Blaine Confidential

When will The Northern Light new publisher Kari Mar apologize to the open government activists her newspaper defamed and to the readers her paper misled for the last three years as The Northern Light helped the real estate industry take over city government and end the rule of law in Blaine? Before or after her fundraising campaign in which she repeatedly praises the former publisher, Pat Grubb?  

The full frontal fascism of the Steward regime 2023-25 was all made possible with the collaboration of The Northern Light newspaper. Without The Northern Light echoing city propaganda and covering up crimes at city hall, Mayor Mary Lou Steward and Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon would have faced prosecution long ago. Their longevity is directly attributable to The Northern Light coverup.

Open government is about transparency and accountability. Access to public records in a free user-friendly online format with a functional search engine allows the public to know what their government is up to, and to hold their government accountable when it strays from the straight and narrow path of the Ethics in Public Service Act.  Open government is also about facilitating meaningful public participation in planning our community's future, and welcoming citizen oversight through such bodies as an ethics commission elected by the voters. None of this has happened in Blaine. To the contrary, ethics violations by Blaine officials Mike Hill, Sam Randhawa, and Gurdeep Bains propelled our city to close government. Blaine citizens concerned about the loss of open government in our city can contact the Washington State Auditor Special Investigations Unit: kelly.collins@sao.wa.gov  sadie.armijo@sao.wa.gov  pat.mccarthy@sao.wa.gov

In her March 6 pitch for support of The Northern Light , the new publisher Kari Mar says towns without newspapers have lower civic participation and transparency in government. That may be true elsewhere, but not in Blaine. Had Mar done her homework, she would have discovered that her paper was largely responsible for lower civic participation and transparency in government.  Mar says that without a newspaper, "misinformation spreads more easily." Unfortunately, in Blaine, The Northern Light has been the source of misinformation. An examination of Northern Light bias 2023-25 is now taking place on social media. 

It only took Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon three years to turn the City of Blaine into a criminal enterprise, with rogue police intimidating Blaine citizens opposed to self-dealing by Blaine officials.  With Whatcom County and soon Washington State coming down on Blaine over planning and policing, Mike Harmon's departure comes closer.  It will be interesting to see who falls first--Chief of Police Rodger Funk, Harmon, or development director Alex Wenger.  There's a good chance none of them will be Blaine employees a year from now.

March 5 letter to Blaine City Council: The  Eagle Tree Massacre  on Blaine City Councilwoman Sarbie Bains' property in September 2025 has not to my knowledge been investigated by Blaine Code Enforcement. This code violation was reported to Washington Department of Ecology and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Water Planning Matters report on City of Blaine failure to enforce the Shoreline Management Program (see attached).