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What the heck is going on in Bloomington?

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Five former management officials of the city-owned arena face a total of 111 indictments accusing them of stealing city funds, money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy, filing false sales tax returns and conspiracy to commit tax evasion.

The indictments, returned Sept. 20 by a McLean County grand jury, were unsealed Monday after all five defendants posted bond.

Charged are John Y. Butler, president of Central Illinois Arena Management (CIAM); Bart Rogers, CIAM general manager; and CIAM employees Jay C. Laesch, Paul E. Grazar and Kelly W. Klein.

The theft charges against Butler accuse him of taking more than $1.1 million in city money between May 2010 and March 2016 — the end date being days before the expiration of CIAM’s 10-year management deal with the city.

* Earlier this month…

Former McLean County Board Chairman Matt Sorensen was sentenced to a year in federal prison on wire fraud charges Tuesday.

The Pantagraph reports Sorensen was sentenced Tuesday in federal court after submitting hundreds of thousands of dollars of false invoices for consulting work not actually performed for State Farm. Sorensen and business partner Navdeep Arora both pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges in connection with the case.

* And then there are all the questions about Bloomington’s mayor…

Questions about a plane ticket to Japan for the girlfriend of the mayor of Bloomington point to just the latest case of questionable spending at city halls in Illinois.

The Edgar County Watchdogs, John Kraft and Kirk Allen, said Bloomington is not the only city where it appears city leaders are misspending city money or misusing city assets.

Kraft said the available facts for the Bloomington case don’t answer all of the questions. Mayor Tari Renner is accused of buying a nearly $1,900 plane ticket for his girlfriend to go to a Sister Cities event in Japan – or at the very least “floating” her airfare on the city’s credit card.

Kraft said that’s against the law, and he thinks Renner knows it. He believes Renner claimed his girlfriend would reimburse the city for the ticket only after he was caught.

* At least two out of the three were exposed by local blogger Diane Benjamin, who has been filing FOIAs and lawsuits and helping break news about both the arena and Renner. Her tagline is “News Nobody Reports.”

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:36 am

Comments

Chicago is corrupt, amirite?

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:40 am
God bless Diane and the Edgar County Watchdogs. They really do not get enough credit for their work.

Comment by It's Demmer Time Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:41 am
Congrats to Diane… Job well done.

Comment by ISU Grad Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:41 am
Three cheers for citizen journalism! We need more, esp. with the decline of newspapers. Heck, even conspiracy nut Sherman Skolnick uncovered a scandal big enough to bring down a judge/former governor.

Comment by lake county democrat Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:43 am
Bloomington’s coliseum is an amazing facility. I urge everyone to check it out.

Comment by Curl of the Burl Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:45 am
Anybody asked the Brady bunch?

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:45 am
So ARDC is going to go after Kraft for the unauthorized practice of law, right?

Comment by Back to the Mountains Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:49 am
In other news, everything’s normal in Normal.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:50 am
Curl of the Burl,

wrong place, wrong time…

Comment by Iggy Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:50 am
Iggy - no man. Just trying to highlight something positive in an otherwise crummy post. It is top-notch arena for a place outside of Chicago or St. Louis.

Comment by Curl of the Burl Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:53 am
A lot of bloggers AND yes, major news outlets would do well to find original “News Nobody Reports” in their neck o the woods instead of relying so heavily on national news agencies like AP, celebrity gossip, and press releases from campaigns and business interests to fill their pages. Despite the message of corruption being told here which is always shocking and aggravating to tax payers, it’s good to see that some vestiges of old school investigative reporting on important issues still remain.

Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 9:57 am
What’s The Pantagraph been doing, besides re-writing Rauner/IPI/ILGOP press releases about “reform,” and “Madigan?”

If they’re capable of embarrassment, they should be feeling pretty sick about now. They’re getting their clock cleaned about widespread corruption under their noses.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:07 am
Diane and watchdogs are what you pray for as lamestreet Media reports somebody else’s report which was reported by someone else. Gotta try and keep ‘em honest - lord knows you can’t look to the Bruce for moral guidelines.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:16 am
Word of caution -

Diane Benjamin has long had an ax to grind with Renner. Not saying that what Mayor Renner did here was right, but in the past she has attacked his kid.

