DIRTY COPS (2)
On February 23, 2026, Whatcom County Sheriff Donnell Tanksley--former Blaine Chief of Police--wrote an op-ed suggesting that voters recall chiefs of police and sheriffs found by the Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) to have violated the law in their duties, rather than have them step down immediately upon being decertified by the CJTC as law enforcement officers. On March 6, 2026, the CJTC opened an investigation of current Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk. Tanksley's department declined to charge Blaine City Councilman Mike Hill for accosting an open government activist at the November 12, 2024 Blaine City Council meeting (Case No. 24A39027). Funk's department declined to charge David Brudvik for threatening to murder four open government activists at the October 13, 2025 Blaine City Council meeting, with Mayor Mary Lou Steward's approval. Whatcom District Court Judge Angela Anderson issued civil protection orders for the four on November 4, 2025....