By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner hopes he can put to rest allegations from some of his critics that city funds were misused when his girlfriend accompanied him on a recent trip to Japan. However, the attacks appeared to get under the mayor’s skin.

Renner has been slammed on social media for spending city dollars on an official visit to Bloomington-Normal’s Japanese sister city.

Frequent Renner critic Bruce Meeks provided reporters with an e-mail showing Renner fired off an angry note to him at 2:46 a.m. Sunday morning.

“You truly do seem to be totally crazy as they come,” Renner told Meeks.

“It seems you do this kind of garbage because you don’t have an actual job,” said Renner.

At Monday’s city council meeting, the Mayor said charges of impropriety are an “absolute, total lie.”

“It’s one of the reasons why I think there are very many good people who don’t want to bother to run for public office because they know they or their loved ones are going to be trashed sooner or later by people who seem to have nothing better to do with their lives, and that’s a shame.” the mayor said.

Renner said his girlfriend, Margot Ehrlich, reimbursed the city $1,800 although city administrators used a government credit card to book the trip.

Renner said it would have been legal for the city to pay her expenses because she was considered an official delegate of the Sister Cities committee, but Renner acknowledged it would have been bad optics for city taxpayers to foot the bill.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]