Comment by Former Bloomington Resident Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:17 am
Congrats and Thank You to Diane.

Comment by DeseDemDose Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:18 am
While I disagree with a lot of things said by Diane outside of these types of stories, she is very good with her investigations.

And Curl is correct, it’s a very nice venue for the area. This story isn’t stating otherwise. It’s a shame that it’s tied to management that was doing things like this.

Comment by Fixer Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:19 am
Was this the place that was formerly known as the Corn Crib? Doesn’t the Bloomington Extreme indoor football team play there (is that league still active?). Didn’t Bill Brady own a piece of the Extreme?

I always thought it was hilarious that Brady’s team was called Extreme. When he ran against Quinn, that seemed so appropriate that it couldn’t possibly be true. And yet…

I went to college in Normal. Always felt there was an unhealthy relationship between Bloomington and State Farm. It was hard to tell where one began and the other ended. A very interesting public-private partnership going on down there.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:22 am
47th Ward-the Corn Crib is the baseball field at Heartland CC, this is the arena built in downtown Bloomington that has had troubles breaking even.

Comment by OurMagician Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:30 am
Thanks for the info OM.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:34 am
Fixer - thank you. That was my point. I love the Coliseum. I have seen 3 concerts and a wrestling show there and it stacks up to any other indoor venue I have been to during my concert going days.

Comment by Curl of the Burl Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:37 am
Illinois Leaks - Edgar County Watchdogs have been on it lately. Not too far south of Bloomington in Atlanta they seems to be having some issues too. Keep up the good work, Watchdogs.

Comment by SmallTown Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:48 am
I hope this rights the ship at the Coliseum. We are at the (attached) Pepsi Ice Center 3x a week and it’s a pillar of youth sports in the region.

Comment by Rayne of Terror Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:51 am
All this is hard to believe - Illinois’ corruption only happens north of I80. /s

Comment by We'll See Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:51 am
Good for her for using FOIA, but there’s a lot of personal vendettas and whackjobbery you have to wade through to get to the beef.

Comment by Marty Funkhouser Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:57 am
We have a corrupt mayor and several council members who he had a big hand in getting elected/appointed. That’s what’s going on. These people put wants ahead of needs and because of this, didn’t pay attention to what was happening to the finances at the coliseum. Why they haven’t resigned yet is beyond me. They just continue to raise our taxes/fees because they spend all the revenue on wants instead of needs, i.e. streets and sewer.

Comment by Ryan Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 11:27 am
@ - Former Bloomington Resident - Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 10:17 am:

Word of caution - BELONGS WITH YOUR COMMENT!

Diane Benjamin has long had an ax to grind with Renner. Not saying that what Mayor Renner did here was right, but in the past she has attacked his kid.

Fact is that Diane Benjamin reported in her blog that Renner’s kid was seen eating lunch with a particular individual who had verbally attacked former Bloomington Alderwoman Judy Stearns (that Mayor Renner had also verbally attacked). Renner’s accusation of an attack on his kid was stretched farther than a glob of silly putty. Be sure that Bloomington government is mired in dirty politics.

Comment by mudd Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 11:44 am
===Good for her for using FOIA, but there’s a lot of personal vendettas and whackjobbery you have to wade through to get to the beef.===

I can vouch for that. I’ve been ridiculed, smeared, called a liar, etc., when I’m onto something that a public body doesn’t want to release to me via FOIA request. Par for the course. What really bothers me is when newspapers join in to put down citizen requesters. Which one are you, Marty?

Comment by yinn Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 11:46 am
=Word of caution -

Diane Benjamin has long had an ax to grind with Renner. Not saying that what Mayor Renner did here was right, but in the past she has attacked his kid.=

This is another example of a less than convenient source for information that in this case is accurate. She does have an axe to grind has made many statements that ranged from questionable to defamatory.

But…when you are right, you are right.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 11:50 am
TII

Comment by Whatever Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 12:07 pm
JS Mill-
Broken clock can be right twice a day and such. I’m not defending Renner, just don’t know if we should give her a wider platform.

