By Scott Tibbs, June 24, 2014
The latest shameful chapter in the long-running scandal of Democrats on the Bloomington City Council appropriating a "social services" fund for political purposes played out last week, with a surprising admission. This farce has been going on for fifteen years now, and I have opposed and exposed it every year as the funds have been unethically spent.
The surprising admission came from councilor Marty Spechler, who admitted that the decision to fund Planned Parenthood was a political decision. This is something that opponents of this handout have been saying for twelve years now. PP made it obvious that this was a political game with their antics in 2002, refusing the offer of a private donation in the amount of the handout they requested from the city, instead demanding a vote by elected officials to subsidize them. For a sitting member of the city council to admit that money that is supposed to be for helping those in need is being used for political purposes is refreshing in its honesty, though still scandalous.
Spechler also said that since abortion is legal, the city council has an obligation to uphold the law. His premise and his conclusion do not logically follow. The fact that abortion is "legal" due to legislation by judicial oligarchy does not require the Bloomington City Council to give thousands upon thousands of dollars to Planned Parenthood every year for the past fifteen years. The people of Bloomington deserve better from our elected officials than this illogical nonsense.
Darryl Neher whined that so much attention was going to Planned Parenthood funding, despite all of the other projects funded by the Hopkins grant. It is a silly thing to whine about, because Neher and the council have known for twelve years how controversial funding Planned Parenthood is in this community, and he knows that people will show up to object. If Neher wants the attention focused on the other grants, then he should have pushed for PP to be excluded this year. With over $400,000 in requests denied, it would have been easy to distribute the money elsewhere.
Susan Sandberg dishonestly whined about people saying all of the organizations wanted a handout, when the only objection in public comments was to the grant to Planned Parenthood. Again, the people of Bloomington deserve better than this. If Sandberg has an objection to what was said, she should address what was said instead of creating arguments out of whole cloth that were never made.
Sandberg also whined in response to my criticism of giving Planned Parenthood money for computers and office furniture in years past (before Sandberg was on the council) that the council gives the organizations what they ask for, not what the city council determines they need. But it is the job of the city council to screen these applications, and appropriate the limited funds in the way that will help people. Giving Planned Parenthood computers and office furniture hardly qualifies as an urgent social services funding need.
This annual farce has gone beyond absurd, especially now that it has been admitted that this is a political statement. It is a slap in the face to the organizations that were denied funding to continue to make a statement in favor of pro-abortion politics by giving Planned Parenthood money they do not need. It is time for this to stop, especially with the amount of money that is being denied each summer. With $400,000 in requests that were denied, the money that went to Planned Parenthood should have gone to a more deserving organization.
