(Adam Studzinski/WJBC)
By David Stanczak
The only positive thing about Tari Renner’s electronic meltdown last week is that it’s given people something else to talk about besides the cold February weather. The tone of themessage he put on Diane Benjamin’s blog site was reminiscent of Alec Baldwin’s voice mail rant to his daughter a few years ago, minus the expletives.
The mayor doubled down ontheoriginal faux pas in hisnon-apology apology addressed to the city council and citizens of Bloomington. He owed them no apology, but by apologizing to them but not Benjamin,he effectively stood by and reaffirmed the intemperate remarks,even after he’d had time to reflect on them. He gets a C for his subsequent apology to Benjamin later: an A for being man enough to make it in a telephone call, rather than on the internet, but points off because the apology seemed more like the results of a political calculation than genuine remorse.
As of this writing, the city council may call a special meeting to censure Renner. Nonsense! First, Renner had every right to say everything he said in that blog. As Justice Douglas used to free speech, by reason of the fact that it is free, is unbridled, and sometimes offensive. Benjamin was free, even as a non-citizen of Bloomington to make the comments she made about the Mayor’s son (as ignorant as they might have been) and Renner was free to respond as he did.
Second, as the city government is now structured, Renner’s rant did not cast the council in a bad light. Were he the greater among equals, as it once was with at-large representation, his stain would be a blot on the group. But now, the city council is a completely separate entity from the mayor: it is legislative and he’s executive.
Finally, a censure is a measure of moral opprobrium. If, as I suspect, many of the council members privately share much of Renner’s opinion about Benjamin, the only difference between him and the aldermen is that they had the good sense not to publish their opinion. That is a difference in tact, not of morals, so a moral condemnation from anyone so disposed would be hypocritical.
As a citizen, Renner was entitled to say what he did. Whether it was the wisest thing to say as a mayoris between him and the voters should he decide to seek another term. Now about that weather…
David Stanczak, a Forum commentator since 1995, came to Bloomington in 1971. He served as the City of Bloomington’s first full-time legal counsel for over 18 years, before entering private practice. He is currently employed by the Snyder Companies and continues to reside in Bloomington with his family.
The opinions expressed within WJBC’s Forum are solely those of the Forum’s author, and are not necessarily those of WJBC or Cumulus Media Inc.
