Bloomington Electoral Board – Not Their First Time Violating Open Meetings –

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 to cheat to get on the ballot“.

So Renner blames the objector for pointing out petition irregularities, calling the person wanting to eliminate the cheating, a cheater for wanting the law followed. What a piece of work.

To top that off, the Bloomington Electoral Board attempted to hold a public hearing to hear the objection, only to be confronted by us and others for alleged violations of the open meetings act for having a meeting without it being properly posted.

The board’s attorney tried badgering and belittling citizens, the board tried to ban videotaping the public meeting, and the Bloomington police were called to the scene. It is clear from the below video, Attorney Robert Day’s only reason for wanting the police present, was because we were “interrupting” their meeting and he wanted to make sure we were sufficiently intimidated. I guess he didn’t realize we cannot interrupt a meeting that is not a legal meeting to begin with.

The board should demand a refund on all monies paid to their attorney for his actions in attempting to justify and hold an illegal meeting.

People might wonder what the big deal is about properly posting a meeting. It is simple. The law requires it, and in recent history, this electoral board, with this attorney, had a decision overturned by the Court and a name placed back on the ballot…because…the objection hearing was conducted in violation of the open meetings act. You would think they would learn from their mistakes – but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Renner also stated that voters have the right to sign petitions, and nobody has stated otherwise. What he failed to also mention in TV news interviews, was that voters also have the right to ensure all petition signatures are valid and actually signed by the voter of the political subdivision concerned – and not some other random person.

McDade v. Koetters (Docket Here)

“The Meeting Itself Was In Violation Of The Open Meetings Act, And For That Reason, The Court Will Find The Results Null And Void“

Back in 2013 a petition objection was filed against Jennifer McDade’s petitions for City of Bloomington Alderman. The Electoral Board, WITH THE SAME ATTORNEY THEY ARE STILL USING AT THIS HEARING, held the hearing and removed her name from the ballot. McDade appealed and won her appeal with the Court ordering her name be placed back on the ballot.

The appeal was won (see pages 3 and 4 below) because of multiple violations of the Open Meetings Act. The Court found all the Board’s actions during that illegal meeting as null and void for violations of the Open Meetings Act by: failing to take vote in open session, failing to close the meeting according to the Act, keeping no record of the closed session, failing to post a notice of the meeting, and failing to set an agenda.

The same things we complained about in their illegal meting on December the 5th, where the same attorney punked by the Courts in 2013 berated and insulted people attempting to ensure the board acted according to law. He obviously learned nothing and his employment needs to be terminated.

Video below:

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