Blaine Confidential

April 25 letter to Blaine City Council: The Irish have a proverb that  "Efficiency is an unfriendly virtue."  Vesting all power over Blaine environmental decisions in a single person, and imposing a $5,000 fee to question his edicts, is decidedly  unfriendly .  The  Title 17 amendments to the Blaine Municipal Code --proposed by city manager Mike Harmon--are efficient in eliminating public participation in order to  eliminate environmental protection for our drinking water , salmon streams, and oyster farm, but violate our civil rights and the treaty rights of Lummi Nation. Efficiency by Blaine planning and code enforcement resulted in 22 violations of the Shoreline Management Program (see attached), efficiently  unenforced  by Blaine Code Enforcement. Think of all the staff cost saving when developers aren't prosecuted for criminal violations that destroy Dakota Creek and Drayton Harbor. Without public participation, Blaine officials--like former ...

In the 1850s, Lummi Indians were removed from the San Juan Islands by the U.S. Army. In the 1880s, Lummi villages at Legoe Bay (Lummi Island) and Semiahmoo Spit (now part of Blaine) were destroyed by Alaska Packers Association to build salmon canneries in their place .  The Lummi were restricted to a reservation, which was subsequently reduced in size when the federal Indian agent sold Cherry Point to illegal white squatters. In the 1950s, oil refineries were built there. In the 1970s, an oil spill at a refinery wiped out the state's largest herring spawn at Cherry Point . The herring are the primary food for Chinook salmon--the staple of the Southern Resident Killer Whale's diet. In 1999, the City of Blaine intentionally desecrated a registered Lummi burial ground on Semiahmoo Spit, unearthing over 100 human remains. In 2017, Blaine paid Lummi Nation $3.5 million and deeded the two-acre cemetery to Lummi Nation. On April 16, 2026, Blaine Planning Commission recommended approv...

April 24 letter to Whatcom County Prosecutor: Dear Prosecutor Richey, I am at a loss to comprehend your office's delay in referring my attached March 31, 2026 self-inurement complaint against Blaine City Councilwoman Sarbjit Bains to the Attorney General for investigation. This white collar crime is the second self-inurement complaint (see attached) against Blaine public officials by Blaine open government activists to your office in less than a year. Given your noted conflicts of interest, referral to the AG is the proper response. There is no excuse for this neglect of your duty to uphold the law. I sent you follow up emails on April 10, and again on April 17, but am still waiting for you to act. I will need to pursue the matter of your neglect with state agencies, in order to return the rule of law to Blaine. Your office's apparent prejudice against open government activists and unresponsiveness to documented crime by a public official amounts to what I view as obstruction o...

April 23 complaint to Whatcom County Health and Community Services: Whatcom Board of Health needs to inform the City of Blaine that the source-water review now underway by Washington Department of Health must be completed prior to city approval of the Creekside PUD. Learn more at Creekside Water Risks .

Monday night massacres of constitutional rights like free speech and equal protection under the law are becoming almost routine at Blaine City Council meetings. Monday, April 27, 2026 promises to be more of the same, with the proposal by city manager Mike Harmon to prevent Blaine citizens from having any say in the future of our community by changing Title 17 under the Blaine Municipal Code on behalf of developers. Previous Monday night massacres include the September 28, 2025 meltdown by Mayor Mary Lou Steward, and the October 13, 2025 lynch mob theatrics at city hall--orchestrated by former Councilman Mike Hill--and starring convicted violent felon David Brudvik, who was inspired by the mayor and city manager to issue death threats against open government activists, in retaliation for holding the city accountable for self-dealing . The March 23, 2026 Blaine City Council attempt to usurp state authority in the middle of a Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission investigat...

Seeing the implications of proposed institutional policies before they are enacted, and communicating these implications to those who need to know in a way that makes sense, is the task of storytelling. Community storytelling incorporates historical context and presents information that refreshes our cultural memories of living an authentic communal life where we come together for the public good. When bandits threaten the public good, storytellers who sound the alarm are the first line of defense. Using our collective voices as a tool of defense against the onslaught by the real estate industry--that took over our city government in January--will eventually lead to civic reform in Blaine. Standing together against the tyranny imposed by city manager Mike Harmon over his three-year reign, we will prevail.