freedom of the Press is taking place in Bloomington, IL with Mayor Tari Renner at the center of an attempt to silence a local talk radio station and its morning show.
The mayor is unhappy with the station questioning a plan to have the city of Bloomington use some $8 million in taxpayer money to help finance the purchase of a block of buildings downtown. A developer reportedly has plans to turn the buildings into a hotel. In the meantime, the city has and is raising taxes on everything it can to cover a $3 million budget deficit while also giving the city manager a pay raise.
Last Friday Josh "Fistbump" Schmidgall, a reporter with Cities 92.9 FM's morning show hosted by Ian Bayne, was served with a restraining order, filed by Bloomington's Communications Director Nora Dukowitz. Earlier in the week, Schmidgall sought to get answers from Dukowitz at her apartment about the hotel project and the recent pay raise given to the city manager.  When Dukowitz didn't answer the door, Schmidgall placed his business card on the door and left the premises.
At Tuesday night's city council meeting during public comments, Mayor Renner let slip that may have had some role in the restraining order, which seeks to bar Schmidgall from City Hall and to forfeit his Illinois Firearms Owner Identification Card (needed in IL to even touch a firearm legally), as well as his shotgun.
Renner said, "Nobody who is hired by our city has a right to be stalked by someone pretending to be a journalist...I wouldn't be a decent mayor if I let this kind of stuff happen, and I won't."
Earlier in the city council meeting, Mayor Renner gave his version of the incident and the restraining order. Renner reported to the council that the situation was a felony case, that there was an imminent threat of danger posed by Schmidgall,  and that Schmidgall broke into the apartment building.
As local blogger Diane Benjamin pointed out, the City of Normal's police report for the incident disproves every point Renner made.
Renner and Dukowitz have been pressed by Cities 92.9's morning host Ian Bayne and his crew including Schmidgall for weeks regarding the pay raise and hotel project all while Mayor Renner and the city council - minus the board's lone conservative Kevin Lower -  have been increasing utility fees, the city's amusement tax, gasoline tax and more.
Bayne and Schmidgall both say that no answers have been forth coming from City Hall or from the Communications Director Nora Dukowitz for weeks on end; with things getting to the point that City Hall staffers won't even talk to or schedule appointments with anyone representing 92.9.
Renner has had problems with the press in the past. Earlier this year, Renner got into a bunch of hot water and had to apologize after making vile comments on Diane Benjamin's blog.

1 comment:

  1. http://truenewsusa.blogspot.com/2015/06/10600-to-10700-south-pulaski-if-you.html

    10600 to 10700 South Pulaski - If you live in Mt. Greenwood or across the street in Oak Lawn.... I would be a little concerned

    ReplyDelete