Comment by Former Bloomington Resident Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 12:24 pm
@ - mudd - Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 11:44 am:

Diane Benjamin has “reported” a lot of things on her blog. She has a section called the “Climate Change Hoax”. My comment stands.

Comment by Former Bloomington Resident Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 12:26 pm
Anybody running the coliseum dudes through the databases?

Comment by Annonin' Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 12:57 pm
Yinn:

I say have at it when it comes to public records. The state and local governments shouldn’t make it as hard as they do.

My only point was that folks should probably take Ms. Benjamin with a quarry of salt and not treat her as an information authority who can be depended upon to provide context and completeness given the rambling, conspiratorial nature of nearly everything she writes.

–Marty

Comment by Marty Funkhouser Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 2:15 pm
This type of activity is probably happening all over. The reason it seems prevalent in McLean County is because of one good investigative citizen!

Comment by Gideon Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 3:51 pm
Gideon- you nailed it.

Marty- I have read Ms Benjamin’s blog for awhile now and I have been sceptical of some of her claims. It is hard to fault her reporting since she began her inquiry into the Coliseum back in 2013… and was ignored… only to be vindicated 4 years later when over a million dollars in fraud is discovered right where she told them to look.

Comment by TT Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 7:32 pm
Gideon- you nailed it.

Marty- I have read Ms Benjamin’s blog for awhile now and I have been sceptical of some of her claims. It is hard to fault her reporting since she began her inquiry into the Coliseum back in 2013… and was ignored… only to be vindicated 4 years later when over a million dollars in fraud is discovered right where she told them to look.

Comment by TT Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 7:32 pm
@ - Former Bloomington Resident - Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 12:26 pm:

Diane Benjamin has “reported” a lot of things on her blog. She has a section called the “Climate Change Hoax”. My comment stands.

Yes, your comment stands,,,on a slippery slope of dog poo as you attempt to lead the reader away from the subject matter of over 100 indictments of former managemnt personnel of the coliseum of which came to light due to the diligence of the blogger Diane Benjamin (as the city now tries to take credit.) THE FACT is what I said previously that the mayors kid was ONLY MENTIONED that the kid had lunch with another student. The facts stand on what matters,,,truth.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 7:33 pm
Here’s some corruption that Madigan can’t credibly be blamed for.

Comment by anon2 Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 7:42 pm
@ Marty
My only point was that folks should probably take Ms. Benjamin with a quarry of salt and not treat her as an information authority who can be depended upon to provide context and completeness given the rambling, conspiratorial nature of nearly everything she writes. - Marty
Hey man, your comment will probaly get Diane Benjamin’s site BLNnews.com more readers as most are on to those “conspiratorial” accusations. It’s where the real news is at. It’s the type of blog that does real investigative journalism since the local so called newspaper and radio stations only won’t touch it.

Comment by mudd Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 7:47 pm
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 7:33 pm:

The credibility of the source was my only point, not leading the reader away from the subject matter. I said I didn’t condone what Renner is alleged to have done. Ad hominem attacks on family should be out of bounds. It was not just mentioning the kid. She trolled through his social media. But let’s just agree to disagree there.

Do you even know what a slippery slope is?

Marty’s comment echoes what I said: we should be cautious about providing Benjamin a wider platform and take what she says with large quarries of salt.

Comment by Former Bloomington Resident Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 8:20 pm
@ - Former Bloomington Resident - Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 8:20 pm:

- Anonymous - Tuesday, Sep 26, 17 @ 7:33 pm:

The credibility of the source was my only point, not leading the reader away from the subject matter. I said I didn’t condone what Renner is alleged to have done. Ad hominem attacks on family should be out of bounds. It was not just mentioning the kid. She trolled through his social media. But let’s just agree to disagree there.

Do you even know what a slippery slope is?

Marty’s comment echoes what I said: we should be cautious about providing Benjamin a wider platform and take what she says with large quarries of salt.

There you go again with meager attempts to discredit and ridicule (do you even know what a slippery slope is?) Lol. Do yourself a favor and stop making a fool out of yourself. The facts of the matter stand and you lose.

Comment by mudd Wednesday, Sep 27, 17 @ 4:09 am