McCarthy Continues Telling Half-Truths

2/28/25 letter to City of Blaine:

In her February 26, 2025 article about the February 24, 2025 Blaine City Council meeting, The Northern Light editor Grace McCarthy continues telling half-truths to protect crooked developers in bed with Community Development Services director Alex Wenger and Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon. 

McCarthy said, "Councilmember Sonia Hurt asked [Blaine City Attorney] Ruffatto if there was any problem of a developer making a donation to the city, to which Ruffato said that was allowed by state law. A small group of residents had voiced concern after Skip and Katie Jansen, the developers of The Ridge at Harbor Hills, had donated rocks to the city in December 2022, prior to city council’s approval of a zoning text amendment that allowed large manufactured home parks in east Blaine." 

What is obvious to anyone not biased by real estate ad money is that asking the City of Blaine to approve an illegal residential development over the Critical Aquifer Recharge Area for Blaine's drinking water without a legally required Environmental Impact Statement and making a donation to influence their vote--which literally happened moments later--is not a "donation"; it is a bribe.

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