Blaine Confidential

[email to city council] While you are understandably reluctant to admit you were wrong in supporting self-dealing and retaliatory policing, you have a very good fall guy in city manager Mike Harmon. He lied to you about the law, he covered up crimes by Mike Hill and Sarbjit Bains, and he was the obvious mastermind to violate the civil rights of open government activists. Serving him up to prosecutors as the fall guy now will signal you understand the severity of his offenses. Waiting for the judicial nemesis will be much more painful.

[email to city council] While you are waiting for the hammer to drop at the Legislative Ethics Board and Criminal Justice Training Commission, you might want to reflect on your conduct to date and the likely consequences of its exposure in the Seattle Times when charges are filed against Senator Shewmake, implicating Blaine Councilwoman Sarbjit Bains and Blaine City Manager Michael Harmon.  While you could do nothing and hope for the best as the state auditor presently prepares a file on City of Blaine municipal corruption under Mayor Steward's administration, a better bet would be unconditional surrender. Admit you were wrong all along, and request that state and federal agencies assist the city in cleaning house. The Washington State Auditor Special Investigations Unit and the U.S. Department of Justice Public Integrity Unit can help. You cannot avoid the consequences of a federal civil rights lawsuit, but you might mitigate the punishment by showing remorse and firing the city o...

[email to city council] The ethical failures of Senator Sharon Shewmake and Representative Joe Timmons are the logical conclusion to the corruption of state and local government by the real estate industry, unabashedly displayed on Democratic party candidate flyers noting the top campaign contributor was the Washington Association of Realtors (WAR). Attacking Blaine open government activists on behalf of their contributors is now leading them toward public humiliation, and possibly criminal charges for violating the civil rights of their activist constituents. If you want to know why all the hard work of Northwest Indian tribes restoring salmon streams is going down the toilet, look no further.  

[email to city council] While other cities seek ways to preserve community forests and protect waterways for oxygen, cooling, public health and well-being, the City of Blaine could not wait to clearcut its forests and pollute its waterways to fulfill Mayor Steward's visions of empire. Malign neglect of the Dakota Creek-Drayton Harbor estuary--due to the refusal of the city to enforce the Shoreline Management Plan against unlawful developments within the shoreline zone--contributes to the degradation of water quality that has made the harbor unsafe for wading, and will eventually put Drayton Harbor Oyster Company out of business.  Utter disregard for the health of Cain Creek--high human fecal coliform count, dying conifers from unmaintained watershed (needs English ivy removal)--is the city's answer to the Washington Department of Transportation project to restore Cain Creek as a productive salmon stream.  Contamination of the Blaine-Sumas aquifer by the unlawful Creekside PUD ...